1
25
24
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/934/36536/MLovattP1821369-190903-75.2.pdf
51c3fbced3b1e3bd9c7237f2cb79c94a
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
Lovatt, Peter
Dr Peter Lovatt
P Lovatt
Description
An account of the resource
117 items. An oral history interview with Peter Lovatt (b.1924, 1821369 Royal Air Force), his log book, documents, and photographs. The collection also contains two photograph albums. He flew 42 operations as an air gunner on 223 Squadron flying B-24s. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1338">Album One</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2135">Album Two</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Nina and Peter Lovatt 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
2017-09-27
2019-09-03
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
Lovatt, P
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
A Reminiscence of the Flying Characteristics of Many Old Type Aircraft
Description
An account of the resource
A detailed analysis of very early aircraft and their flying characteristics.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Air Marshall Sir Ralph Sorley
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Felixstowe
England--Eastbourne (East Sussex)
England--Calshot
England--Bembridge
Atlantic Ocean--Spithead Channel
England--Cowes
England--Stroud
Scotland--Montrose
England--Sunbury
England--London
Monaco
Egypt--Cairo
Iraq--Baghdad
England--Felixstowe
England--Aldeburgh
Iraq
Middle East--Kurdistan
Middle East--Palestine
Jordan
Iran
Middle East--Euphrates River
Syria
Yemen (Republic)--Aden
Singapore
Australia
Borneo
China--Hong Kong
England--Kent
United States
New York (State)--New York
France--Paris
Nigeria
South Africa--Cape Town
Yugoslavia
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Denmark
Japan
Belgium
Argentina
Austria
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Greece
China
Lithuania
Estonia
England--Weybridge
Scotland--Island of Arran
England--Kingston upon Thames
France--Dunkerque
England--Hatfield (Hertfordshire)
Newfoundland and Labrador
New Brunswick
Maine
Maine--Presque Isle
Washington (D.C.)
Massachusetts--Boston
Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
Maryland--Baltimore
Washington (D.C.)--Anacostia
Tennessee--Nashville
Arkansas--Little Rock
Texas--Dallas
Texas--Fort Worth
Texas--Midland
Arizona--Tucson
California--Burbank (Los Angeles County)
California--Palm Springs
California--Los Angeles
California--Beverly Hills
California--San Diego
Arizona--Winslow
New Mexico--Albuquerque
Kansas--Wichita
Missouri--Saint Louis
Ohio--Dayton
New York (State)--Buffalo
Ontario--Toronto
Québec--Montréal
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
Netherlands--Eindhoven
Germany--Rheine
Germany--Osnabrück
India
Switzerland--Zurich
Lebanon--Beirut
Pakistan--Karachi
India--Kolkata
Singapore
Indonesia--Jakarta
Australia
Northern Territory--Darwin
New South Wales--Sydney
South Australia--Woomera
South Australia--Adelaide
Victoria--Melbourne
Sri Lanka--Colombo
Spain--Madrid
South Africa--Johannesburg
Kenya--Nairobi
Sudan--Khartoum
Greece--Athens
Italy--Rome
Zambia--Lusaka
Zambia--Ndola
Zambia--Mbala
Heathrow Airport (London, England)
Turkey--Istanbul
France--Nice
Utah--Salt Lake City
Italy--Genoa
Atlantic Ocean--Firth of Clyde
Italy
France
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Kansas
Maryland
Massachusetts
Missouri
New Mexico
New York (State)
Ohio
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
New South Wales
South Australia
Victoria
Northern Territory
Egypt
Sudan
North Africa
Ontario
Québec
Germany
Indonesia
Iraq
Kenya
Lebanon
Netherlands
South Africa
Switzerland
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Turkey
Yemen (Republic)
Czech Republic
Slovakia
England--Gloucestershire
England--Hampshire
England--Herefordshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Suffolk
England--Surrey
England--Sussex
England--Great Yarmouth
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Navy
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
82 typewritten sheets
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1971-08-16
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MLovattP1821369-190903-75
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
aircrew
Anson
B-17
B-24
Battle
Blenheim
C-47
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
Defiant
Dominie
Fw 190
ground crew
Halifax
Harvard
Hudson
Hurricane
Lancaster
Lincoln
Lysander
Magister
Manchester
Me 109
Mosquito
Oxford
Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
pilot
Proctor
RAF Boscombe Down
RAF Eastchurch
RAF Hendon
RAF Henlow
RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF North Killingholme
RAF Pembrey
RAF Prestwick
RAF West Freugh
Spitfire
Stirling
Swordfish
Tiger Moth
training
Wallis, Barnes Neville (1887-1979)
York
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/934/36497/MLovattP1821369-190903-62-01.1.pdf
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/934/36497/MLovattP1821369-190903-62-02.1.1.pdf
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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
Lovatt, Peter
Dr Peter Lovatt
P Lovatt
Description
An account of the resource
117 items. An oral history interview with Peter Lovatt (b.1924, 1821369 Royal Air Force), his log book, documents, and photographs. The collection also contains two photograph albums. He flew 42 operations as an air gunner on 223 Squadron flying B-24s. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1338">Album One</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2135">Album Two</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Nina and Peter Lovatt 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
2017-09-27
2019-09-03
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
Lovatt, P
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 Radio War Waged by the RAF Against Germany 1940-1945
Description
An account of the resource
A thesis written by Peter in 2002, for his Phd.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Peter Lovatt
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2002-07
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--London
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
England--Norfolk
England--Norfolk
France--Dieppe
France--Cherbourg
England--Norwich
England--Swanage
England--Malvern
Germany--Berlin
England--Cornwall (County)
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador
England--Devizes
France--Paris
England--Chatham (Kent)
Austria
Poland
England--Cheadle (Staffordshire)
England--Daventry
England--Orford Ness
England--Aldeburgh
England--Bawdsey (Air base)
Scotland--Dundee
Scotland--Perth
England--Christchurch (Dorset)
Russia (Federation)
Scotland--Firth of Forth
Germany--Baden-Baden
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Borkum
Denmark
Norway
Germany--Bredstedt
France--Brest
Netherlands
Germany--Husum (Schleswig-Holstein)
Norway--Klepp
Germany--Stollberg (Landkreis)
Netherlands--Den Helder
Netherlands--Bergen op Zoom
France--Seine-Maritime
France--Cape La Hague
France--Manche
France--Morlaix
Germany--Lörrach
Italy--Noto
England--Tunbridge Wells
England--Harpenden
England--Somerset
England--Henfield (West Sussex)
England--Petersfield
France--Dieppe
England--Portsmouth
Scotland--Orkney
England--Rochester (Kent)
England--Essex
France--Le Havre
England--Hagley (Bromsgrove)
England--Gloucestershire
England--Bridport
England--Coventry
England--Bristol
France--Cassel
France--Poix-du-Nord
England--Radlett (Hertfordshire)
England--Henfield (West Sussex)
England--Cheadle (Staffordshire)
France--Bayeux
England--Kingsdown (Kent)
England--Harleston (Norfolk)
France--Barfleur
France--Cape La Hague
France--Le Mont-Saint-Michel
France--Cancale
France--Penmarc'h
France--Groix
France--Saint-Nazaire Region
France--Saint-Malo
England--Seaton (Devon)
England--Salisbury
Wales--Swansea
England--Droitwich
France--Brittany
England--Manchester
England--Chatham (Kent)
France--Chartres
France--Vannes
Poland--Lubin (Województwo Dolnośląskie)
Egypt
Libya
England--Lydd
England--Helston
England--Chivenor
England--Marske-by-the-Sea
England--Nottingham
England--Birmingham
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Italy
France
England--Milton Keynes
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Devon
England--Dorset
England--Hampshire
England--Herefordshire
England--Kent
England--Northamptonshire
England--Staffordshire
England--Suffolk
England--Sussex
England--Wiltshire
England--Worcestershire
England--Yorkshire
England--Lancashire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Warwickshire
Germany--Kleve (North Rhine-Westphalia)
France--Ouessant Island
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Jersey
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 Air Force. Fighter Command
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
80 printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MLovattP1821369-190903-62-01
100 Group
101 Squadron
109 Squadron
214 Squadron
218 Squadron
Anson
B-17
B-24
Blenheim
bombing
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
Do 217
Gee
Gneisenau
Goering, Hermann (1893-1946)
ground personnel
H2S
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
He 111
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Hudson
Ju 52
Ju 88
Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy
Oboe
P-51
Pathfinders
Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
radar
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Boscombe Down
RAF Defford
RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Oulton
RAF St Athan
RAF Waddington
RAF Wyton
Scharnhorst
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
Whitley
Window
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/934/36457/BLovattPHastieRv2.1.pdf
295406378e70aa4d2aeb43baeaddc085
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
Lovatt, Peter
Dr Peter Lovatt
P Lovatt
Description
An account of the resource
117 items. An oral history interview with Peter Lovatt (b.1924, 1821369 Royal Air Force), his log book, documents, and photographs. The collection also contains two photograph albums. He flew 42 operations as an air gunner on 223 Squadron flying B-24s. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1338">Album One</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2135">Album Two</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Nina and Peter Lovatt 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
2017-09-27
2019-09-03
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
Lovatt, P
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
Hastie DFC: The Life and Times of a Wartime Pilot
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Roy Hastie.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Peter Lovatt
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2003-10
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
United States
Rhode Island--Quonset Point Naval Air Station
Bahamas--Nassau
New York (State)--New York
Bahamas--New Providence Island
Great Britain
England--Harrogate
Scotland--Perth
Scotland--Glasgow
England--Warrington
England--Blackpool
Luxembourg
France
Belgium
Netherlands
France--Dunkerque
England--Dover
England--Grantham
England--Torquay
Wales--Aberystwyth
Iceland
Greenland
Sierra Leone
Russia (Federation)--Murmansk
Singapore
France--Saint-Malo
Denmark
Sweden
Germany--Lübeck
Netherlands--Ameland Island
England--Grimsby
Germany--Helgoland
Netherlands--Rotterdam
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Lundy Island
Germany--Cologne
North Carolina
North Carolina--Cape Hatteras
Aruba
Curaçao
Iceland--Reykjavík
Greenland--Narsarssuak
Canada
Québec--Montréal
Rhode Island
New York (State)--Buffalo
Gulf of Mexico
Caribbean Sea
Virginia
Florida--Miami
Cuba--Guantánamo Bay Naval Base
Puerto Rico--San Juan
Cuba
Florida--West Palm Beach
Cuba--Caimanera
India
Sierra Leone--Freetown
Jamaica
Jamaica--Kingston
Jamaica--Montego Bay
Virginia--Norfolk
Washington (D.C.)
Newfoundland and Labrador
Northern Ireland--Limavady
England--Chatham (Kent)
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
Gibraltar
England--Leicester
Massachusetts--Boston
Egypt--Alamayn
Algeria--Algiers
Algeria--Oran
Algeria--Bejaïa
Algeria--Annaba
Italy--Sicily
England--Milton Keynes
Germany--Essen
England--Dunwich
Europe--Scheldt River
England--Sizewell
Germany--Hamburg
England--Kent
Germany--Stuttgart
England--Crowborough
Netherlands--Hague
England--Peterborough
England--Bristol
Germany--Homburg (Saarland)
Belgium--Brussels
Germany--Bochum
Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal
Germany--Wanne-Eickel
Belgium--Liège
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Aschaffenburg
Germany--Castrop-Rauxel
Germany--Mittelland Canal
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Neuss
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg)
Germany--Leuna
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Ulm
Germany--Munich
Poland--Szczecin
France--Ardennes
Germany--Bonn
Belgium--Houffalize
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Grevenbroich
Germany--Dülmen
France--Metz
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Zeitz
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
England--Dungeness
Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Germany--Wiesbaden
Germany--Dresden
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Koblenz
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
Germany--Worms
Germany--Pforzheim
Germany--Darmstadt
Europe--Lake Constance
Germany--Bergkamen
Germany--Dessau (Dessau)
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
France--Aube
Germany--Augsburg
England--Feltwell
England--Croydon
Norway--Oslo
Sweden--Stockholm
Czech Republic--Prague
Italy--Florence
Portugal--Lisbon
Monaco--Monte-Carlo
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
Netherlands--Venlo
Netherlands--Amsterdam
France--Paris
France--Lyon
France--Digne
France--Nevers
France--Lille
Norway--Ålesund
France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)
France--Bailleul (Nord)
Belgium--Ieper
Belgium--Mesen
France--Cambrai
France--Somme
France--Arras
France--Lens
France--Calais
Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)
Netherlands--Vlissingen
France--Brest
France--Lorient
France--La Pallice
Egypt--Suez
Germany--Berlin
Yemen (Republic)--Aden
Cyprus
Turkey--Gallipoli
Black Sea--Dardanelles Strait
Turkey--İmroz Island
Turkey--İzmir
Greece--Lesbos (Municipality)
Greece--Thasos Island
Greece--Chios (Municipality)
Greece--Thasos
Bulgaria
Turkey--Istanbul
Europe--Macedonia
Greece--Kavala
Kenya--Nairobi
Africa--Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Tanzania
Sudan
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Sudan--Kassalā
Eritrea--Asmara
Yemen (Republic)--Perim Island
Ethiopia--Addis Ababa
Sudan--Khartoum
Ghana--Takoradi
Libya--Cyrenaica
Libya--Tobruk
Egypt--Cairo
Iraq
Greece--Crete
Libya--Tripolitania
Tunisia--Mareth Line
Libya--Tripoli
Tunisia--Qaṣrayn
Tunisia--Medenine
Italy--Pantelleria Island
Malta
Italy--Licata
Italy--Brindisi
Italy--Foggia
Italy--Cassino
Italy--Sangro River
Italy--Termoli
Yugoslavia
Croatia--Split
Croatia--Vis Island
Italy--Loreto
Italy--Pescara
Trinidad and Tobago--Trinidad
North America--Saint Lawrence River
Newfoundland and Labrador--Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Bahamas
Florida
Italy
Poland
Massachusetts
New York (State)
Algeria
Tunisia
Libya
Egypt
North Africa
Ontario
Québec
Germany
Croatia
Czech Republic
Ghana
Greece
Kenya
Norway
Russia (Federation)
Turkey
Yemen (Republic)
Portugal
Trinidad and Tobago
North America--Niagara Falls
France--Reims
Europe--Frisian Islands
Germany--Monheim (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
England--Gloucestershire
England--Lancashire
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
Greece--Thessalonikē
Germany--Herne (Arnsberg)
Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea)
Libya--Banghāzī
Russia (Federation)--Arkhangelʹskai︠a︡ oblastʹ
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Jersey
Virginia--Hampton Roads (Region)
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
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
142 printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BLovattPHastieRv2
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
1 Group
100 Group
101 Squadron
157 Squadron
2 Group
214 Squadron
223 Squadron
3 Group
4 Group
6 Group
8 Group
85 Squadron
88 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
B-17
B-24
B-25
bale out
Beaufighter
Bismarck
Botha
C-47
Chamberlain, Neville (1869-1940)
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
crash
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
entertainment
evacuation
Flying Training School
Gee
Gneisenau
Goldfish Club
ground personnel
H2S
Halifax
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
He 111
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Hudson
Hurricane
Initial Training Wing
Ju 88
Lancaster
love and romance
Martinet
Me 109
Me 110
mine laying
Mosquito
Mussolini, Benito (1883-1945)
navigator
Nissen hut
Oboe
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
pilot
Proctor
radar
RAF Banff
RAF Catfoss
RAF Catterick
RAF Chedburgh
RAF Cranwell
RAF Dishforth
RAF Farnborough
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Kinloss
RAF Leuchars
RAF Lichfield
RAF Lyneham
RAF Manston
RAF North Coates
RAF Oulton
RAF Padgate
RAF Prestwick
RAF Riccall
RAF Silloth
RAF South Cerney
RAF St Eval
RAF Thornaby
RAF Thorney Island
RAF Windrush
RAF Woodbridge
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882-1945)
Scharnhorst
Spitfire
sport
Stirling
Swordfish
Tiger Moth
Tirpitz
training
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Whitley
Window
wireless operator
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/934/36456/BLovattPHastieRv1.2.pdf
9b3858b8c21f871c9674fb0bb2df1994
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
Lovatt, Peter
Dr Peter Lovatt
P Lovatt
Description
An account of the resource
117 items. An oral history interview with Peter Lovatt (b.1924, 1821369 Royal Air Force), his log book, documents, and photographs. The collection also contains two photograph albums. He flew 42 operations as an air gunner on 223 Squadron flying B-24s. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1338">Album One</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2135">Album Two</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Nina and Peter Lovatt 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
2017-09-27
2019-09-03
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
Lovatt, P
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
Hastie DFC: The Life and Times of a Wartime Pilot
Description
An account of the resource
An incomplete biography of Roy Hastie. Only pages 1 to 46, 104 to 106, 128 to 133 and 34 additional unnumbered pages are included.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Peter Lovatt
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
United States
Rhode Island--Quonset Point Naval Air Station
Bahamas--Nassau
New York (State)--New York
Bahamas--New Providence Island
England--Harrogate
Scotland--Perth
Scotland--Glasgow
Scotland--Glasgow
England--Warrington
England--Blackpool
Luxembourg
France
Belgium
Netherlands
France--Dunkerque
England--Dover
England--Grantham
England--Torquay
Wales--Aberystwyth
Iceland
Greenland
Sierra Leone
Russia (Federation)--Murmansk
Singapore
France--Saint-Malo
Denmark
Sweden
Germany--Lübeck
Netherlands--Ameland Island
England--Grimsby
Germany--Helgoland
Netherlands--Rotterdam
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Lundy Island
Germany--Cologne
North Carolina
North Carolina--Cape Hatteras
Aruba
Curaçao
Iceland--Reykjavík
Greenland--Narsarssuak
Canada
Québec--Montréal
Rhode Island
New York (State)--Buffalo
Gulf of Mexico
Caribbean Sea
Virginia
Florida--Miami
Cuba--Guantánamo Bay Naval Base
Puerto Rico--San Juan
Cuba
Florida--West Palm Beach
Cuba--Caimanera
India
Sierra Leone--Freetown
Jamaica
Jamaica--Kingston
Jamaica--Montego Bay
Virginia--Norfolk
Québec--Montréal
Washington (D.C.)
Newfoundland and Labrador
Trinidad and Tobago--Trinidad
North America--Saint Lawrence River
Newfoundland and Labrador--Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Bahamas
Florida
New York (State)
Great Britain
Ontario
Québec
Germany
Russia (Federation)
Trinidad and Tobago
North America--Niagara Falls
Europe--Frisian Islands
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Devon
England--Kent
England--Lancashire
England--Lincolnshire
Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea)
Russia (Federation)--Arkhangelʹskai︠a︡ oblastʹ
Virginia--Hampton Roads (Region)
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. Coastal Command
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
88 printed sheets
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
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BLovattPHastieRv1
8 Group
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
B-24
B-25
Beaufighter
Bismarck
C-47
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
crash
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
evacuation
Flying Training School
Gee
Gneisenau
Goldfish Club
ground personnel
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Hudson
Initial Training Wing
navigator
Nissen hut
Oboe
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
pilot
radar
RAF Bircham Newton
RAF Catterick
RAF Cranwell
RAF Kinloss
RAF Leuchars
RAF North Coates
RAF Odiham
RAF Oulton
RAF Padgate
RAF Prestwick
RAF South Cerney
RAF St Eval
RAF Thornaby
RAF Thorney Island
RAF Windrush
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882-1945)
Scharnhorst
Spitfire
Tiger Moth
Tirpitz
training
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Whitley
Window
wireless operator
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36370/PSparkesW17010049.1.jpg
d3bdc99abffec746f8523e4c9b2a81d6
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
Sparkes, Ned
William Sparkes
W Sparkes
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
2017-07-16
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Sparkes, W
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The Ancient and Honorable [sic] Society of Goosites
[caricature drawing of a goose beside a sign stating London 2310 Ml.]
Be it known to all good service personnel of all nations that Warrant Officer Ned Sparkes has been admitted as a full member of the Ancient and Honorable [sic] Society of Goosites having completed a tour of duty in Goose Bay, Labrador. This member has passed the vacant eye and dazed look test, can wear long underwear for six months with the minimum amount of scratching, has heard distinctly twenty train whistles, has played bingo and the slot machine consistently without winning, is always griping about the food, barracks, regulations, overdue postings, lack of consideration, etc., and has picked up the nervous twitch characteristic of the north.
It is therefore decreed that full membership be granted to the society by virtue of the powers invested in my office, and have placed my signature to these presents, given this 11TH day of DECEMBER in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and SEVENTY.
[signature]
Brother Long Neck and Bulbous Beak
Chief Goose
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 ancient and honourable society of goosites
Description
An account of the resource
Joke certificate admitting arrant Officer Sparkes to the society.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador--Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Newfoundland and Labrador
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed certificate mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSparkesW17010049
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription. Under review
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1970-12-11
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1970-12-11
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Sparkes, Ned. Album
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36368/PSparkesW17010047.1.jpg
a9e74bde413a94c9e4f95c6aa179502a
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
Sparkes, Ned
William Sparkes
W Sparkes
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
2017-07-16
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Sparkes, W
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Goose Bay detachment
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - flight line at Goose with aircraft parked. Captioned 'Victor, Vulcan, VC10 on the strip at Goose'.
Top centre - Vulcan just airborne.
Top right - a formation of four Vulcans in line astern. Captioned 'Vulcans returning from Chicago air display'.
Bottom left - view across snow covered forest to distant lake. Captioned 'view of lake Melville'.
Bottom centre - view down a road with snow covered trees on the left. Captioned 'the road o North west River'.
Bottom right - view down a road of buildings on left and right. Captioned 'Spruce Park C.A,F quarters'.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
United States
Illinois--Chicago
Newfoundland and Labrador--Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Illinois
Newfoundland and Labrador
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
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six colour photographs mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSparkesW17010047
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Sparkes, Ned. Album
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36367/PSparkesW17010046.2.jpg
b46be62dd46479deffc1a7694a68e672
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
Sparkes, Ned
William Sparkes
W Sparkes
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
2017-07-16
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Sparkes, W
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Goose Bay detachment
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - colour photograph of a CH-113 Labrador helicopter landing in forest clearing. Captioned 'arriving at Crooks Lake for fishing trip.
Top centre - colour photograph of a group of men in fancy dress. Captioned 'tramps night'.
Top right - three-quarter length colour image of a man swinging golf club. Captioned 'a game of golf on the USAF base at Goose'.
Centre - colour photograph of a group of men in fancy dress. Captioned 'Tony Purchase, Pilgrim-Morris, Me, Tony Ingolby, (Now Gp Capt Aide de Campe to the Queen) John Hill, Fred Baker, Bert the barber'.
Bottom left - colour photograph of a man holding up a fish in each hand by the side of a lake. Captioned 'a pair of Crooks Lake trout'.
Bottom right - a man standing on the bow of a sailing boat. Captioned 'sailing on the Hamilton River'.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador--Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Newfoundland and Labrador
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
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six colour photographs mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSparkesW17010046
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Sparkes, Ned. Album
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36365/PSparkesW17010044.1.jpg
466161837091d9ee7352580a322dc833
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
Sparkes, Ned
William Sparkes
W Sparkes
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
2017-07-16
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Sparkes, W
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
A.O.C.'s RAF Goose Bay
Description
An account of the resource
Formation of airmen marching past inside a hanger with reviewing party bottom left. Captioned 'A.V.M. Wade takes the salute Wing Co Redding leads the parade followed by F/O Pilgrim-Morris and yours truly. S/Ldr Tony Ingolby on right of the dais as usual standing doing nothing'.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador--Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Newfoundland and Labrador
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
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSparkesW17010044
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Sparkes, Ned. Album
hangar
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36364/PSparkesW17010043.1.jpg
89876d30a18ca6cea994506bd13fe0ba
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36364/PSparkesW17010054.1.jpg
5266d982b06d02477ba66132c5e20fed
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
Sparkes, Ned
William Sparkes
W Sparkes
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
2017-07-16
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Sparkes, W
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Vulcans at Goose Bay
Description
An account of the resource
Title 'RAF Goose Bay Labrador Canada, C.O. Wing Commander Ron Redding, the only unit to wear K.D. and artic clothing'.
Top - squadron photograph of airmen wearing tropical uniform sitting and standing in three rows in front of a Vulcan,
Bottom - squadron photograph of a group of airmen wearing arctic parkas. Included is an enlarged version of the bottom photograph.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador--Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Newfoundland and Labrador
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
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSparkesW17010043, PSparkesW17010054
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
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Sparkes, Ned. Album
aircrew
ground crew
ground personnel
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1401/27272/BMooreDMooreDv1.1.pdf
6f33157a0b1575c878747146f837b62b
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
Moore, Dennis
D Moore
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
2015-05-06
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
Moore, D
Description
An account of the resource
37 items and two albums.
The collection concerns (1923 - 2010, 1603117, 153623 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents, photographs and two albums. He flew operations as a navigator with 218 and 15 Squadrons.
Album one contains photographs of his family and his training in Canada.
Album Two contains photographs of his service in the Far East.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Terrence D Moore and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Dennis Moore
28.06.1923 – 30.10.2010
[photograph]
Autobiographical notes
DM Memoirs (Second Edition)
Compiled and edited by Terry D Moore
[censored lines]
1
[page break]
2
[page break]
Foreward
In late 1991, following the end of the Cold War and the cessation of hostilities in Iraq. the Government's "Options for Change" defence review led to the disbandment of several RAF squadrons, one of which was XV Squadron which had played a significant role in the first Gulf War. As a former member of this squadron, in which he flew as a Lancaster Navigator during the Second World War, my father was invited to attend the disbandment ceremony in Laarbruch, Germany, and I had the privilege of accompanying him as his guest.
Although he continued to serve in the RAF until 1964, Dad had never talked about his wartime experiences but, during the long car journey to and from Germany, all that changed – the memories flooded back as though it were yesterday. The stories became very familiar to me as they were regularly recounted at the many air-shows and Squadron Reunions we attended over almost two decades
Sadly, he did not live to celebrate his birthday on 28th June 2012, the day on which Queen Elizabeth II unveiled the long overdue Bomber Command Memorial in London's Green Park. However, my wife Penny and I proudly attended as his representatives
[photograph]
The ceremony, honouring the 55,730 airmen who lost their lives during the Second World War, was attended by more than 5,000 second world war veterans and it brought to mind the last words of the Antarctic explorer, Captain R.F. Scott: "had we survived I would have had a take to tell . . . . . . ." Well he did survive – a thirty-three sortie tour with Bomber Command, and his tales are told in the form of these "Autobiographical Notes" which he compiled following our trip to Germany in 1991.
I spent many hours editing his notes, which I illustrated with photographs from his albums and, thankfully, was able to get his seal of approval before he died. Since then I have added more photos and later material which I found in his papers. I am certain that he would have approved.
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Terry Moore, July 2012
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"60 years on" – with PA474 at RAF Lossiemouth, May 2005
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Pam and me at XV Squadron "90th Birthday" reunion, Lossiemouth
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Dennis Moore
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1923 – 1939
I was born at 98 Camden Crescent, Chadwell Heath, Essex on 28th June 1923. The youngest child of Thomas and Mary Moore 1, brother to Thomas (Owen) 2 and sister Joyce 3.
About 1926/7 the family moved to 150 Croydon Road, Beddington, Surrey.
My education began at Bandon Hill School, Wallington.
At the age of 7 I fell ill with infantile paralysis (Polio). I was taken to St. Thomas's Hospital in London where I spent nearly 3 months. I was immobilised in a body splint but do not remember much about the treatment except having pins stuck in the soles of my feet periodically (mostly in middle of night!). Apparently I was very lucky to have been diagnosed so quickly and affected in whole body rather than in particular limbs. I only remember there being some form of epidemic in the ward and visitors were not allowed for three weeks or so. The doctor promised me 5 shillings (a lot of money for an eight year old in those days) if I could walk unaided from the end of my bed to the end of the bed opposite by the time my parents were allowed back in. He had to pay up! All together I was off school for nearly a year. I started back in a wheel chair but soon discarded it!
In 1934 I got a place at Wallington County School for Boys. I was not very good at school but just about managed to keep up, though mostly somewhere near the bottom of the form! I only once ever obtained good results in exams when I managed to come [italics] first [/italics] in a science exam, and that was only because, by chance, I had swotted up the night before on all the right things!
I joined the school Scouts (9th Wallington {County School} Troop) and did quite well. Our Scout Master, A. D. Prince, was the school science master. I became Patrol Leader of the 'Owls' and eventually obtained the King's Scout badge and the 'Bushman's Thong'. Nearly every holiday was spent camping or 'Trekking'. In 1937 I attended the Scout Jamboree at Zandfoort in Holland (pictures in green photo album). None of us liked the very militant contingent from Germany who threw their weight about at all the 'get-togethers'.
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Joyce, Dad, Mum and me
I represented the Scouts at swimming and the school 2nd XV at Rugby. All my spare time was taken up with tennis at Beddington House Lawn Tennis Club, playing and helping to maintain the tennis courts.
My swimming ability arose from the Polio recovery therapy. Long daily sessions were spent in the hospital pool and then in the local swimming baths in Croydon.
Our house was quite close to Croydon Airport and two of my friends lived actually overlooking the airfield. We could recognise all of the airlines and aircraft that we saw landing and taking off each day. This aroused my life long interest in flying.
1 Thomas Henry Moore (1892-1967), Mary (née Tait) (1893-1984)
2 Thomas Owen (b. 3 October 1917, d. 2 November 2010)
3 Joyce (b. 11 July 1919, d. 16 May 2012)
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1939
Mid-June – our summer holiday at The Hartland Hotel, Hartland Point, Devon was delayed so that I could take the last exam of Matriculation (Economics) but I did so badly that we need not have wasted the extra day. I left school at the beginning of July, aged 16
War started on 3rd September and we listened to the radio broadcast by Neville Chamberlain, which was immediately followed by the Air Raid warning and all of us really though that we were about to be annihilated.
I started work at 'CUACO' (Commercial Union Assurance (Marine Department)) in Lime Street, London. Starting Pay was 21 shillings & sixpence (£1.12 1/2) per week and a railway season ticket cost 13 shillings (60p) per month. My boss was called Godin. I spent most of the time making onionskin copies of documents – before the days of photocopiers! The Underwriters were almost like gods and had to be treated as such. The firm had a lunch club in Ropemaker Street (near Moorgate Tube Station). It was a very old and decrepit building and we had one of the top floors, which could only be reached by very rickety stairs. It was well worth the 10-15 minute walk to get there, through the many alleyways and quick-cuts through other buildings, as the meal was free!!! Later, this building was destroyed by bombing and the Barbican now stands on the site.
I joined the AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service) as a Messenger.
1940
Joined the CUACO Tennis club. Played on the sports ground in the Sidcup area. In late summer I witnessed the bombings in the surrounding area.
The evacuation of Allied Forces from Dunkirk, following the German advance through Belgium, Holland and France, took place at the end of May and was completed around 3rd June. I had holiday from work a few days later and went on a cycle tour of Devon. I caught the train to Exeter, then cycled & stayed at YHA's from there. I passed many camps of army people who had just got back. They were not allowed to send mail without it being censored, so I acted as 'Mail Boy' for many of them who called me over from inside the fence. One of the hostels I stayed at was at Waters Meet (now a National Trust site) and the Warden and I were the only two people there. He took me into Lynton (or perhaps Lynmouth) and introduced me to real cider. It did not take much of this to wake up next morning with a very thick head! However, a long hike up the river soon altered that. At Salcombe, I managed to hire a motor boat (dinghy) and could not understand why the chap who hired it to me insisted that there was a full tank of petrol. I now imagine he must have thought that I was going into the Channel to pick up more 'Dunkirk Survivors' – I must have been very naive at the time!!
The 'Battle of Britain' started in earnest about 12th August. I had been playing tennis at Sidcup when the first bombing of airfields started. On the 15th (or possibly the 18th), I was in the garden at 150 Croydon Road Beddington when aircraft flew over with bombs dropping from them aimed towards Croydon aerodrome. The following day I was called to the Bourjois factory with the AFS to try and get underneath some girders to see if anyone was trapped. A few days later, Dad took us all to live with the Robsons in Charlton Cottage, Copperkins Lane, Amersham, which they rented for a short while. I joined the local Scout Troop (1st Chesham Bois) and met the King family. After short time, by general consent, I was made Troop Leader.
I travelled up to London daily by train with George King & his brother. On one occasion, after a very heavy night raid, it took two hours to walk from Paddington to Lime Street through the devastated city. I camped out at weekends at Chalfont Heights and Great Hampden.
The Blitz was at its height during this period and London and the surrounding area were seemingly bombed every night.
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1941
Early in year the folks moved back to Beddington but I stayed on and lived with one of the King family at 'Rose Cottage' in Chesham Bois. I visited Len Reynolds (see Gunboat 658) who worked for Sun Insurance and had been evacuated to Wrest Park, Silsoe, Beds. I cycled from Amersham via Luton and was chased by a dog for a long way up the A6. Recent visits to Wrest Park are somewhat nostalgic.
24th April 1941, on leaving Chesham Bois, I was presented with a Photo Album by George King and members of 1st Chesham Bois Scout Troop.
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Len Reynolds and myself in uniform
Changed jobs soon after a devasting German bombing raid on London on 10th May and started with Gold Exploration & Finance Company of Australia, which had been evacuated to Sandroyd School, Oxshott. The first few days were spent in the old office in Basinghall Street helping to move files and papers from the partially bombed building. During the week I lived at Sandroyd (in a small house called Kittermasters) and cycled home to Beddington at weekends. By the end of the summer the Blitz had more or less finished but a German bomber (or parts of it!) crashed in the grounds of Sandroyd one evening while we were out drinking in a local pub!
Volunteered for RAF and attended the selection centre at Oxford University (not sure which college – visits in recent years in no way help me to recognise anything about it). Had a long session with medics to decide if my previous infantile paralysis (Polio) would allow me to be considered for Aircrew. After an interview with four Senior Officers, it was decided that I had passed 'A1' and was 'sworn-in' for deferred service. My actual service in the RAF counted from then. Mum was very upset when I informed her as she was convinced that I would be unfit for any service in the Forces due to my previous medical history and Dad was upset that I had volunteered for the [underlined] RAF [/underlined] because he had already booked me as a nautical apprentice with a post on the Prince Line vessel "Black Prince". I had actually done myself a great favour as the ship was sunk quite early on with the loss of all the crew!
Took part in amateur dramatics at Sandroyd together with others from English, Scottish & Australian Bank (ES&A). Performed in Xmas panto as a character in sketches of the Weston Brothers type. They were very popular Radio characters of the time.
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1942
Early spring, I was called up as U/T Aircrew and reported to Aircrew Receiving Centre (ACRC) at Lords cricket ground and billeted in "Viceroy Court" (one of numerous apartment blocks in Regents Park area). During the first week or so we were kitted out, received inoculations, vaccinations, took night vision tests and attended numerous lectures in various part of the cricket ground. Many of the staff were well known cricketers of the day. Spent about eight or nine weeks here with some odd short periods of leave (weekend passes) so I was able to get home quite easily.
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At home in the garden 150 Croydon Rd, Beddington
Posted to RAF Bridgenorth & RAF Ludlow where I helped to build the camps. We lived in tents and were treated like 'dirt'. Most of the time was devoted to learning how to 'skive-off' each evening and get back into camp without being caught! Ludlow was famous for the large number of pubs and we took advantage of this to avoid being seen by the SPs (RAF Police). Fortunately, both postings were quite short lived.
Summer was spent at Initial Training Wing (ITW) Newquay. Billeted in the "Penolver Hotel" on the seafront. I seem to remember it being next door to the "Beresford" (pictures in album). Our Sergeant, called Sgt. Hannah, was very strict but fair and we got on well with him. In the photos I recall many of the faces but I cannot put names to any of them. A certain teaspoon, still in use, came from a little cafe where we had our brief coffee breaks! A glorious summer – spent much time on the beach and in the sea, as well as clay pigeon shooting on the cliffs.
Since I had elected not go to pilot basic training selection but [italics] to train as a navigator [/italics], I remained at Newquay with 2 others while the rest of the course did their 'Tiger Moth' time. We met up again at Heaton Park, Manchester after they had finished their pilot checkouts. Had a miserable time hanging about waiting for next posting. Billeted in a filthy boarding house with a scruffy landlady and every one of the NCOs seemed to make life difficult.
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1943
Early in the year I finally got a posting to Empire Air Training in Canada. We entrained to Greenock (Glasgow) and boarded the Troop ship [italics] Empress of Scotland [/italics].
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RMS Empress of Scotland (formerly Empress of Japan)
Hundreds of us were bundled together in tiers of bunks in makeshift accommodation on the port side, fairly well forward on the boat deck. It was a blessing being able to get out into the open quickly as some of the others were down below, almost in the bilges. We spent hours queuing for food but it passed the time quickly. We sailed on our own and had numerous alerts but nothing was seen or heard. Eventually we docked in New York, although we all thought we were going to [underlined] [italics] Halifax! [/italics] [/underlined]
By train up to No. 31 Personnel Depot Moncton (New Brunswick), stopping for nearly a day in sidings in Portland (Maine). People were very hospitable and made us meals and food for the rest of the journey.
It was freezing cold in Moncton but the huts were very warm and I remember barrels of apples at the end of each hut, which were always kept topped up with crisp, juicy, sweet red apples. Although well below zero outside, we never seemed to feel the cold. Time-off was spent in the town of Moncton, mostly in Macdonald's(?) drug store, eating very cheap T-bone steaks and drinking pints of milk. No shortage of food made it a regular paradise after rationing. We also spent hours ten-pin bowling, both in Moncton and in the alley back at camp.
I cannot remember what we did on duty, but do remember coming into contact with a Welsh corporal by the name of Gee who was the most obnoxious individual I have ever come across and who made our life a misery. It was a relief to join the epidemic of Scarlet Fever that swept through the camp. I was quite ill but lucky to find that one of the doctors was the husband of one of the girls that I had worked with at Sandroyd. He helped me when I was fit enough for convalescent leave by suggesting that I didn't go on my own to Montreal but to stay with one of the local families who took in Service people and looked after them. He introduced me to a couple called Tait who lived in Shediac, a place some 50 miles away, near or at the coast. They seemed to like me and 2 days later arrived back to take me home with them. They already had a number of Australian 'Tour Ex' aircrew staying with them, a couple of whom were in a very bad state and were being sent home by way of Canada and America.
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The Tait residence was a huge detached property and they had a lovely red setter dog called Terry who took an immediate fancy to me for some reason and was my constant companion for the rest of my stay with them.
The Taits cosseted me right from the start and were most intrigued to find that Mum's maiden name was the same as theirs. They were most concerned when they saw my patched pyjamas and other clothes and really didn't understand when I told them about
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clothes rationing and all the other shortages. They immediately took me shopping to buy a whole set of new clothes and underclothes. Early in my stay they asked if I had ever had oysters and when I said no they immediately took me to a place called Pointe du Cheyne(?), which was 75 miles away up the coast, for an evening meal out. The place specialised in fried oysters and I had a whole plateful of them. They were marvellous and the taste still lingers on even though I have never had them again since. They seemed to think nothing of a 75-mile drive each way just for a meal out. I was introduced to all the inhabitants of Shediac – or so it seemed – and during my stay with them took me all over New Brunswick, visiting all the towns and villages and spent a day in Fredrickton visiting various relatives at the University.
It was a terrible break to have to leave them and get back to real life. One thing however was somewhat sobering and that was the discussions I had with the Australians before they left. I learnt from them what it was really going to be like to go on Bomber operations once training was finished.
Almost as soon as I reported back to camp in Moncton I was posted to No 1 Central Navigation School – Rivers Manitoba. The trip was a 3-day ride on the train and that in itself was a fascinating experience. Eventually I arrived at the town of Brandon after a short stop off in Winnipeg.
No. 76A Navigation Course began almost as soon as I had arrived and lasted from 17th May 1943 to 1st October 1943. After nearly a month of groundwork, I had my first flight in an aeroplane on 5th June 1943. I spent 3 hours 10 minutes in Anson 6882 flown by P/O Davey. [underlined] [italics] I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. [/italics] [/underlined]
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76A Navigation Course 17th May – 1st October 1943,
No. 1 Central Navigation School, Rivers Manitoba, Canada
The others on the course were an amazingly good bunch and a number of us used to work and play together in almost perfect harmony. Only three pupils were 'scrubbed', for various reasons, during the course and the list of those completing the course is in my green photo album. Seven of us formed a small group.
Paul Bailey
Ken Waine
Joe Meadows
Doug Holt
Rick Richardson
Don Finlayson
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We were given regular 48-hour passes and the 75 miles on the train to Winnipeg was quite an easy journey. At Eatons, the major department store, we were able to arrange to stay with local people. Nearly all my visits were to a family living in Assiniboine Drive but quite early on Don Finlayson discovered that he had a relation in Winnipeg that he had never heard of before and we spent most of the time at his place, only going back to the others to sleep. I do not remember the name of the people I used to stay with, although I have a vague recollection that their name might be Oliver.
Finlayson's relatives had a youngish daughter and before long all seven of us paired up with other girls. As can be seen from the photo album we enjoyed many happy hours in the Cave Supper Club and danced to the music of Marsh Phimister (Marsh was still around in 1979 when we returned to Winnipeg to visit my cousin Tom Moore4 & his wife Marg!).
THE CAVE SUPPER CLUB
[photograph]
Date SEP 15 1948 No. 9 GIBSON
On one 48-hour pass I travelled to Toronto (or Montreal, I can't remember which) to meet my cousin Tom, whom I had never met before, but still managed to find him amongst the crowds on the Mainline Station. He took me to Hamilton Ontario were [sic] he was billeted. I think we also went to London Ontario but am not certain. He looked after me quite well and we seemed to get on well together, although it was a very short visit before I had to get back to camp.
Although I had never done very well at school, I suddenly discovered that I was just as clever (if not more so) as the others and I began to do well on the course. In the end I managed to finish 2nd on the course and along with 6 others was given an immediate commission as a Pilot Officer whilst all the others were promoted to Sergeant.
About the 5th October I returned to Moncton and almost straight away entrained to Halifax and boarded the Aquatania (or was it the Mauretania?). We sailed without a convoy again but had air cover at both ends with only a small gap in the middle. It was a smooth crossing, in much superior accommodation to that on the journey out. I met a Canadian who, it subsequently turned out, used to work opposite Tom Moore at Ogilvy Mills in Medicine Hat. – Small world!
We landed back at Greenock and I was posted to Harrogate for Officer kitting-out and indoctrination. I stayed at the Queen's Hotel in some luxury and, as there were lots of Civil Servants evacuated to Harrogate, the social life was extremely good. Went to numerous dances and parties including Christmas and New Year.
4Tom Moore (1916-1992) Margaret (nee Rutherford) (1914-1999)
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1944
Posted to No. 1 (O) A.F.U. (Advanced Flying Unit) Wigton, Scotland on or about 10th January and started No. 193 Air Navigators AFU Course.
Towards the end of January I 'went sick' with an undulant fever. Local Medical Officer did not believe me until I got rapidly worse and eventually was transferred to Hospital near Stranraer where Glandular fever was diagnosed. Whilst there, a survivor from a crashed Anson was brought in and all the 'stops' were pulled out to help him survive. Although nearly every bone in his body was broken he gradually rallied and started to make a miraculous recovery. Having recovered from Glandular Fever, I was diagnosed to have a mild leukaemia and started getting massive injections of iron and ate liver until it almost came out of my ears. Walked for miles in the surrounding countryside with some of the other patients and after a while felt fitter than I had for a long time.
I rejoined No. 226 Course on 7th April and finally finished there on 2nd May. I was posted to No. 12 O.T.U. (Operational Training Unit) at a place called Chipping Warden near Banbury. I arrived at Banbury railway station on my own and started enquiring about transport to the RAF Station. I met a Squadron Leader Pilot who informed me that he had already arranged for transport, which would be along in 'about an hour'. We sat and talked and I learned that he was called Nigel Macfarlane (Mac), a Rhodesian, who had already done a 'tour' in Hampdens. He told me that we were both two days late for the start of the course, although through no fault of our own. He seemed to be quite interested in me and my background.
When we arrived on the course, we discovered that most of the others had already had time to choose their own crews and Mac immediately asked me to be his navigator. Together we then looked around for the rest of the crew.
Eventually we got ourselves sorted out and finished up with
Pilot – Squadron Leader Nigel G. Macfarlane
Navigator – Pilot Officer Dennis Moore
Bomb Aimer – Pilot Officer Fred H. Shepherd
Wireless Operator – Sergeant 'Napper' Dennis Evans
Mid Upper Gunner – Sergeant Jimmy Bourke
Rear Gunner – Sergeant 'Nobby' Clarke (655)
The Flight Engineer, Sergeant 'Johnnie' Forster (later to become Pilot Officer), joined us later – after we had left Chipping Warden.
Fred Shepherd wore an 'N' brevet as he had completed a Navigation Course but for some reason had been re-mustered to Bomb Aimer at the end of his course?
The OCU aircraft identification was 'FQ'. All the flying was done in Wellingtons and it is worth noting that one of these – Z1735 – 'S', actually set a record of longevity by operating at this unit from early 1942 until January 1945. We only flew in this aircraft once. During the course both Fred & I were made Flying Officers and the Sergeants promoted to Flight/Sergeant.
We were on an exercise on the night of 5/6th June (D-day), and at the time could not understand why there were so many other aircraft in the sky!
On the 10th July we completed our first Operational flight on what was called a 'Nickel'. We dropped leaflets over Angers in France. The trip was successful and no difficulties other than 'Flak' were encountered.
Much of our flying here was from the 'satellite' airfield of Edgehill which was some distance away and actually on the site of the old battlefield.
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We finished our training about the 15th July, by which time we all seemed to work well together and all the instructors rated Mac very highly.
Posted to No. 1653 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) Chedburgh, Suffolk, on or about 28th July after leave. Flying on Stirlings commenced on the 14th August, firstly on 'A' Flight doing mostly circuits and bumps by day & night and then on 'C' & 'D' Flight doing Cross Country, followed by high level bombing practice. During the course we had 2 undercarriage collapses but otherwise the Stirling was quite a pleasant aircraft to fly in.
We did a fair bit of interchange of jobs except that our flight engineer, Johnny Forster had now joined us and he got the major share of actually flying it. I had a short lesson and also a session in the rear turret. It was here that I discovered that I did not feel at all happy looking down. I actually dropped a stick of practice bombs and did very well. On the ground we also did exercises at each other's job and on the gunnery range my '4 sec' burst disintegrated the moving target!
Whilst doing each other's jobs we found out that Mac (the pilot) had attended the Specialist Navigators Course just when the war started (he had come over from Rhodesia and joined the Air Force in 1938). This made three of us who were so-called navigators and it could have presented a problem, particularly as Fred Shepherd rather fancied himself in that role. However, on one trip, Fred started to try and give changes of aircraft heading to Mac from 'pinpoints' that he had observed on the ground without letting me know. Mac had no hesitation in telling the whole crew that, although there were two others who 'at a pinch' could possibly take over, there was only one navigator in the aircraft whilst he was Captain and that was me!! – and he had every faith in my ability to look after all of us as far as the navigation was concerned. This certainly boosted my ego and from then on we all got on famously.
The course was completed on the 4th September and we were quickly posted to No. 3 LFS (Lancaster Finishing School) at Feltwell where we arrived on 7th. Feltwell was a grass airfield with no runways but, nevertheless, we finished our conversion in 4 days and then rushed to No. 218 Squadron at Methwold so that Mac could take over the job of c/o 'A' Flight. We discovered that a few nights previously the Squadron had lost 5 aircraft, one of the crews being the Flight Commander. This was somewhat of a shattering experience to start off with but fortunately our first operation was a relatively easy one, bombing by daylight 'V1' bomb sites at Boulogne. 'Flak' (Anti-Aircraft shells) was quite heavy but there was no fighter activity.
During the rest of September we did two more daylight trips and 1 night trip to Neuss near Dusseldorf. During the early days of Oct. we converted to a form of specialised bombing called 'G.H' – an extension of OBOE. This used a tracking beam and a crossing beam for the release point. On this system the bomb aimer only had to set up the bomb release and I did the actual bombing run and release. The exercises we did proved to be extremely accurate and we regularly dropped practise bombs to within 50 yards from 20,000 feet.
Methwold was built just before the war but had no permanent brick buildings and accommodation was in Nissen huts dispersed in the woods, some over a mile from the Mess, which could only be reached over muddy footpaths. It started to get quite cold in these huts quite early on and scrounging for fuel for the stoves became a major pastime. Barbara Sharp, who used to live five doors from us in Beddington, turned up at Methwold but she did not stay for long. The film 'Journey together' was shot at Methwold and David Tomlinson the actor (of 'Bedknobs & Broomsticks' with Julie Andrews) was on one of the Squadrons. The author – Miles Tripp was a bomb-aimer on the Squadron and his book "The Eighth Passenger" tells of his crew and what happened to them both during and after the war. He talks of one trip taking off at a certain time when we actually took off 1 minute before him on the same operation. My experience and his seemed to differ completely on this particular occasion (see copy of his book obtained 20/01/1994!!).
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During October we completed 2 daylights and 3 night ops and after 1 trip (at night) in November Mac was posted to Mildenhall as Commanding Officer No. 15 (XV) Squadron and promoted to Wing Commander. The next day he sent an aircraft over to fetch us and we then joined the Squadron officially. As the C/O's crew we did less trips than anyone else and as Mac decided to act as a check pilot for the first trip with all new crews, we were asked to fly with one of the Flight Commanders called Flight Lieutenant Pat Percy (known to us as 'Tojo'). This was not a popular move as he was not of the same calibre as Mac but for special trips Mac flew with us and the difference was noticeable by everyone. Tojo was promoted to Squadron Leader in mid-December and we finished the month carrying out 3 daylight and 3 night trips. One of these was as 'Master Bomber' on the Schwammenauel Dam with Mac.
[photograph]
Mildenhall, December 1944
XV Squadron crew, with Lancaster "C" Charlie, ME844
[photograph] [photograph]
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1945
New Year's day opened the month with a 6 hour 5 minute night trip and during the rest of the month a further two night ops and three day trips were completed. On the 14th, returning from Saarbrucken, the East Anglian weather deteriorated so much that all aircraft had to be diverted. We finished up at Predannack in Cornwall and it was an absolute shambles. It is amazing that there were not any collisions as aircraft with very little fuel left tried to get into unknown airfields.
Most of our spare time when 'ops' were not in the offing we used to spend at the Bull at Barton Mills. Mac had his wife Margaret (from Nottingham) and his baby son Ian living there and the whole crew went to keep her company, particularly when Mac himself was not able to be there (see note at end of 1945). He often went with 'Sprog' crews on their first operation, to try and make sure that they were capable of operating on their own. We made many friends from No. 90 Squadron based at Tuddenham, which was also nearby and particularly with a Squadron Leader Pete Dunham and his crew who we subsequently saw blowing up on a daylight operation (see scrapbooks)
Only 2 trips in February (1 day – 1 night) both with Mac, and during this time Johnnie Forster was commissioned and Fred & I took him to London to get kitted out.
About this time I first met Pam. She was going out with Fred and visited him at Mildenhall. For some reason or other we were walking back to camp from the village as a group and Fred chose to go off with somebody else and Pam walked back with me.
Also around about this time I had bought a car and 'passed my test' by driving on leave with 4 passengers down through the centre of London. BAU 62 was a blue Ford saloon named 'EROS' which I bought for £30 at an auction of the effects of a deceased pilot.
Sometime during the month, my sister Joyce came up to visit. She stayed at a small pub quite near the main camp. I have always thought that it was called the George but visits in recent years have failed to find a pub with this name. [italics] (27/05/2014 – Fred Shepherd confirmed that it was "The Bird in Hand" which is just outside the old main gate – Ed) [/italics]
7 Daylight ops during March and mostly with a Canadian bomb-aimer called Tom Butler who stood in for Fred who was deputising for the Bombing Leader. On most of these we led either the Squadron, the Base (No. 32) or the whole Group. A Base was a small group of RAF airfields & 3 Group comprised all the Heavy Bomber Squadrons in East Anglia. All these 'daylights' were flown in quite tight formation – depending on the opposition! To boost moral back at the Squadron, our return over the airfield was always in as tight a formation as possible. On 23rd March we bombed a very precise area on the German side of the Rhine at Wesel (we were the lead aircraft), in preparation for our troops crossing. From all the aircraft bombing, 80 despatched and 77 actually bombed, only one bomb fell outside the perimeter (not us!) and that was as a result of a 'hang up' and not the fault of the crew. In Dudley Saward's authorised biography of "Bomber" Harris, this attack was listed as – 'perhaps the best example of direct support of the Army were the attacks on troop concentrations in Wesel on 23rd March by seventy seven heavies dropping 435.5 tons of bombs immediately prior to the Army launching its crossing of the Rhine and capturing Wesel'. Montgomery wrote to Harris – "My grateful appreciation of the quite magnificent co-operation you have given us. The bombing of Wesel yesterday was a masterpiece and was a decisive factor in making possible our entry into that town before midnight".
At this stage of Bombing Operations in Europe the number of 'Ops' required to complete a 'Tour' changed week by week. At the beginning of the year it was more or less standard at 30 but then it went up, first to 35 then to 40 before coming back down to 35 again in early March. When we went on our 33rd trip on 14th April we still expected to have at least another two to do. It was very much of a pleasant surprise to be told that we had finished as the tour had just been reduced again to 30!! One of the most difficult of trips was always the last with the crew
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so worked up that inevitably things went wrong and the crew failed to return. We were lucky not to have had to go through that trauma. Although so late on in the war, losses were still extremely high, with aircraft being shot down by flak and the more modern German fighters even by rocket aircraft. Losses averaged 5% per trip right up to the end. The end of the European war (VE Day) came on my last day of 'End of Tour' leave and after some celebrations on the way eventually got back to camp to find the mess having a huge party which spread onto the front lawn with fireworks and a colossal bonfire.
Without having much time to think about what was happening, the crew split up and I was posted to Catterick for "Disposal", leaving on the following day. I drove up to Catterick on official petrol coupons and went through the boring process of half choosing and half being told where to go next. At the time it seemed like a good idea to elect for Transport Command to get away from having to stay in Bomber Command and being posted to the Far East in what was known as 'Tiger Force'. I had hoped that I could get on to routes in-and-around Europe!!
After a further leave, when I had to drive on 'acquired' petrol, I was eventually posted to No. 109 Transport OTU Crosby-on-Eden near Carlisle, arriving around the beginning of June. After 4 weeks 'Ground' school – after a false start, I crewed up with:
Pilot – Flying Officer 'Butch' Harris
Signaller – Warrant Officer Ernie Omerod
and flying on DC3 (Dakotas) began on the 7th July and finished on 27th August. On the 1st August the unit was reorganised as 1383 Transport Conversion Unit and it was here that the news of the dropping of the Atom Bombs was announced, as well as the end of the war. Another tremendous party to celebrate.
I was then posted to India! Departed for Morecombe to await transit instructions. Pam came up for few days and we went fishing for Dabs with the others! On 7th October departed for Holmsley South (Hampshire) and the following day we left in a York (MW167) of 246 Squadron for Karachi via Malta, Cairo and Shiebah, arriving on the 10th. Spent a whole month kicking our heels in Mauripur (Karachi) before moving on (see photo album).
On 16th November departed in Sunderland (ML786) for Calcutta. Had a 7 1/2-hour flight, taking-off and landing in the appropriate rivers and enjoying the luxury of a civilian aircraft even though flown by a Wing Commander.
Arrived on 52 Squadron at Dum Dum, Calcutta and almost immediately started route flying in Dakotas. Places visited:
Akyab
Bangkok
Bombay
Canton
Chakulia
Chittagong
Comilla
Hong Kong
Meiktila
Nagpur
Rangoon
Saigon
Although now 3 months since the war finished, there were still the last of the Japanese soldiers (now prisoners) working at various places we flew to and there was much evidence of the utter destruction caused by their occupation. Most of our flights were to ferry the civil and military occupation forces back and forth and even to the more remote areas.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent on a round trip to Rangoon via Meiktila where our Xmas Dinner was a bacon 'sarni' (we actually had flown in the bacon!)
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1946
New Year's day was spent en-route to Bombay having only returned the night before from Rangoon again. During the month we flew some 71 hours.
Until 5th May we flew with only very short breaks in between and in one month (March) flew 106 hours. It was in March when we had to divert whilst flying over Hainan Island and the only option open to us was to go to Canton (China). We became the first British aircraft to land there since the beginning of the war. As I was the senior British Officer on board the aircraft, the British Consul would only talk to me even though I was not Captain of the aircraft. He was virtually useless and was going to try and arrange for various families to accommodate us in ones and two? The American Consul offered to put everyone up in his Headquarters and I agreed to this much to the annoyance of the British bloke (I seem to remember his name was HALL). Within a few minutes everything was arranged and all 30 odd people allocated a bed, even though somewhat crowded. The crew adjourned to the bar and, as the song 'Rum & Coca-Cola' was all the rage at the time, that's what we decided to have. It slid down very easily and after eating out at a local Chinese Café we eventually returned rather noisily, tripping over various passengers beds in the process. In the morning 7 of the passengers refused to fly with us and decided to return to Hong-Kong by boat. We did the trip in a matter of minutes whilst they took nearly the whole day. To give them their due, when we met up again in Hong-Kong, their spokesman apologised to us and admitted that we knew our own job better than they thought we did and then he bought us all a further round of 'Rum & Coke'.
Soon after this episode we were allocated a very young 2nd pilot called Terry Glover, who ousted me from my usual position in the right-hand seat. After a very scary let-down into Hong-Kong (letting down well out to sea and flying very low level over the water and between the numerous islands) we were guided by our new pilot into a dead-end which was not very popular with 'Butch', who immediately climbed very rapidly, put me back in the right-hand seat and then did a smart 180 before doing another letdown. This time I was lucky enough to find the right way through the islands and from then on I always sat in the front unless the conditions were CAVU (Clear and Visibility unlimited). In 1946 Kaitak airfield was a very different airfield compared to today. The main runway was usually only used from one end (from seaward) as a 1200ft. mountain blocked the other end. It was just possible to land the other way by just scraping the top of the 'Hill' and cutting back on everything, dropping like a stone then pulling out at the last moment!! We did it a number of times but only when the weather was good and even then it was quite exciting. After the war the whole of the mountain was removed and dumped in the sea at the other end of the runway, thus extending the runway considerably. Photos in the brown embossed album just about show this hill. More pictures in the album show various other views and other places. We stayed in a transit 'Hotel' called the 'Arlington' and did a great deal of sightseeing. Bearing in mind that the colony had only just been recovered from the Japanese, there was plenty to see and do. A suite in the Peninsular Hotel (the largest at the time) had been occupied by the Japanese General commanding the colony and was fitted out to remind him of home and even had a little stream running through the bedroom!!
One of the delights of our stays in Hong-Kong was the chance to be able to drink fresh cold milk and we always made a beeline for the local Milk-Bar as soon as we arrived and indulged in the luxury of a long cold pint!! Food also seemed plentiful and we fed well in one or the other of a Russian Café on the mainland, which was called "Timoschenko's" or the "Paris Grille" over on Kowloon.
Our stops in Saigon were also not without their drama as well as relaxation. The French always resented our having taken over from them and a continuous subtle 'infighting' was always taking place. The airfield was run by a joint-force and both the French and British Flags flew side by side on separate flagpoles over the airfield Control Tower. The British troops started one night by taking the French pole down and sawing a foot off the end before putting it back up so that their flag was slightly lower than ours. Apparently it took them a long time to notice but when they did, they reciprocated. Eventually new flagpoles were required and these
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got progressively longer and longer. One evening we arrived to discover the French very much up in arms because the following day their General Leclerc was coming on an inspection visit and they had caught our chaps taking their flag away altogether. As a result we were prevented from parking our aircraft in its usual position and were made to place it in part of a semi circle of aircraft on the tarmac in front of the Control Tower. We told them that we needed to leave at our usual time the following morning (around 8.30 to 9.00) to give us plenty of time in daylight for the 6 1/2-hour flight to Hong-Kong. They chose to ignore us and insisted we park where they told us, despite our protests. When we arrived early the next morning from our hotel in the town, French troops and a large band were already drawn up inside the semi circle, awaiting the arrival of General Leclerc. We carried out our normal preparations, including starting up the engines and testing them out! This infuriated the French and when we went back into the Control Tower for Met. and Flight Clearance briefing, they threatened to arrest us. The British staff winked, gave us a full briefing, with both Met. and the arrival times of visiting dignitaries, and assured us that they would give us taxi and take-off clearance. Walking casually through the French ranks, we informed one of the officers that they would need to move whilst we taxied out but nobody moved. We then decided that it was time to go, so started up our engines again and called for taxi clearance. We got no reply so started to move forward very slowly. The troops decided to give us room to get through and moved aside, but as we turned it was necessary to rev up the port engine and this we did somewhat more enthusiastically than usual. When we managed to look back the bandsmen were chasing their sheet music all over the airfield, so we gave an extra blast just to complete the havoc. As we did so the controller came through advising us to take off immediately and clear the area. Once airborne, the British controller bid us 'good-day' and thanked us for our 'co-operation' and we could hear the glee in his voice. Almost immediately we were formatted upon by 4 Free French Spitfires and we had visions of them shooting us down. However, they stayed with us for nearly 10 minutes before breaking away sharply and going back the way we had come. We found out on the return visit that they thought we were the General's aircraft and that the General's aircraft had landed before they got back. Apparently he was NOT amused to have to arrive without an escort and the Band still not fully reformed!!
On top of all this there were Dacoits and Bandits operating in the area, and there were gunfights around the airfield and Saigon on a number of occasions. Despite all this we enjoyed our leisure in Saigon, the French Club 'Ciercle Sportif' (see Photos).
About this time, I had applied for a job with BOAC through Mr. Robson who was something to do with the Ministry of Transport. I had been given a very good character assessment by our Squadron Commander (see his remarks in my Log-Book) and had hoped that the experience of 'route' flying would stand me in good stead.
In mid May we were given 2 weeks leave and we decided to find the coolest spot we could, so decided to visit Darjeeling. We went by train to a place called Siliguri, which is at the base of the Himalayas. By the time we got there we were hotter than ever and did not relish another train ride up to Darjeeling. However, we joined a miniature train which slowly but surely wound its way up the mountains and it got progressively cooler all the time. When it got near to the top it was going round and round like a corkscrew and in many places it was possible to step off the train, as it was moving very slowly, and then walk up a few steps to meet the line again and wait for the train to come past again. There is a picture of this in the photo album and this little railway is in fact quite famous. By the time we reached Darjeeling I was freezing cold and we had to hang about whilst accommodation was arranged for us. I remember flopping down on a bed in a dingy "guest house" and the next thing I remembered was waking up in the local Forces Hospital. It seemed that I had gone down with a severe bout of flu and some other chest bug as well. I was extremely well looked after in this hospital and there were a number of Sikh and Ghurka officers in the place as well. They all had serious complaints of some sort but as I got better they were a good crowd to be with. Towards the end of the 14 days leave, the others that I had come up to Darjeeling with departed back to Calcutta and I was given an indefinite extension, with sick leave on top. Before leaving the hospital, I was taken by the others to visit the highest racecourse in the world. It was at a place called Lebong and was at 14,000 feet. It was about the size of a large football ground and spent most of the time in
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cloud. Betting was a hazardous affair, as it was not unknown for the horses to disappear into cloud on the far side of the curse, only to re-appear in a completely different order when they came back into view! However, it was very pleasant to be able to sit in a reserved box, rather like the Royal Box at Epsom, drinking our cool drinks and placing a bet when the mood took us. We never ever won anything but nevertheless didn't lose much either. One morning, very early, a whole gang of us hired horses and rode the 15 miles or so to a place called Tiger Hill where we hoped to witness sunrise over Everest. We did see Everest but the sunrise was not quite where we had thought it should be. It was a magnificent sight, however, and well worth the effort to get there. The ride back was less pleasant and we all finished up vowing never to ride a horse again. Needless to say I never have.
One of the patients from the Hospital was a chap called Captain Weston who had a very rare skin complaint which was caused by the heat and humidity of the climate on the plains. His skin peeled off in layers and as a result he nearly died. It was only in the cool of the hills that his skin was able to grow again but as soon as the Medics tried to get him back home the whole process started again. Apparently on one occasion they got him as far as Calcutta ready to catch a plane out but unfortunately the aircraft takeoff was delayed and they had to rush him back to Darjeeling having already lost nearly the whole of his skin again and once again seriously ill. I have often wondered what ever happened to him when I left.
So many people out in India and the Far East suffered from skin problems as well as the dysentery types of disease. Apart from the time in Darjeeling I cannot remember being free from some form of diarrhoea varying from slight to chronic as well as 'Prickly Heat'. We all took Malarial prevention tablets called Mepachrine, which gave a yellowy tinge to the skin. Having the 'Trots' while flying was somewhat of a problem in itself. The Dakota only had one toilet and with 35 odd passengers most of whom suffered from the same problem made things somewhat complicated!! The prickly heat was no respecter of rank and once we had an Air Commodore on board who asked if he could come up front so that he could take his Bush Jacket off and get some cold air to his body. I had never before seen anyone who was so badly affected. His whole body was one mass of it and most was infected through scratching. We opened the side windows for him and after about an hour's flying he got some slight relief. He was most grateful to us and thanked us profusely before going back to the cabin to exercise his authority over the more junior members of his party. The Medics had no cures for any of these problems in those days although they could bring some help to the dysentery sufferers.
I was very reluctant to leave the cool of Darjeeling but eventually had to and took a mad taxi ride down through the tea plantations to the railway at Siliguri and almost finished up with a heart attack as the driver was desperate to show off his skill at negotiating hairpin bends on two wheels and only one hand on the steering. The road drops from about 12,000 feet to sea level in something like 15 miles and did not seem to go more than a few hundred yards without at least one hairpin to turn back on itself. The heat at sea level hit me like an oven and the train ride back to Calcutta was enough to make me swear never to complain about being too cold again. When you are cold at least you can find some way of keeping warm but there was absolutely no way out there that you could cool off when you were too hot.
Back in Calcutta the Monsoon had started with a vengeance but I was immediately informed that I was on the next 'demob' contingent and also that I had been offered a job as Navigator with BOAC as soon as I was 'demobbed'. Very soon after I was on the train again, en-route to Bombay. This took 3 days and we played cards nearly the whole time. I swore that I would never play 'Solo' again after that. It was sweltering hot the whole time and we had all the windows open to catch the air from the movement of the train but most of the time we just got the smoke and smuts from the engine. Food was only available at each of the many stops and since the train was only carrying troops it was a mad rush each time and more often than not we had to scramble back onto the train as it started to pull out of the station without having got anything.
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At Bombay we waited in the transit camp at WORLI until our turn came. After about two weeks we finally boarded the SS Samaria, a small passenger boat, which we were told would take 13-14 days to reach home. As we sailed out of the harbour a large liner steamed in and we were told that it would embark its passengers and sail again within 12 hours and only take 7 days to get home. Sure enough the following day we were galled to see it steaming passed [sic] us with all the troops on her decks jeering at us as they shot past. We were absolutely livid at the time and as everyone was anxious to get home as soon as possible we all felt hard done by. However, we heard later that the liner had broken down and had turned round and gone back to Bombay during the night. Like the tortoise and the hare the laugh was on us as we chugged slowly but surely and arrived in Liverpool after 12 days.
After disembarking we were quickly put through the 'demob' procedure including handing in our air force kit, medicals and being issued with civilian clothes and a rail warrant home and with the minimum of fuss we caught the train to London. All this happened within 24 hours of disembarking and, similarly quickly, arrangements were made for our Wedding on 19th October at St. Andrews church Leytonstone. After a Honeymoon in Hastings I was due to start with BOAC at the beginning of November. However, following a visit to my old civilian company to tell them that I did not want my old job back, I was introduced to Air Commodore Powell who was running SILVER CITY AIRWAYS and decided to join them instead, which I did on 5th November. On the 8th I was navigating an Avro Lancastrian G-AHBW (City of London) from London Heathrow to Nairobi Eastleigh, Captained by Ex-Wing Commander Johnny Sauvage DSO & bar, DFC, arriving back to the 4 huts of Heathrow on the 24th. During December we did 3 trips to Malta and back, one of them in the then record time of 4 hours 55 minutes (see cutting from the Malta Times). Thus ended a very eventful Year.
[photograph]
Sliver [sic] City Airways – December 1946
Johnny Sauvage and crew with Lancastrian G-AHBW “City of London”
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1947
At the end of my RAF Transport Command Course at Crosby on Eden in 1945, I had been
awarded a certificate which was recognised by the Department of Civil Aviation. Also in February 1946 I had been awarded a Second Class Navigation Warrant number 422, which was also recognised by the D of CA. Whilst working in the office of Silver City Airways (1 Great Cumberland Place, London), I was able to study the additional subjects required to obtain a Civil Aircraft Navigator's Licence. I passed all except [underlined] signalling [/underlined] and re-took this and one other subject to obtain full First Class Civil Licence in May. After another full aircrew medical, licence number 2116 was issued on 7th June 1947.
On 13th June I started flying again with Captain Storm-Clark in G-AHBV "City of Canberra" to Verona. After a further 2 months in their office (during which time Terry was born, we moved from 63 Fladgate Road, Leytonstone, to38 Warham Road, South Croydon, as well as attending a XV Squadron reunion at the Holborn Restaurant on 22nd August), I joined up with Captain R. C. "Hoppy" Hopkins as his navigator on a VIP Dakota G-AJAV. This aircraft was very luxuriously fitted out, with only 6 seats and very superior accommodation. Hoppy immediately 'promoted' me to 'pupil pilot under instruction' and I spent most of my flying time with him sitting in the second pilot's seat, often on my own, while he chatted with the passengers. We flew to France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal and Iceland, as well as locally. I was very disappointed when the aircraft was chartered to fly Churchill out to Marrakesh and I was taken out of the crew. Another pilot took my place to act as formal second pilot/navigator. Hoppy was very upset particularly as the new chap was not a very experienced pilot and had never previously acted as navigator. He had long arguments with the MD of the company (Air Commodore Powell) expressing the opinion that he 'would rather fly with an experienced navigator who at a pinch could fly the aircraft than fly with a not very experienced pilot who, at a pinch, might possibly be able to navigate the aircraft'. Unfortunately the MD would not give way and blamed the charterers, who had insisted on there being two qualified pilots on board and the firm could not afford to have a crew of four (excluding stewards etc.).
In the event I was sent to Belfast to pick up a crew to ferry a Sandringham flying-boat to Buenos Aires. The pilot was called 'Pappy' Carreras (because of his age) and we got on famously together. As well as navigator I was 'promoted' to become 'Mooring Officer', which meant that I stood in the bows to slip the mooring before take-off and had to attempt to catch the mooring buoy with a boat-hook on landing. I had thought that slipping the mooring would be very simple but more often than not it was impossible to do as the aircraft was pulling against the tide and the loop would not come off without the engines being revved hard to take up the slack. Often we surged forward so quickly that I did not have time to get the loop off before we were passing the buoy – still attached to it. Mooring after landing was also just as tricky and I lost a number of boat-hooks before I finally mastered the technique!!
On the way we ate and slept in the 'boat' as the accommodation and cooking facilities were superb. On the leg between Dakar (West Africa) and Natal (Brazil), Pappy commented that although he had done the crossing a number of times, he had never seen Saint Paul's rocks. I gaily said that this time we would see them, not realising how small they were in the wide expanse of ocean. He immediately took me up on it and some 8 hours later (the crossing took 10 hours 20 minutes) was more than astonished when I suggested that if the others were to look out of the starboard windows they might see the rocks in about 5 minutes time. More by pure luck than anything to do with me, we passed them some 6 minutes later about 1/2 mile away. From then on I could do no wrong!!
Pappy had flown during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 but unfortunately for him – on the wrong side – so that he was no longer able to go home. His flying with F.A.M.A. (Flota Aerea Merchante Argentina) meant that he had to be very careful not to ever get diverted to Spain.
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Christmas day was spent in Buenos Aires and I was able to buy some presents there that I could not get at home. (A Tri-ang bus (No. 15) and Xmas Decorations – some of which are still in use today!!) We arrived back in London on New Years Eve (without Pappy who of course normally operated from B.A.)
As a result of my various trips abroad I did not spend much time at home, although when I did, I usually was able to have plenty of time-off from work.
Sometime round about October, Terry had gone into Great Ormond St. Hospital to have a growth removed from his neck. It was more difficult to remove than had originally been thought and when he was able to come home he became very ill with Gastro Enteritis and was taken to the Mayday Hospital in Croydon. He was desperately ill to start off with and took a long time to recover.
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1948
Worked mostly in the office until April, having attended a 52 Squadron Reunion at the Waldorf Hotel on 20th February when, on 8th April, I ferried a MOSQUITO out of Turkey via Jersey & Rome landing at IZMIR. Had trouble with Turkish Customs over three wooden deer bought in Rome. They could not seem to understand way anyone should want to buy such things! An insight into to [sic] the mentality of the Turks we came into contact with is highlighted by the fact that the Turkish government had purchased 100 odd SPITFIRES and a similar number of 'Mossies'. The deliveries were almost complete by the time we took ours out there but they only had managed to have one Mosquito & two Spits' remaining serviceable by that time. The story goes that one Spitfire XI was delivered one evening and the pilot handed it over to the ground crew asking if there was anything they wanted to know about it. During the night it rained hard and when they were getting it ready for a test flight they discovered that the cockpit had a pool of water in it. To cover up the fact that the cockpit hood had been left open in the rain, one bright spark took his drill with the biggest bit that he could find and bored a series of holes in the floor and to let the water drain out!! The Turkish pilot duly took off but came back in after a fairly short flight and refused to sign the acceptance certificate because the aircraft would not pressurise. Apparently the Spitfire XI was one of the first aircraft to have cockpit pressurisation!!!
In May we went to Canada to pick up a Dakota which had just been converted for a company in South Africa. I stayed in Montreal whilst the rest of the crew went down into the States to pick it up. At the time I thought the whole set-up seemed strange but the fact that aircraft were being flown illegally into Israel at the time never occurred to me. Eventually we set off from Montreal to Newfoundland but I didn't prepare properly and we wandered miles off course and I was unable to get a pinpoint fix because I could not recognise any ground feature. Since I had been sitting in the second pilot's seat I eventually decided to go back and try to fathom out why we were 'lost'. After a long period I suddenly realised what I had done wrong – I had borrowed a Canadian map that had the various airline tracks marked on and along the side were the courses to steer. What I had not noticed was that they were magnetic and not [underlined] true [/underlined] bearings. I had applied a correction for the wind and applied variation as usual to arrive at the course for the pilot to steer. As variation in that part of the world was something like 30 degrees, we had in fact been flying 30 degrees off course!! Once I had sussed this out I was soon able to recognise where we were and to start pointing us back in the right direction. Sighs of relief all round!! If we had had some decent radio equipment aboard it would not have been so bad but the aircraft was stripped right down to bare essentials – In retrospect another odd thing.
When we landed at GANDER my preparation was suddenly very much more thorough, the next leg being across the Atlantic. With the fuel that we could carry there were three choices of route bearing in mind the winds that could be expected in the weather systems that existed. First, to head straight across to Ireland and make for Shannon – this was ruled-out as there would be barely enough fuel to do it. Second, to go southwards to the Azores. This was the best for fuel, wind & weather but without radio navigation aids was rather risky – if we missed our landfall there was nowhere to divert to within range of the fuel remaining (if any!). Third, to head for Iceland, which was much the nearest. Unfortunately, with the low-pressure system to the north, the winds would be headwind and very strong. This would again leave us very short of fuel and, as well as this, the landing conditions forecast were not very good. As a result of our discussions we decided that unless we waited a couple of days for the weather to improve, we should consider a fourth possibility of taking the short leg to Greenland, refuelling and then heading for Iceland the following day. This would only, so we thought, take one more day and would allow us to assess the fuel situation when approaching Iceland and perhaps carry on direct to Scotland and, in fact, save us time. This we finally decided to do and although we were unable to get clearance due to radio interference, the controller assured us that it would be alright as he would radio through later on whilst we were on our way. After a very frightening flight to Bluey West One, up a long fiord, we arrived only to be refused landing permission as the flight had not been cleared. Since there was no way we could get back to Gander and there were no other diversions they eventually agreed to let us land. When we did
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the aircraft was surrounded with soldiers and we were told that we would be interned until clearance could be obtained from Washington because of the Israeli situation!!
So there we sat for 7 days whilst the powers-that-be decided what to do with us. We had all bought loads of food to bring home as meat was still rationed and other foodstuffs were in short supply. We had a small fridge on board the aircraft but they would not allow us to run one engine to keep it cold and they would not store it for us. There we were, surrounded by huge Glaciers, whilst all our 'loot' went slowly off. In the end we had to dump nearly all of it. I got sunburned sitting on the nearest glacier and this did little to improve our tempers. Eventually on the 7th day we were allowed to file a flight plan to Weeks (Iceland) and we took off at 22.45 that night. At that time of year it was still almost broad daylight and we landed and refuelled in Iceland, at night but still light enough to see. Two hours later we were off again and landed at Prestwick after a 5hr 40min flight.
After this I was transferred back to flying with Hoppy but in a Bristol Wayfarer (freighter) this time. The first trip was to Karachi via all the short legs possible. We were delayed in Nicosia whilst a new propeller was sent out and we helped the engineer to change it. There was no help forthcoming from the locals (civilian & RAF) although I cannot remember why. This took 7 days and then we were delayed for a further 9 days by the Iraqi Government, so that the whole trip had taken 24 days. It was about the time of Partition in India and the whole of the region was in turmoil. I met a chap that I knew well who was running some form of charter company out there, who offered me a job on the spot, at a ludicrously high salary, if I would join him the same day. The offer was so attractive that I was sorely tempted but I did not want to break my contract with Silver City and leave Hoppy in the lurch. I suspected that the job was either gun running or illegal transport of refugees, so in the end I turned it down. I was to learn later, that the day after we left he tried to take off from Karachi and the plane was so grossly overloaded in the tail that it stalled just after becoming airborne and all aboard were killed outright. As we suspected the cargo was found to be arms and ammunition!!
The next trip was out to Iraq on charter to IPC (Iraqi Petroleum Company) and we flogged up and down the oil pipelines. Having been stuck in Baghdad last trip we had all suffered from the lack of liquid refreshment (alcohol banned and water somewhat 'iffy'), so I bought two bottles of orange squash in Malta to take with us. When I opened my case in Baghdad I discovered a somewhat wet and sticky mess where one of the bottle tops had come loose. Just about everything was covered in juice but it was not until we got to Bahrein that I was able to get everything washed and the case swilled out! It was lucky that we stayed there an extra day or else I would have had to bring the whole soggy mess back home with me. As it was the case was never the same again, even when I relined the inside with brown paper. Terry had the case for a number of years and finally gave it back to me in 1991!
At the end of September I, along with a number of other navigators, was made redundant and then I started my first experience of having to hunt for a job to keep the family fed!! I applied for a job with Flota Aerea Merchante Argentina and, along with another navigator from Silver City called Ross Plews, was called for an interview in their offices in the West-End. We were horrified to see a crowd of 20 or 30 people waiting and spilling out on to the pavement outside. We debated what to do and had decided that, as we were almost the last ones there, it was not worthwhile waiting. We were just about to walk away, when who should try to push past us than Pappy Carreras, who immediately asked me what the crowd was about. When we explained her said, "Wait there while I check in". This we did and within minutes we were called to the front of the queue, much to the disgust of most of the others, and both of us went into for interview to discover Pappy sitting at the long desk with three other officials and I was introduced to the others by him. He then said, "this is the chap I have flown with down to BA and he is the one I would choose without seeing any of the others. If his friend is as good as him we may as well take him on as well – has anyone any objections? – No! – Good! – That's it then! – Let's send all the others away. Welcome to FAMA Dennis – You are hired”.
That's how I came to be flying on an Argentinean York, en-route to Buenos Aires in the first week of November. We were delayed in Natal for three days whilst an engine fault was
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corrected and I got badly sunburned whilst swimming in the sea when there was no shade. Having arrived in Buenos Aires we were met with welcoming arms and I started to look around for somewhere to live but very shortly after a new decree was issued by Eva Peron (she was the power behind throne!) limiting the number of non-nationals working in the country. As FAMA was 75% British, 15% German and the rest Argentinean, this caused immediate problems and, since we were the last to arrive, we were scheduled as the first to go. I was offered the opportunity to navigate a force of Lincolns as a show of strength over the 'Malvinas', provided I gave up my British nationality and took on Argentine citizenship. This I refused to do and so started a week of negotiations to collect some form of compensation and what was already due to me. The expression 'mañana' really came into play and it took all our wits to find someone high enough in the organisation who had the power to do something about our plight. They, in their turn, did everything they could to beat down our demands. Once again it was Pappy Carreras who came to our rescue and we eventually got a flight back with Pappy (see 'Crossing the Line' certificate) landing back in London on the 3rd of December. We came via Madrid and Pappy had been given permission for the very first time to re-enter Spain. Even then he decided to stay in the Airport – just in case.
Once I got back I was quite surprised to get a number of phone calls from various firms offering me a job and I was able to pick and choose, finally agreeing to start at the beginning of the New Year with Flight Refuelling, the firm founded in 1934 by Sir Alan Cobham to investigate the use of air refuelling, and who's pioneering system is still in use today. The BERLIN AIRLIFT was under way and all the Charter firms were fighting for the work that it generated.
[logo] Berlin Airlift [emblem]
[drawing]
[inserted] TX 276/1281 [/inserted]
AVRO LANCASTRIAN – FLIGHT REFUELLING LTD
47403
On 23 June 1948, the Soviet forces occupying the eastern part of Germany blockaded all rail, road and waterway supply routes from the Allied Western Occupation Zones in Berlin. With less than one month’s supply of food and fuel, the prospects for the two and a half million Berliners looked bleak. Only three severely restricted air routes remained as a lifeline between the besieged city and the western world. The Allies responded immediately with a miracle of logistics – The Berlin Airlift. Codenamed Operation Vittles by the USAF, and Operation Plainfare by the RAF, over a period of 11 months Allied aircraft made thousands of flights into the cramped airspace of Berlin and succeeded in supplying everything the city needed. Every available aircraft from RAF Transport Command was in service, as well as hundreds of USAF aircraft and even civil charter firms were called upon to supplement the effort. The operation became so skilled that the Soviet Command eventually realised that they had failed and on 12 May 1949 the blockade was finally lifted.
Avro Lancastrian G-AGWI represents an aircraft which was originally delivered to British South American Airways (BSAA) at Heathrow in January 1946. The aircraft was registered to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for a short period in 1948 before being sold to Flight Refuelling in January 1949. The aircraft was then allotted fleet no. Tanker 26 and flew 226 sorties on the Berlin Airlift.
[inserted] I FLEW IN 13 OF THEM [/inserted] [diagram]
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1949
I report to Flight Refuelling at Tarrant Rushton and am crewed up with a very experienced ex-Air Lingus pilot. It was not until later that I was to discover that he had been sacked from them due to being drunk in flight! After an air test we departed in a Lancastrian for Wuntsdorf just outside Hanover on 13th January. The airfield was RAF and being used by them to fly Yorks on the airlift. It was very crowded with both aircraft and people and we were billeted in a small place called Bad Nenndorf about 10 miles away. There was a reasonable sized Hotel where all Flight Refuelling crews were accommodated. The following day we did two trips into Gatow carrying PETROL.
B.T. O'reilly was the name of the pilot and he became somewhat of a legend on the lift. However he was not a very reliable pilot when sober and, although he boasted that he could land the aircraft better 'on a sea of gin' than any other time, sometimes he was positively dangerous. On one occasion whilst flying into Gatow, I saw him climb out of his seat and then push past me and go to the back of the aircraft. I thought it would be a good idea to go forward and keep an eye on the instruments to make sure 'George' was doing its job properly. To my consternation, I saw that the aircraft was trimmed into a shallow dive (perhaps to counter his moving to the toilet at the rear of the aircraft?) and there was no sign of him returning back to his seat. When we descended below 1,000 feet I decided to get into his seat and was absolutely astounded to discover that the autopilot was not even engaged. I climbed it back up to the proper altitude and called the wireless operator to go and look for 'BT'. He reported back to say that 'BT' was 'out cold' on one of the seats at the back and he could not get him to register that he was needed! At this point we were committed to carry on towards Gatow as we were in the air corridor in the Russian Zone, so I decided that I would make up some story to over fly Gatow and hope that by the time we had got back to Wuntsdorf 'BT' might have surfaced. In the event, just as we approached the Beacon to start letting down to land, 'BT' pushed up to the front and demanded to know why I was in the pilot's seat. We swapped over and I pointed out that he had not put 'George' in when he went down the back. His reaction was happily to say, "these aircraft fly themselves!!" and then carried on to make a perfect landing. I was must relieved when I was asked to take an aircraft back to Tarrant Rushton with another pilot and never had to fly with him again. I was crewed up with a better chap on our return to Germany.
At the end of April we moved to Hamburg and started flying into Tegel instead of Gatow. In June I was allocated yet another pilot who was very young and inexperienced and I was not over happy with him either. When we were withdrawn from the airlift in mid-July, I had completed 89 flights back and forth to Berlin and also carried out a number of ferrying flights to Tarrant Rushton. (See Lecture Notes and 50th Anniversary Celebrations 1999)
[photograph]
With Col. Gail S. Halvorsen – "The chocolate pilot"
Berlin Airlift 50th Anniversary, Berlin 1999
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Two books fully detail the Berlin airlift and the part played by the civil participants (they have been suitably annotated). The one by Robert Rodrigo is the better of the two.
The end of the airlift deposited hundreds of aircrew (many of whom had only just come back into flying for the good money) on to the job market and I was unable to find another flying post. Thus ended my civil flying career.
After flying for so long, finding an ordinary job where my abilities would be of some use and would be recognized by prospective employers, was very difficult. One day I saw a friend from schooldays called Peter Filldew whom I had met at Mildenhall during the war, where he was the orderly-room clerk. He suggested he might be able to get me a job with his firm of Estate Agents (Fielder & Partners) in South Croydon. He obviously gave me a glowing recommendation as my interview was quite short, and I was offered a job as a Negotiator with a very low salary but very good commission on completion of any property that I obtained for their books or was instrumental in selling. The work was very hard and I had to spend long and unsociable hours including Saturdays & Sundays but I managed reasonably well once I gained the necessary confidence.
Soon afterwards we moved house to 248 Croydon Road and this stretched our resources to almost breaking point. The car, BAU 62, which I had bought during the war, had to go and I only managed to get £5 for it and it almost broke my heart to see it being driven away. The bungalow cost something like £1,200 and I got somewhat into debt to raise even the 10% and buying fees. Everything was based on my getting the commission on sales that I thought I should be able to earn. 1949 ended with me still working for Fielder.
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1950
One day at Fielder's, I overheard the receptionist speaking on the phone to someone called Macfarlane and casually asked what were his initials. On being told that they were N.G., I asked to speak to him and asked if he recognised my voice which, after a short pause, he did and we immediately arranged to meet. This caused uproar from the sales manager called Chillcot, who insisted that Mac was already one of [italics] his [/italics] clients and I was not to be allowed to deal with him. All my explanations fell on deaf ears and I had to phone from home to explain this to Mac. He agreed to phone up and cancel the appointment we had made and say that he was not interested anymore. We arranged to meet one lunchtime and go home to our bungalow. I then told the Sales Manager that through his stupidity we had lost a good client and this started an antagonism between us.
The meeting with Mac was quite an event and he suggested that I should re-apply to come back into the RAF and he would back my application if he could. He was still a Wing Commander but holding a post at the Air Ministry and he thought he should be able to pull a few strings.
As a result of this meeting I decided to apply and, after a long wait, was called for interview by a panel, who seemed to feel that wartime service was not a good recommendation for a peacetime commission and they did not even listen to what I had done subsequently. After a further long wait I received a letter addressed to Flight Lieutenat [sic] D. Moore informing me that they were unable to offer me a commission but they would be prepared to let me return as 'NAV 2' (which was the same as Sgt.) As much as I would have dearly loved to have got back into the Service, my pride would not let me accept such a reduction in rank and I therefore wrote back straight away telling them what I thought of their offer.
Working for Chilcott became very difficult and it was obvious that things would come to a head soon. Just when I was expecting to start collecting my first big commissions I was told that I was no good at the job and 'fired'. They would only pay me up until the last day at the basic rate, and no commission money. I appealed to Fielder but he was obviously being influenced by his sales manager and would not help me.
On the job market again, I could only get menial jobs, first as a temp in what then equated to the DHSS issuing new National Insurance Cards and then a more permanent job in the Gas Company working in their costing department. My job was to cost out all the job sheets for the week from the job rates for the various jobs and individuals. This job was running weeks behind when I joined and it did not take long before I was able to catch up and sit waiting for the current week's work dockets to arrive. When the head of my section saw this he 'warned me off' and checked every item of my work so that we looked as though we were still working weeks behind time again. This got very frustrating and I started to look around for another job.
Through the good offices of the Officers' Association I was passed a number of job openings and eventually was interviewed by a firm of grocery distributors called Harvey Bradfield & Toyer. They wanted a salesman to help introduce a Milton's product called Deosan to cafés & restaurants as a means of getting to be their suppliers for groceries as well. I was given the whole of South London to canvas and had to do it all by 'cold selling' and without the use of any transport of my own. Fortunately I made my number with the Public Health Office and frequently got called by them to visit establishments that they had found to be 'unhealthy' and I was able to introduce 'The Deosan method of food hygiene' to them quite easily. I found that the standard of cleanliness in most places I visited to be almost non-existent and the large 'posh' Hotels were the worst. I found this job quite interesting but although I did not feel I was doing a very good job of it, the firm seemed quite happy with my work.
1950 ended with me still trudging around south London and hardly making enough money to live on. Christine had been born on May 28th and this did not make things any easier.
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1951
At the beginning of the year I was still working for H.B.T. and being called-on to visit various places in the South London Area. I asked for a special visit to the Head Office to discuss my work with my boss, who still seemed quite happy with what I was doing but made no effort to increase my wages. I do not remember exactly what I actually earned each week but it was round about £50 per month.
During the last week in March I was in Croydon on a visit and decided to call again on my friend in the Recruiting Office, and here I was asked if I had thought about applying to rejoin the RAF. When I explained about having applied once already and had only been offered 'Master Aircrew' which I had turned down, the Senior Recruiting Officer asked if I would mind if he phoned Air Ministry to find out what the latest situation was. I was quite happy for him to do this and did not expect anything to come of it. It was quite a surprise when he phoned me the next day to say that if I were to apply again I would be given every consideration, so I got him to help me fill in the necessary forms which he duly sent in. It was only a few days later that I was called for interview at the Air Ministry and I went with a totally different attitude to the previous time. When asked the first question which inevitably was 'Why do you want to rejoin the RAF' I decided to take the offensive and replied 'I am not sure if I do – I want you to convince me that I should'. From this point on I could do no wrong.
A greater part of the interview came from a Group Captain on the panel who kept asking me questions about the Argentine and seemed genuinely interested in the answers that I gave. The panel were all smiling when I left and the 'Groupie' asked me to wait for him outside. He then told me that I would be hearing within the next few days – at which I laughingly said that the last time I had heard that remark it had taken over 6 weeks for them to contact me. He assured me that he literally meant 'the next few days' and then asked me if I would wait for him and walk down to the Tube with him. This I did and he told me that he was due to be posted as the next Air Attaché in Buenos Aires hence his interest in my comments.
Two days later I was called for an Aircrew Medical and, having passed this easily enough, was offered a new commission in the RAF as a Flying Officer to start at Air Ministry on April 16th (this was barely 3 weeks since I visited the Recruiting Office in Croydon). Needless to say I accepted and duly reported for duty on the day required and then spent a month getting kitted out and doing some odd jobs for a Wing Commander in one of the departments there. Along with 13 other people reported to Central Navigation School at Shawbury on 23rd May for a Navigation Instructors Course. I teamed up with Jimmy Cuthill (with whom I shared a room) and Bob Hunter (who was a Canadian serving in the RAF).
[photograph]
Navigation Instructors Course, Shawbury 1951
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On 17th June I went with most of the others to Sick Quarters to have our inoculations brought up to date and as soon as I had had mine I began to feel odd. We all trouped back to the classroom and settled down to a lecture on 'how not to lecture' and I could feel myself 'blowing up like a balloon' and my heart racing like mad. I bemoaned the fact that I had never had a reaction to 'jabs' before and I really did feel rough. The Instructor eventually noticed that there was something wrong and told me to go back to the Mess and lie down. I remember 'floating' back and one of two gardeners asking me for the time and me just laughing back at them because I could not see the time on my watch. The next thing I knew was someone asking me how I felt and me just laughing like a mad thing again, and then later somebody standing over me and saying "I am just going to inject some adrenalin into you – you will find yourself shaking but try not to fight it – just let yourself go". I was then carried out to an ambulance and taken to the Station hospital. It seemed like hours before the shaking stopped but eventually it did and I felt very much better – in fact even asked for something to eat as I was hungry! Needless to say, I did not get a meal but was allowed a drink. After a while the M.O. (doctor) came to see me and explained what had happened. I had suffered an 'angino-neurotic' type of reaction to the inoculation and this was extremely rare and quite often fatal unless caught in time. It seems that when the lesson finished everyone wandered back to the Mess for lunch and, since it was a little late, everyone went straight in to eat except Jimmy Cuthill, who decided he ought to check up to see how I was. He found me unconscious on the bed and immediately called for the M.O. but could not find him. Fortunately he looked in the dining room and when he saw him eating his lunch insisted that he came up to our room immediately. The M.O. told me that if I had been left much longer I could very well have died. The humorous part of the story was that, after a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast in bed, I felt completely fit and was allowed to rejoin the others in class. They were all sitting moaning about sore arms and feeling rotten and I was 'feeling no pain' and was able to 'lord' it over them for the rest of the day!
Flying started on my Birthday on Mark XI Wellingtons! and the course finished with an overseas flight using special navigation techniques (Grid Navigation). I was then posted to No. 1 Air Navigation School at Thorney Island and I reported there on 13th August. This was a prime posting and I was very pleased to get such a good one. However, it soon became obvious that something was not quite right. When I applied for married quarters I was told that I would not be considered "just yet" and no explanation was given when I queried this. When I tried to find out which courses I would be looking after I was allocated as course tutor and then, a little later, told that I was to be held in reserve pending the arrival of another course tutor. I then learnt that this new chap was Les Dibb who had been in the same Group at Shawbury and had hoped to be posted to Thorney but had eventually been posted to Lindholme. It then became fairly obvious that some 'string pulling' had been going on by someone at Thorney.
For the Open Day at Thorney I had arranged for Pam to bring Terry down for the day to look around and see the show. Nobody was more disappointed than me to have to tell her when she arrived that we were not going to be staying, since I had just been informed that my posting to Thorney was cancelled and that I was to report to No. 5 Air Navigation School at Lindholme on 19th September. Terry enjoyed the show until two aircraft flew over and dropped bags of flour (to represent bombs) and fake bangs designed to simulate the explosions & the crashes from the 'Anti Aircraft guns' frightened the life out of him. He yelled his head off and did not want to see anything else and all he wanted to do was to go home.
Just before leaving Thorney I met Ernie Ormerod (signaller) from back in 1946 as well as another signaller that I knew called 'Chuck' Radcliffe who was also on 52 Sqn. I really did not have enough time to do more than say hello before I was on my way.
I duly reported to Lindholme somewhat bitter about the whole thing but was immediately made Course Tutor under Flight Lieutenant 'Mick' Munday on No. 2 Long Navigation Refresher Course. This comprised 6 Officers and 1 NCO who had either been off flying for some long time or who had just come back into the Service. One of them, Flt.Lt. Willis, had been on the same course as me at ITW in Newquay. At the time he was re-mustering from Corporal SP
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(RAF Police) and we had given him a hard time during 'rough and tumble' games on the Beach. He subsequently became the Navigator with Prince Charles when he was learning to fly. They were a good crowd and I got on well with all of them. Our Classroom was a concrete hut, which had been used by the Poles as a church during the war and all the walls had been panelled with carved wood and decorated with religious artefacts. I could not get into quarters so I started looking around for somewhere to live (without much success), so I had travel up and down to Beddington whenever I could manage a weekend off. Without a car it was very difficult but I did manage to get lifts from time to time.
[photograph]
[underlined] No.2 L.N.R. COURSE. [underlined]
BACK ROW:- F/LT. CARR, F/O. GREEN, SGT. JONES, F/O. SWINFIELD.
FRONT ROW:- F/LT. WILLIS, F/O. D. MOORE, F/LT. H. MUNDAY, F/LT. HINGE, F/LT. ROWLAND.
NEGATIVE No LIND 290G 9 UN52/UNCLASSIFIED
When the Long Nav. refresher course finished we started to run navigation courses for National Service people. We found this to be very frustrating as most of those on the course were not the slightest bit interested in what they were doing and they had only chosen to become 'Navigators' as an easy way to spend their time instead of becoming 'PBI' (soldiers!) It was further made much worse when we were informed from a higher source that none of them were to be 'failed' (some political reason no doubt). One of them (a Pilot Officer Simpson) was so bad and such a bad influence on the others that we fought tooth and nail to get him 'scrubbed' but all we did was to made [sic] trouble for ourselves for 'making waves'. I shall always remember his face when he eventually 'passed out' as a navigator and was promoted to Flying Officer. He boasted openly that he was cleverer than us because he had 'beaten the system'. At the time I could only hope that he never had to put a flying crew at risk, as he would surely kill them all and himself as well. I often wonder what happened to him.
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1952
In the New Year we decided to sell the Bungalow and find somewhere up near Lindholme whenever we could. I negotiated with a Sergeant Paine who wanted to sell his car, and he agreed to accept a deposit and the balance as soon as we had sold the house. I did make it clear that I could not possibly pay him until the money came through from the solicitors and we had not even found a buyer for the Bungalow. At the time he seemed quite happy to agree to this but later had doubts and then started to cause me hassle. The car was a Hillman Minx Reg. No. FA7136, which served us well until about 1956.
In the meantime I found a house that the RAF were prepared to take on as a 'hiring' in Crabtree Drive at Five Lane Ends, Skellow, Just off the A1, about 7 miles North of Doncaster and I was able to start setting up a home there. Nowadays the Motorway around Doncaster rejoins the A1 just there and you can just see the road from the Service station at the junction.
The Bungalow sold quite quickly and we got £2,850 for it, having paid about £950 when we bought it. It took a while for all the loose ends to be tied up but eventually I got the money, paid off Sgt. Paine and moved the family up to the new place. Pam was sadly disappointed with it but the people were all very friendly and she began to like it after a while. We had a number of excursions from there and went to the sea at Hornsea on two or three occasions.
Having done well with No. 2 LNR Course I applied for a permanent commission but the Group Captain (Laine – I think) told me that I did not have the right kind of experience to suit me for a permanent career and turned me down. The Chief Navigation Instructor was Wing Commander Hickey (nicknamed 'Bone dome'), who also did not think much of me either. I rather think it had something to do with my leaving Thorney Island under odd circumstances.
After only a year and just getting settled into the house, I was surprised to find myself posted yet again. This time it seemed like a real improvement but very much a 'desk' job as one of the Navigation Examiners at the Command Examination Board, Flying Training Command at Shinfield Park just outside Reading. Our offices were in old huts a little removed from the main building and here began one of the more interesting posts of my career. We managed to find a bungalow to rent from a Mrs Samways at 36 Wood Way, Woodley and we were able to move from Doncaster quite quickly.
Having settled in, I was allocated the exams for the navigator's finals that I would be responsible for. These were: astro-navigation, maps & charts and magnetism & compasses. I also had to set the general navigation paper for pilots. I did not have much time to think before having to do a full set of exams and, only by Christmas, start to really appreciate the scope of the job.
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1953
To start off with, I had discovered that the questions on the subjects that I was to specialise in had previously been picked out by the examiner from a 'bank' of questions based on what had been set previously. After thinking about it for a while and based on my own experience decided that it was possible for the Instructors at the various Training Schools to work out a permutation which would more or less guarantee to predict over 60% of the questions.
All the exam papers were vetted by the newly appointed Chief Examiner (Gordon Arkley) and I did not have much difficulty in convincing him that we should be a bit more professional and he agreed that I could start-off by changing the system in one subject to be going on with. I started with astro navigation and set what I considered to be a very practical paper instead of the usual theory one. I sat back and waited and on the day of the exams the phone stated [sic] to ring and complaints came in thick and fast – 'Unfair', 'Not what we have been used to'; 'We were not able to prepare the students!' etc., etc. As a result, I was asked to attend a high power meeting of all the Chief Navigation Instructors and the senior people on the Examinations Board. In the meantime, I received all the papers for marking and the results showed that one school did very well but all the others failed miserably. When I was grilled at the meeting I was very pleased to have the backing of my own boss. When all of them were presented with the evidence that, apart from the one school, the others had not covered the syllabus properly and 'only taught what was necessary to get the students through the exam', there were a number of red faces and I was not very popular with them. However, the Chief of the Examination Board asked the schools to go back and put their houses in order and told them that from here on in, [underlined] [italics] all [/italics] [/underlined] examinations would be based on the new method and not on the 'Question Bank' method'. He then congratulated me on setting a fair and very practical paper, which should have been welcomed instead of being complained about. So began a new regime and after a while everyone agreed that things were much better than they used to be. We also move into better offices.
Gordon Arkley dabbled in amateur dramatics and had contacts with the film studios at Pinewood. One day he took me across there for lunch and introduced me to Glynis Johns and Robert Newton as well as a couple of other famous film stars whose names escape me. After a very 'boozy' lunch, we went across to the film-set and watched for a couple of hours. I cannot recall which film it was but it became one of the big hits of the 1950's. It was a most interesting experience.
During the year, I managed to get in a few hours flying from White Waltham airfield, mostly in Ansons, to visit other Flying Training Command units (to the Isle of Man and also to Northern Ireland). I also flew in a Procter, a Prentice and a Chipmunk.
It was just before Christmas, when I was sitting at my office desk, busy painting the air traffic control vehicle with black and white squares for the model airfield that I was making for Terry's Xmas present, when the Air Officer Commanding (Sir Arthur Pendred) chose to make his inspection (without notice) of the Examination Board's offices. I really thought I was in for big trouble for doing private work in duty time. When asked what I was doing, I decided to say precisely what, and why I was doing it! He did not blink an eyelid, had a good look at the model and then, as he turned for the door, wished me a happy Christmas and hoped that I managed to get it all finished in time!! Needless to say I put it all away quickly and tried to get on with some 'proper work'. I still expected that there would be repercussions but there never were. Some 5 year later (16/7/58), I was stationed at Pershore and I was flying with Group Captain Innes-Crump to a meeting at West Malling. When we entered the Bar in the Mess to get a drink before lunch, there was a large group in the corner surrounding a very senior officer – It was Sir Arthur! I was never more surprised in my life when he broke off talking to the others and called across to me to come and join his party. He greeted me as though I was a long lost friend and, remembering my name, ordered drinks for me and the Group Captain before asking me, with a smile on his face, if I ever managed to get [italics] that [/italics] Xmas present finished in time!! A marvellous man.
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1954
Started building model aircraft again and flew them in the fields at the back of the bungalow. After losing a glider, I made a Hawker Hunter powered by a 'jet' engine (in fact it was a pellet that had to be lit!) and Terry became quite upset when it got lodged up a tree. He started school in Woodley and has been back there recently to retrace his steps.
Bob Hunter, a Canadian who had been on the same course as me at Shawbury, was also based at Reading and he was always popping round to our place. He and his wife Marg are pictured, in the photo album, with us at the New Years Eve Party.
Having sat and worried about what happened last Xmas, was quite surprised to be offered, in February, a job on the Air Staff as Command Search & Rescue Officer & also to look after the Command Film Library. Apparently there was considerable opposition from some of the others working there (mostly Wing Commanders and above) as normally only 'Permanent Commission' officers were offered this sort of post. However my new boss, Wing Commander Bagott, made it quite clear that someone 'on high' had approved my appointment and immediately suggested that I apply for a permanent commission (my original commission was 'Short Service' – i.e.: 8 years). When I pointed out that I had already applied and been turned down and was reluctant to go through it all again, he offered to have the necessary forms filled in and all I needed do was sign them! By the end of the day this was done, and two days later I was called away from my office to attend an Assessment Board. I was totally unprepared for this but was assured that I did not need to go and get 'dressed up' and 'not to worry'! The interview took about 2 minutes and was a complete farce – we just passed pleasantries! Within a few minutes I was told that, of the 13 candidates having been seen, I was the only one to be recommended. After a few days I was called for another interview with an AVM Allison who carried out a proper 'grilling' but he was very pleasant about it and made it quite plain that it was just a formality.
Shortly afterwards I was offered a brand new Married Quarter and we then moved into 15 Salmond Road, Whitley Wood – right opposite the Baggots! The appointment to a Permanent Commission was not confirmed until 25th August and backdated to 1st June 1954. (I had already been informed verbally quite early on).
[certificate]
In my new job I did a fair bit of visiting and on one occasion, whilst flying with Group Captain Alvey stopping off a [sic] various Units, I had a further brief meeting with Mac (my 'skipper' on Bomber Command). Due to my interest in model making I also got involved in the RAF Model Aircraft competitions and was 'asked' to act as a Judge on a couple of them (see pictures in album).
Here I was introduced to my first flight in a jet aircraft – the Canberra. I have to say that I did not particularly enjoy it (I got air-sick).
My work was very absorbing and most of the dissenters soon began to accept me. I enjoyed mixing with quite senior officers and only found it difficult to get on with some of the 'upward pushing' more junior people. We became very friendly with our next-door neighbours – The Lacey's and we all got on very well together. Christine had started school here and most of the children from 'The Patch' went there as well.
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1955
Having got nicely settled down in our Married Quarter I was somewhat disappointed to receive a Posting Notice in early January. However, I was told that it was supposed to be a prestige posting and about two weeks later I left Reading in a heavy snow blizzard on my way to the Royal Radar Establishment Flying Unit at RAF DEFFORD, near Worcester.
The Mess was deserted when I arrived in the gloom of a Sunday evening, with the snow still pelting down. Later, one or two others came in for a drink and were so friendly that I began to feel a little less dejected than I had been during the journey there. So began almost 5 years of a marvellous posting.
Initially, I lived in the Mess and immediately started flying in various aircraft, on trials of equipment designed by the 'boffins' at the Royal Radar Establishment at Malvern. My first flight was in Hastings TG503 piloted by 'Bert' Welvaert, aged 36, who claimed to be 'the youngest grandfather in the Air Force'. I next met up with Bert at the Berlin Airlift 50th Anniversary in May 1999
[photograph]
Bert Welvaert and myself standing if [sic] front of Hastings TG503’.
This aircraft is now on permanent display at the Allied Museum in Berlin.
I flew in the following types (in no particular order) during my stay on the unit (over 1000 hours all told):
Hastings
Lincoln
Shackleton
Dakota
Varsity
Ashton
Wayfarer
Marathon
Hermes
Devon
Valetta
Meteor
Canberra
Vampire
Whirlwind (Helicopter)
Fairly early on, I quite often flew with a pilot called Flt. Lt. Chase in a Hastings and around March time was scheduled to fly with him again on a trip to Farnborough. One of the other navigators, a Canadian (whose name I cannot remember), asked me to swap with him as he needed only a couple more hours to make up his first '1,000 hrs' before he left the unit to return to Canada. I agreed to do so just to do him a favour, but in the event I did myself a very special one as the aircraft crashed on take off from Farnborough, killing the navigator and severely injuring the flight engineer. The pilot and signaller were less severely injured and the two passengers in the back escaped with only minor injuries. When the news was first
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received, many of us were briefed to quickly break the news to the various wives and families. I was allocated the flight engineer's wife, wishing like mad that I had been able to go to the signaller's instead. However, as it turned out I was lucky again, as the signaller, whose wife had been told that he was "OK and not too badly hurt", had a relapse the following day and died from 'secondary shock'. On the other hand, John Mills the flight engineer, who had not been expected to live, remained in a coma for nearly a month and suddenly woke up one morning demanding to be fed as he was [italics] starving [/italics]! Although he finished up with a plate in his head, he actually returned to flying about six months later. The pilot recovered enough to return to flying but was posted away quite quickly when it was established that he had attempted to take off with the flying control locks still in place (i.e. [underlined] Pilot Error [/underlined])!
It is worth pointing out however, that the Hastings had mechanical locks of a new type instead of the old wooden blocks that fitted on the outside and had to be removed before getting into the aircraft. With the new method there was a lever in the cockpit that had to be actuated to release the locks. If the lever was operated whilst the aircraft had airflow over the wings etc., it did not release the locks as it was designed to do. As a result of this accident a modification was introduced to rectify the fault.
The funeral of the navigator took place in the local church in Pershore and I was a Pall Bearer for the funeral of the signaller in Scarborough. Once these funerals were out of the way, life gradually got back to normal.
After a short while I managed to find a 'hiring' – a large detached house in a very nice spot – 'Severn Croft', Bevere, in Worcester – and moved the family away from Reading. We have lots of expensive furniture, curtains etc., which has to be put away in store for safety. Started to make friends with the 'Lentons & Skeers' for Terry & Christine.
Peter was born in December and a new house is started in the field next to us. I did not fly at all this month and managed a fair bit of time off.
Pictures of us at the Summer Ball are in the photo-album.
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1956
The new Flight Commander (the unit split into two flights – 'A' Flight for piston engined & 'B' for jet aircraft), Sqn Ldr Tebbutt, shared an interest in model making and he started building a model boat whilst I stick to aircraft. I made a Tiger Moth, which flew well, and we used the airfield at weekends. Other aircraft that I made seemed to crash too easily and the Radar servicing Manager suggested that I use radio control. He offered to help me build it but I decided to put it into a model boat rather than aircraft as this was much safer.
Early in the year I got myself elected Mess Secretary, which slowed down the flying somewhat – sometimes to only 10-12 hours each month.
Being Mess Secretary became an almost full time job and, mixed in with developing a new radio control system to put into the destroyer that I built, my time was fully occupied and very rewarding. Two major Mess functions during the year and, as this was such a small Unit, I found myself suggesting, designing and constructing all the decorations for both of them. Fortunately the civilian component of the Unit made sure that I was able to get marvellous procurement & engineering assistance.
Peter was 1 year old just before the Christmas Ball and lots of locals attended his party.
1957
Started flying helicopters and was allowed to take the controls on odd occasions, eventually having some 'formal' instruction. I was told that fixed wing pilots are somewhat difficult to convert whereas other aircrew categories with good 'air sense' usually learn quite quickly. After about 10 hours dual I became reasonably competent and passed the 'brick wall' of it being in charge of you, to you being in charge of it!!
[photograph]
RRFU Defford, 1957
Group Captain Innes-Crump took me under his wing and nominated me as his navigator. We did various trips to conferences etc. and eventually he let me do most of the flying and some take-offs & landings (in a Devon). Many of the pilots started to let me fly the aircraft from the right-hand seat and eventually I even landed a Hastings all on my own (or at least I thought I did).
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[photograph]
Lincoln at zero feet!
Flying with Group Captain Innes-Crump (OC, RRFU Pershore)
At end of October the Unit moved from Defford to Pershore and took on a somewhat more formal atmosphere, which was not to everyone's liking.
10th December 1957, Peter's 2nd birthday and disaster on the Unit. One of 'B' Flight jet aircraft went missing and presumed crashed in the hills over North Wales. I had to visit the wife of one of crew members to warn her that her husband 'would be late home'. A dreadful story to delay the almost inevitable. As a result I was also 'late home' for the Birthday Party and could not say why – I was not very popular!!
Next day, along with others, flew a 4-hour sortie to see if we could find the crash site. Although flying very low ourselves amongst the treacherous hills, we could not find anything. Just before we were due to leave the area, we received a message that Mountain Rescue team had found the site and both crew had been killed. It was some way from where we had been looking near 'Drum Hill'. Another funeral to attend, and just before Christmas too. However see picture in album of us at Xmas Ball a few days later!
1958
Lots of flying each month this year mostly in:
Hastings
Varsity
Devon
Valetta
July – see item, 5th paragraph of 1953 re. Sir Arthur Pendred. Also see article & photos in 'Air Clues'.
The atmosphere at Pershore was not the same as at Defford. However, we all became very settled in at Bevere and friendly with neighbours – Lentons around corner, the Hucksters at the back and the next-door families on both sides. – A very pleasant year.
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1959
At beginning of year got in regular flying each month. Flew in a Meteor for the first time with Wing Commander Lawrence as pilot. Also did some more helicopter piloting but had become quite stale after so long.
April was particularly busy, flying, but after the first few days in June got caught for admin work.
On 10th July I was handed a signal informing me along with others (but not Flt. Lt. Smith mentioned in signal – see photo-album), that passage was booked on the FLANDRE, sailing 17th July, to attend a training course on the 'Thor Missile' in the USA. Mad panic to get ready and needed to get a Dinner Jacket for the voyage and other items at a time when I was particularly low on funds. Pam was not very happy with the idea of me being away for so long and having to look after everything on her own. Fortunately the neighbours at Bevere were all very supportive.
Travelled First Class by train from Worcester via London where we were joined by another group of RAF but who considered themselves very superior and tried to keep apart from us as much as they could. The Flandre was a French passenger liner of some 15,000 tons and the First Class passengers (mostly American – and us of course!) were extremely well looked after. After a very enlightening voyage and a charter flight to TUCSON Arizona, we started our training on Thor missiles at Davis Monathon AFB. Our group consisted of: self; Flt. Lt. Colin Reeve; Flt.Lt. Walker; Flt. Lt. Evans & Flg. Off. Nancarrow, together with Americans: Captains Jim Hadsell; Mel Schaffer & Carl Heintz. After an intensive 'ground' training period there, we travelled by car with Jimmy Hadsell via the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam to Vandenberg AFB California.
[photograph]
Davis Monathon AFB, Tucson Arizona
Standing (in uniform), L-R: Flight Lieutenants John Evans, Jeff Walker, Colin Reeve, Myself
Below: USAF Captains Jim Hadsell and Mell Schaffer, Flying Officer Frank Nancarrow,, Captain Carl Heintz
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When the training had finished, another charter flight back to New York and thence on the SS America back to Southampton, where I was met by the family, who had been driven there by Mr Lenton.
Posted to No. 82 Squadron SHEPHERDS GROVE as Launch Control Officer in December.
[photograph]
RAF Thor Launch, July 1959
Vandenberg AFB, California
1960
Found a bungalow in Diss – about 10 miles from Shepherds Grove – to take on as a 'Hiring'. We moved from 'Severn Croft' on a very bleak and foggy day. It was very nostalgic as we had started to 'put down roots' in Worcester and very difficult as far as Schools were concerned. The journey was very hazardous as the car was loaded down with all the last minute items – Including the animals. At one point near Diss we finished up in a field because the fog was so thick – but eventually got to Diss about 4 hours later than planned.
I had not been in the Bungalow for long and was at home one lunchtime, when a Victor en-route for Honington, passed overhead quite low making a horrible roaring noise. We all rushed outside to see the aircraft on fire and will the crew to eject (we did not know at this time that only the pilots had ejection seats). Eventually, parachutes were seen to open but the aircraft dived into the ground about 2 miles away. As I was in uniform, I decide to drive towards the crash sight [sic] to see if I could help – but before I could get within a mile of it I was held up by masses of sightseers crowding the narrow lanes. In the end I gave up and returned home. It transpired that 2 of the crew had been killed – one of them opening his 'chute too late and the other (one of the pilots) getting out too late.
Spent the whole of the year on shift covering 365 days a year and having responsibility for 3 Thor nuclear missiles every time I was on shift.
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1961
Was selected to join the Feltwell Thor Missile Training Flight after categorisation by Bomber Command. [italics] Second US trip, this time to Vandenberg AFB, California for THOR test firing] [/italics]
[photograph]
82 Squadron crew. With RAF THOR Missile, Vandenberg AFB
1962
[inserted] Fl/L Moore [/inserted]
Headquarters Bomber Command,
Royal Air Force,
High Wycombe,
Bucks.
[underlined] Order of the Day [/underlined]
[underlined] To all Thor Squadrons and Stations [/underlined]
The decision to phase out the Thor Force of Bomber Command in no way detracts from the vital role which the force played in the past, and the significant part it will continue to play in future, until the very last missile is withdrawn.
Thor was the first strategic missile system operational in the West. At a time when the threat to this country came almost entirely from manned aircraft, you were the most formidable part of the defence of the United Kingdom, and the Western Alliance.
You in the Thor force have maintained a constant vigil day and night for almost four years. You have maintained a higher state of readiness in peacetime than has ever been achieved before in the history of the Armed Forces of the Crown. I am well aware of the sacrifices, so willingly accepted, that this constant readiness has imposed on the officers and airmen of the force.
I am content that History will recognise your devoted service in the cause of peace. I know that I can rely on you for the same devotion during the rundown phase, as you have shown since the birth of the force in 1958.
[signature]
(K. B.E. CROSS)
Air Marshal.
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief.
Bomber Command
2nd August, 1962.
Announcing the rundown of Britain's THOR missile defence programme
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1963
A very severe winter and had great difficulty travelling back and forth. On the way to Shepherds Grove, while driving along a cutting through a snowdrift, a car coming the other way crashed into me. Although my car was damaged, after temporary repairs I managed to drive it back to Diss and put it in to garage for proper repair. In the meantime, I used the Vespa scooter to get to the Units to do my categorisations. Strange, but everyone seemed to know I was coming, so the grapevine seemed to be working overtime.
All the pipes froze up at 102 Victoria Road, including the underground ones from the mains. Had to get water from our next-door neighbours, who remained unaffected. The Council eventually cleared the mains by passing an electric current in some way.
In July I was informed that [underlined] [italics] my services were no longer required by the RAF [/italics] [/underlined] and that I was to have a 'Last Tour Posting' somewhere nearby. I was shattered by this news as I had very high ratings in my job and good yearly assessments. I appealed to the Group Captain who was as much astounded as I was, particularly as other officers were being kept on whom he would 'court martial' given half a chance. Eventually he informed me that somewhere, someone with 'influence' didn't like me, and I must have upset whoever it was. So no reprieve!
Middle of July, I was posted to 721 Mobile Signals Unit based at Methwold as Commanding Officer – very strange! I was met with the results of a drunken brawl amongst members of the Unit under the previous CO and it took all of my energy and some very smooth talking to get it sorted out. Managed to restore unit pride with only two people being posted away and reprimands for a couple of others. It turned into a happy posting once I got everyone on my side. Managed to get damage fixed without any further problems.
The unit acted as a bomb plot for the "V" Force and had the call sign 'BRANTUB'. Unfortunately in October the unit was ordered to move to Lindholme. So much for it being a 'Last Tour Posting' [underlined] [italics] near [/italics] [/underlined] present residence.
1964
The Lindholme posting was not as bad as expected. Fell ill with flu just as move took place and when I finally drove up there from Diss I found the Unit on an isolated site, well away from the rest of the Station (see photos in 'Nostalgia' album). Everything was in good order and working well, all thanks to the good spirit now on the unit and a Warrant Officer who worked wonders to get it going. I now had an assistant, Pilot Officer Frank Moss, who was a navigator on Vulcans. Since we were acting as a "Bomb Plot" for the "V" Force, I think the idea was for him to persuade me to give good scores despite some of the dismal results they had been getting previously!
Made a number of suggestions for improving our lot on the Station and moral was very high. Managed to get us out of AOC's inspection and this also went down well. On the operational side I was able to invent a means of our not having to listen to the sound put out to simulate "Blue Steel" bombing. This was achieved by converting the sound signal into a visual meter display so that we could watch rather than having to listen for 10 minutes each run. Everyone at Bomber Command were surprised that nobody had thought of this before.
After we had settled in and were given a good result from the Bomber Command Inspection Team, I managed to arrange our shifts so that I could get away for longer periods. Finally, at the end of October, I was given a firm retirement date. I was given a very emotional farewell from the Unit and, although the practice was frowned upon in higher circles, I was given an inscribed watch as a going away present from all the members of the Unit (some 26 people excluding myself).
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From Lindholme I was finally posted to Honington to begin formalities to leave the Air Force. I only spent a few days there, handing in Kit and obtaining all the necessary clearances. On 19th November I drove away from Honington having finally 'retired'. I shall always remember it being rather like a dream but I do recall listening on the car radio to a program featuring Pam's cousin, Christopher Gable, who was leaving the Royal Ballet to take up an acting career (Christopher's last performance with the Royal Ballet was in 1965. He died in 1998).
The break was so great that I was hardly able to make any plans for the future.
Right: The final farewell
[Ministry of Defence Crest]
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
MAIN BUILDING, WHITEHALL, LONDON, S.W.1.
TELEPHONE WHITEHALL [indecipherable number]
29th October 1964
Dear Flt. Lt. Moore
The Secretary of State for Defence has it in command from Her Majesty The Queen to convey to you on leaving the Active List of the Royal Air Force her thanks for your long and valuable services.
May I take this opportunity of wishing you all good fortune in the future.
[signature]
Flight Lieutenant D. Moore
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1965
I managed to get a job with Marconi at Southend working with the modifications team and liaison with the RAF! It was very poorly paid but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.
We decided to move away from Diss and chose Chelmsford as the best place to settle down. It was the nearest into London that I wanted to go and the furthest out that Pam wanted to be. We started looking around and were particularly interested in some new houses being built on a development on the edge of town on Springfield road. They were more than I could really afford and the one we liked was suddenly sold to someone else. We needed to move quite quickly and when we saw a chalet bungalow, which Pam seemed to like, we decided to set the wheels in motion to buy it. No sooner had we paid a deposit than one of the new ones came back on the market, even before the walls had been built, so we decided to buy that one instead. I managed to commute half of my £500 a year RAF pension and the £250 translated into a cash sum of nearly £6,000, which only left a small mortgage requirement. The purchase proceeded reasonably smoothly and we finally moved into 2 Llewellyn Close on 9th April 1965. Moving into a newly built house was not such a good idea and all sorts of snags were encountered.
Only earning a pittance and very unhappy with what was expected of me, I started to look around again for another job.
1966
Got a job as Training Officer with Littlewoods operating out of Basildon, visiting all their stores in the south of England. Found it very difficult as all the lady supervisors were very suspicious of me and not at all co-operative. Was suddenly called up to Liverpool and made redundant with no reason given.
1967
Spent the whole year job hunting and at last got a job with John Zinc just outside St. Albans.
1968
21/10/68 – 13/12/68. Completed a Training Officer course (construction Industry) in Slough.
Finally got a reasonable job with Balfour Beatty in Bread St. London but had to leave after they moved to Croydon.
1970
At last I got a decent job! Started with Powell Duffryn, Great Tower St. London on 19th January but made redundant when they de-centralised
1971
After spending most of the year job hunting I finally started working for Letchworth and District Printers Group Training Scheme on 1st December
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1972
After travelling the 43 miles back and forth to Letchworth every day and finding it very tiring, we decided to look around for housing in Letchworth. I made up my mind that I wanted to be as near to work as possible and not have to travel any distance at all. Unfortunately this was a period of 'gazumping' and although our offer on the nice house we found in Cloisters Road and had been accepted, suddenly they had another buyer prepared to offer more. Reluctantly we bid for our present house and once again the offer was accepted. At the time of the year it looked much better than it actually was and, to make things worse, the day after swapping contracts the house in Cloisters came back on the market. We had easily sold our Chelmsford house and had completed on that, so we could not afford to change our minds. We finally moved into 116 West View on 15th May 1972.
Having been promised help in re-location by my employers, the Committee that had originally made the offer changed and all the new lot were prepared to give me was £100. I was not very happy about this and made my feelings very plain. But they just shrugged their shoulders.
1973 – 2010 No further entries
[photograph]
Celebrating my 80th Birthday
DM Memoirs (second Edition) Compiled and edited by Terry Moore, October 2010
Appendix and additional photographs – January 2011
Postscript – May 2012
Foreword – July 2012
[italics] The editor accepts no responsibility for inaccuracies [/italics]
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Postscript
The funeral service for my father took place at Harewood Park Crematorium, Stevenage, on Thursday 11th November 2010, attended by family, friends, representatives from the XV Squadron Association and colleagues from the North Herts. Branch of the Aircrew Association, of which he was president.
Like most airmen of his generation, Dad had a great affection for the Avro Lancaster, in which he spent many flying hours as navigator in both war time and peace, so it seemed most fitting that his ashes be scattered from the only remaining Lancaster still flying in this country.
[photograph] [photograph]
In May 2011, my wife and I made the ninety-mile trip to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire where the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is stationed and left the casket in the care of the Public Relations Manager who was to make the necessary arrangements.
[photograph] [photograph]
Dad took his "last flight" on 29th August 2011 in Avro Lancaster PA474 escorted by the Spitfire and Hurricane of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. His ashes were scattered over North Norfolk, England.
[chart]
BBMF flight schedule for 29/08/2011
Terry Moore, May 2012
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1945 Appendix 1 Operational Sorties – September 1944 – April 1945
[underlined] NO 218 SQUADRON RAF METHWOLD Aircraft Letters "HA" [/underlined]
[underlined] 17/09/1944 [/underlined]Sortie No: 1 (Daylight). Target [underlined] BOULOGNE [/underlined]
Aircraft – PD277 Code "A". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 2 hours 45 minutes
762 Aircraft – 370 Lancasters; 351 Halifax; 41 Mosquito. Dropped more than 3000 tons of Bombs on German positions around Boulogne in preparation for an attack by Allied troops. The German garrison surrendered soon afterwards.
1 Lancaster & 1 Halifax lost.
[underlined] 23-24/09/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 2 (Night time). Target [underlined] NEUSS [/underlined]
Aircraft – PD256 Code "J". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 4 hours 35 Minutes
549 Aircraft – 378 Lancasters; 154 Halifax; 17 Mosquito. Most of the bombing fell in the dock & factory area. A short local report only says that 617 houses & 14 Public Buildings were destroyed and 289 people killed/150 injured.
5 Lancasters & 2 Halifax lost.
[underlined] 26/09/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 3 (Daylight). Target [underlined] CAP GRIS NEZ [/underlined]
Aircraft – NF 934 Code "G". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlare [sic]
Flying Time – 2 Hours 55 Minutes
722 Aircraft – 388 Lancasters, 289 Halifax; 45 Mosquito – 531 aircraft to CAP GRIS NEZ (4 Targets) and 191 aircraft to 3 Targets in CALAIS. Accurate and intense bombing of all targets.
1 Lancaster lost
[underlined] 28/09/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 4 (Daylight). Target [underlined] CALAIS [/underlined]
Aircraft – PD277 Code "A". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 2 Hours 35 Minutes
341 Aircraft – 222 Lancasters; 84 Halifax; 35 Moquito. [sic] Target area covered in cloud but Master Bomber brought the force below cloud to bomb visually. Bombing was accurate.
1 Lancaster Lost
[underlined] 14/10/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 5 (Daylight). Target [underlined] DUISBURG [/underlined]
Aircraft – NF 934 Code "G". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 4 Hours 5 Minutes
This raid was part of a special operation. (See page 601 of Bomber Command Diaries)
1013 Aircraft – 519 Lancasters; 474 Halifax; 20 Mosquito with RAF fighters escorting.
3574 Tons of HE & 820 Tons of incendiary.
13 Lancasters & 1 Halifax lost.
[underlined] 15/10/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 6 (Night time). Target [underlined] WILHEMSHAVEN [sic] [/underlined]
Aircraft ? Code "C". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 4 Hours
506 Aircraft – 257 Halifax; 241 Lancasters; 8 Mosquito.
Last of 14 Major raids on Port of Wilhemshaven [sic]. Bomber Command claimed "severe damage caused."
No record of any losses noted.
[underlined] 19/10/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 7 (Night time). Target [underlined] STUTTGART [/underlined]
Aircraft – NF 934 Code "G". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 6 Hours 30 Minutes
565 Lancasters & 18 Mosquito in 2 forces 4 hours apart.
Serious damage caused to central and eastern districts (including BOSCH factory)
6 Lancasters lost.
[underlined] 23/10/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No. 8 (Night time). Target [underlined] ESSEN [/underlined]
Aircraft – NF 934 Code "G". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 5 Hours 5 Minutes
1055 Aircraft – 561 Lancasters; 463 Halifax & 31 Mosquito. This was the heaviest raid on Essen so far in the war and the number of aircraft also the greatest number on any target. (These results achieved [underlined] without [/underlined] the Lancasters from 5 Group!! 4538 Tons of Bombs dropped.
[underlined] 29/10/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 9 (Daylight). Target [underlined] WESTKAPELLE (WALCHEREN) [/underlined]
Aircraft – NF 934 Code "G". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 2 Hours 15 Minutes
358 Aircraft – 194 Lancasters; 128 Halifax & 36 Mosquito.
11 different ground positions attacked. Visibility was good and results were accurate.
1 Lancaster lost.
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[underlined] 04/11/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 10 (Daylight). Target [underlined] SOLINGEN [/underlined]
Aircraft – NF 934 Code "G". Pilot – Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 4 Hours 30 Minutes
176 Lancasters of 3 Group. The raid was not considered successful as bombing scattered.
4 Lancasters lost
Note: Aircraft NF934 Code "G" went "missing" on 12/12/1944
Squadron Leader N.G. Macfarlane promoted to Wing Commander and posted as Officer Commanding No: XV Squadron RAF Mildenhall in mid-November and sends aircraft to fetch whole crew from Methwold
[underlined] NO: XV SQUADRON RAF MILDENHALL Aircraft letters "LS" [/underlined]
[underlined] 28/11/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 11 (Night time). Target [underlined] NEUSS (DUSSELDORF) [/underlined]
Aircraft – HK 695 Code "V". Pilot – Wing Commander N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 4 Hours 40 Minutes
145 Lancasters of 3 Group & 8 of 1 Group. GH Bombing attack. Modest damage.
No losses.
[underlined] 05/12/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 12 (Daylight). Target [underlined] SCHWAMMENAUEL DAM [/underlined]
Aircraft – ME 844 Code "C. Pilot – Wing Commander N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 4 Hours 40 Minutes
MASTER BOMBER – 56 Lancasters of 3 Group attempt to "Blow up" this Dam on river ROER to help American Army. Target covered in cloud. Only 2 aircraft bombed. No losses.
[underlined] 06/12/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 13 (Night time) Target [underlined] LEUNA MERSEBURG [/underlined] (Near LEIPZIG)
Aircraft – NG 357 Code "K" Pilot – Flt. Lt. Percy
Flying Time – 7 Hours 20 Minutes
475 Lancasters bombed Oil Target in Eastern Germany, 500 miles from UK. Cloud cover but considerable damage to the synthetic oil plant. 5 aircraft lost
[underlined] 08/12/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 14 (Daylight). Target [underlined] DUISBURG [/underlined]
Aircraft – NG 357 Code "K". Pilot – Flt. Lt. Percy
Flying Time – 4 Hours 20 Minutes
163 Lancasters of 3 Group bombed on GH through cloud on railway yards. Good results.
No losses.
[underlined] 14/12/1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 15 (Night time). Target [underlined] MINING KATTEGAT [/underlined] (off KULLEN POINT)
Aircraft – NG 357 Code "K". Pilot – Flt. Lt. Percy
Flying Time – 7 Hours (Landed LOSSIEMOUTH)
30 Lancasters & 9 Halifax. Mines accurately laid. (see H2S photo) Diverted to Lossiemouth on return. No losses.
[underlined] 28/12//1944 [/underlined] Sortie No: 16 (Daylight). Target [underlined] COLOGNE [/underlined] (GREMBERG)
Aircraft – HK 693 Code "B". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 4 Hours 50 Minutes
167 Lancasters of 3 Group. Marshalling yards. Accurate bombing. No losses
[underlined] 01/01/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 17 (Night time). Target [underlined] VOHWINKEL [/underlined]
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 6 Hours 5 Minutes
146 Lancasters of 3 Group. Successful attack on railway yards. 1 aircraft lost
[underlined] 03/01/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 18 (Daytime). Target [underlined] DORTMUND [/underlined]
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 4 Hours 45 Minutes
99 Lancasters of 3 group. GH attacks through cloud on Coking plant (HANSA). Accurate bombing. 1 aircraft lost.
[underlined] 07-08/01/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 19 (Night time). Target [underlined] MUNICH [/underlined]
Aircraft – HK 618 Code "G". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 7 Hours 45 Minutes
645 Lancasters from 1,3, 5, 6 & 8 Groups – Very successful raid causing severe damage (see Terry's book – "Fliegeralarm" – Luftangriffe auf München 1940-1945)
11 aircraft lost and 4 crash in France
[underlined] 13/01/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 20 (Daylight). Target [underlined] SAARBRUCKENt [/underlined][sic]
Aircraft – ME 849 Code "L". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 6 Hours 20 Minutes
158 Lancasters of 3 Group attack Railway yards. Accurate but some overshooting
Divert to Predannack on return because of bad weather at base.
1 Aircraft lost
48
[page break]
[underlined] 16-17/01/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 21 (Night time). Target [underlined] WANNE EICKEL [/underlined]
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 5 Hours 5 Minutes
138 Lancasters of 3 Group attack Benzol plant. 1 Aircraft lost
[underlined] 23/01/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 22 (Daylight). Target [underlined] COLOGNE [/underlined] (GREMBERG)
Aircraft – PD 234 Code "E". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 5 Hours 55 Minutes
153 Lancasters from 3 Group attack Railway Yards. Good Visibility – Results variable
3 aircraft lost and 1 crashed in France
[underlined] 09/02/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 23 (Night time). Target [underlined] HOHENBUDBERG (DUISBERG KREFELD) [/underlined]
Aircraft – PD 234 Code "E". Pilot – Wing Commander N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 5 Hours 10 Minutes
151 Lancasters from 3 Group attack Railway Yards. 2 Lancasters lost
[underlined] 19/02/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 24 (Daylight). Target [underlined] WESEL [/underlined]
Aircraft – NG 444 Code "Y". Pilot – Wing Commander N.G. Macfarlane
Flying Time – 5 Hours 15 Minutes
168 Lancasters from 3 Group. Good attack with best results around railway area
Leading Aircraft for whole of 3 Group. (I navigated and everyone else followed me!)
1 Lancaster lost
[underlined] 02/03/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 25 (Daylight). Target [underlined] COLOGNE [/underlined]
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 5 Hours 30 Minutes
858 Aircraft – 155 Lancasters from 3 Group. Only 15 aircraft from 3 Group bombed because of GH failure. All other bombing highly destructive. Cologne captured by the Americans 4 days later. 6 Lancasters lost
[underlined] 04/03/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 26 (Daylight). Target [underlined] WANNE EINCKEL [/underlined]
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 4 Hours 55 Minutes
128 Lancasters from 3 Group bombed on GH. No losses.
[underlined] 05/03/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 27 (Daylight). Target [underlined] GELSENKIRCHEN [/underlines]
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 5 Hours 35 Minutes
170 Lancasters from 3 Group. Leading Aircraft for whole of 3 Group.
1 Lancaster lost
[underlined] 11/03/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 28 (Daylight). Target [underlined] ESSEN [/underlined]
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 6 Hours 5 Minutes
1079 Aircraft – 750 Lancasters. Attack accurate and Essen paralysed.
Leading aircraft for 32 Base. 3 Lancasters lost
[underlined] 22/03/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 29 (Daylight). Target [underlined] BOCHULT [/underlined]
Aircraft – PA 235 Code "E". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 5 Hours 15 Minutes
100 Lancasters from 3 Group. Leading aircraft for Squadron. Town seen to be on fire.
No losses
[underlined] 23/03/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 30 (Daylight). Target [underlined] WESEL [/underlined]
Aircraft – PA 235 Code "E". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 4 Hours 35 Minutes
Special GH attack to support Rhine crossing. 80 Lancasters from 3 Group.
Signal from General Eisenhower congratulating the crews concerned on their very accurate bombing.
[underlined] 29/03/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 31 (Daylight). Target [underlined] HALLENDORF [/underlined] (SALZGITTER)
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 7 Hours 5 Minutes
130 Lancasters from 3 Group. Attack on Benzol plant using GH. Leading aircraft for Squadron.
No losses
[underlined] 9-10/04/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 32 (Night time). Target [underlined] KIEL BAY [/underlined] – MINING
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 6 Hours 10 Minutes
70 Lancasters. No loss on Mining but 4 lost on main raid on Kiel (Very accurate - Pocket Battleship Admiral Scheer hit and capsized. Admiral Hipper Emden badly damaged.)
49
[page break]
[underlined] 14//04/1945 [/underlined] Sortie No: 33 (Night time). Target [underlined] POTSDAM [/underlined]
Aircraft – NG 358 Code "H". Pilot – Squadron Leader Percy
Flying Time – 8 Hours 35 Minutes
500 Lancasters. Attack successful and severe damage caused
1 Lancaster lost to night fighter.
Tour completed because the tour requirement was reduced from 40 to 30 whilst we were over Potsdam.
References Air 27 1352 (218 Sqn)
Air 27 204 & 205 (XV Sqn)
[photograph]
End of Tour, Mildenhall, April 1945
Lancaster "H" Howe, NG538
L-R: P/O Johnny Forster (flight engineer), Flt Sgt Jimmy Bourke (mid-upper gunner),
Ft Sgt 'Nobby' Clarke (rear gunner), Sqn Ldr Pat "Tojo" Percy (pilot), Flt Sgt Dennis "Napper" Evans (wireless op.)
F/O Tom Butler (bomb aimer), F/O Dennis Moore (navigator)
[photograph)
End of Tour, Mildenhall, April 1945
Lancaster "H" Howe, NG538
Squadron Leader Percy & Crew with ground crew
50
[page break]
1945 Appendix II
[underlined] Lancaster NG 358 Mark B1. XV Squadron (15) Coded LS-H [/underlined]
This aircraft was built by Armstrong Whitworth at their Baginton factory and was one of 400 delivered to the RAF between July 1944 & February 1945. The previous LS-H was HK 648 and NG 358 first appeared on the squadron in Mid-December 1944. It was finally 'Struck off charge' on 19/10/1945
[photograph]
Dates actually flown in this aircraft:
30/12/1944 Day 1450 'GH' Bombing Exercise
1-2/01/1945 Night 1610 6.05 VOHWINKEL 146 a/c, 3 missing
03/01/1945 Day 1250 4.45 DORTMUND 50 a/c
16-17/01/1945 Night 2307 5.05 WANNE EINCKEL 138 a/c, 1 missing
27/01/1945 Day 1005 Air Test
02/03/1945 Day 1200 5.30 KÖLN Led 32 BASE, 531 a/c, 6 missing
04/03/1945 Day 0946 4.45 WANNE EINCKEL 128 a/c
05/03/1945 Day 0940 5.35 GELSENKIRCHEN Led 3 Group, 170 a/c, 1 missing
11/03/1945 Day 1200 6.05 ESSEN Led 32 BASE, 750 a/c, 3 missing
29/03/1945 Day 1230 7.05 HALLENDORF Led SQUADRON, 130 a/c
09-10/04/1945 Night 2000 6.10 KIEL BAY MINING 70 a/c
14-15/04/1945 Night 1825 8.55 BERLIN (POTSDAM) 500 a/c, 2 missing
The crew of 'H' – 'HOWE' on the above flights was:
Pilot Squadron Leader Pat Percy
Navigator Flying Officer Dennis Moore
Bomb Aimer Flying Officer Tom Butler (Canadian)
F/Engineer Pilot Officer Johnnie Forster
Wireless Op. F/Sgt. Dennis Evans
Mid Upper F/Sgt. Jimmy Bourke
Rear Gunner F/Sgt. Nobby Clarke
Other 'operations' in other aircraft were flown with Wing Commander N.G. Macfarlane as Pilot. (see note below)
51
[page break]
[underlined] Explanations: [/underlined]
Bomber Command was split into GROUPS (mainly 3 & 5 Group) – each Group split into 3 BASES and each Base comprised 2 or 3 airfields on which there were usually 2 SQUADRONS. Each Squadron was normally split in two FLIGHTS although sometimes they had three. 3 Group Base were Nos. 31; 32 & 33. 31 Base comprised STRADISHALL & WRATTING COMMON plus one other; 32 Base comprised MILDENHALL, LAKENHEATH & METHWOLD. 33 Base comprised WATERBEACH, WITCHFORD & MEPAL. The other Squadron at MILDENHALL at this time was No 622 (Australian). Each Squadron normally had 24 aircraft and a 'MAXIMUM EFFORT' was achieved when all of them flew on an OPERATION ('op').
All daylight trips were in tight FORMATION and Bombing was done on 'GH' – which was operated by the navigator who actually 'pressed the button'. The Bombing Leaders were distinguished by the double yellow bars on the tailfin/rudder. All others in the flight bombed on the Leader. A limited number of Squadrons & Aircraft in No 3 Group were fitted with this equipment, which was extremely accurate.
Note. Mac (or Nigel, as I now am allowed to call him) lives in a retirement home near Capetown, South Africa. At the Mildenhall register meeting in May 1995 I was told he had died. The following day I was able to contact his son Ian (whom we had 'baby-sat') who is now a Harley Street Consultant and he put paid to this rumour.
Nigel & Margaret visited the UK June 2000 to celebrate their 60th Wedding Anniversary and Pam & I were invited to their Party. Not able to drive at the time so unable to go. Terry offered to pick him up and take him with us to Squadron 85th Birthday celebrations at Lossiemouth. Unfortunately he was not well enough so Terry & I went to Lossiemouth on our own.
1945 Appendix III
[italics] The Operational Sortie which the crew decided had turned me from being a "very Good" Navigator into an "ACE" Navigator. (Their words - not mine!!) [/italics]
An operational order was "posted" quite early in the morning of the 7th January 1945 and the fuel load was 2154 gallons (the maximum) so we all knew that we were in for a long haul. At the pre-flight briefing Munich was announced as the target and we were allocated HK618 "G" (George) with Squadron Leader Percy as pilot. We learned later that 645 aircraft from 1;3;5;6 and 8 Groups loaded with 1 x 4000 pounder (Cookie) and clusters of incendiaries, carried out a very successful bombing raid causing very severe damage. (See photos in Terry's book). A total of 11 aircraft were lost and another 4 crashed in France (nearly 3%, which was quite high at this time).
Getting airborne at 1830, the flight out was quite uneventful from a navigational point of view with 'Gee' working well and covering a good way down into France. Having bombed on a well lit (burning) target, the Alps were now the only visible landmarks and, at the appropriate time, we turned onto a northerly heading based on the wind component calculated on the way down across France. We kept going on this heading, expecting to pick up something to give us a 'fix' but unfortunately nothing was forthcoming, and at the ETA at the French coast I asked if any of the crew could see anything. Nobody else could see through the cloud but the rear gunner (who had a good downward view) finally called to say that we had just passed over a 'Pundit' flashing what turned out to be Manston!! Quickly turning on the IFF (identifying friend not foe) and crossing the Thames estuary, a quick calculation, the message" Maintain heading – ETA base in 17 minutes" was passed to the pilot. EXACTLY 17 minutes later the pilot reported "overhead base – joining circuit. Well done Navigator" Thus ended a 7hour 45 minute flight and the very tired but elated crew gathered in the briefing room to be met, as usual, by the padre dishing out the rum ration for those that wanted it. I was quite happy to have my share while we were being de-briefed, with a crew enthusing over my marvellous navigation (all the way back from the south of France without having to change heading once!!) and then off to the quarters behind the Mess to a well earned sleep.
What was never mentioned to anyone – and the crew in particular – was that, had the heading been just ONE degree to starboard, we would have gone sailing – literally – up the north sea and, because of the cloud cover, not know why we never made it back to base – if we had survived the ditching in the dark and subsequent days adrift in the North Sea – that is!!!
52
[page break]
1945 Appendix IV
[underlined] Dakota Flights (as Navigator) July 1945 – May 1946 [/underlined]
109 OTU Crosby on Eden
08/07/1945 – 23/07/1945 DAY 18.55, NIGHT 7.45
PILOTS: Flt/Lt Mason & Flt/Lt Samuael
Aircraft registrations: FZ609 KG502 KG619 KG658 KG664 KG666
B Flight 1383T/C.U
26/07/1945 – 27/08/1945 DAY 49.55, NIGHT 26.15
PILOTS: P/O Zygnerski & Flt/Lt Herringe
Aircraft registrations: FL652 KG373 KG392 KG638 KG726 KG644 KG649 KG657 KG726
52 Squadron RAF DUM-DUM CALCUTTA
01/12/1945 – 08/05/1946 DAY 345.25, NIGHT 13.50
PILOTS: Mainly F/O Harris but also Flt/Lt Ruddle, F/O Lofting, Flt/Lt Earwalker & F/O MacArthur
Route flying from Calcutta to Bangkok, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), Hong Kong, sometimes calling into Chittagong, Meiktila, Hmawbi, Rangoon, Canton
Aircraft registrations:
FL507 FL612 KG212 KG502 KG573 KG923
KJ813 KJ814 KJ820 KJ904 KJ963 KK190
KN211 KN219 KN231 KN239 KN240 KN299
KN301 KN308 KN341 KL507 KN534 KN573
KN600 KN604 KN630 KN633 KP211
Total Hours: DAY 413.35 NIGHT 47.10
Appendix 1949
[underlined] "Lancastrian" G – AGWI/1281/TX276/111 [/underlined]
I flew 13 Sorties as Navigator in this Aircraft on the Berlin Airlift.
Registered 28/11/1945 to Ministry of Aircraft Production.
Certificate of Airworthiness No: 7283 24/01/1946.
Delivered to BSAA (British South American Airways) Heathrow 27/01/1946
Named 'Star Land'
Registered to Ministry of Civil Aviation 16/08/1948.
Sold to Flight Refuelling Ltd. 16/01/1949 and Registered to them 18/01/1949.
Allotted Fleet No. 'Tanker 26' and flew [underlined] 226 [/underlined] Sorties on Berlin Airlift
Scrapped at Tarrant Ruston 26/09/1951.
Berlin Airlift
[logo] Berlin Airlift [emblem]
[drawing]
[inserted] TX 276/1281 [/inserted]
AVRO LANCASTRIAN – FLIGHT REFUELLING LTD
47403
On 23 June 1948, the Soviet forces occupying the eastern part of Germany blockaded all rail, road and waterway supply routes from the Allied Western Occupation Zones in Berlin. With less than one month’s supply of food and fuel, the prospects for the two and a half million Berliners looked bleak. Only three severely restricted air routes remained as a lifeline between the besieged city and the western world. The Allies responded immediately with a miracle of logistics – The Berlin Airlift. Codenamed Operation Vittles by the USAF, and Operation Plainfare by the RAF, over a period of 11 months Allied aircraft made thousands of flights into the cramped airspace of Berlin and succeeded in supplying everything the city needed. Every available aircraft from RAF Transport Command was in service, as well as hundreds of USAF aircraft and even civil charter firms were called upon to supplement the effort. The operation became so skilled that the Soviet Command eventually realised that they had failed and on 12 May 1949 the blockade was finally lifted.
Avro Lancastrian G-AGWI represents an aircraft which was originally delivered to British South American Airways (BSAA) at Heathrow in January 1946. The aircraft was registered to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for a short period in 1948 before being sold to Flight Refuelling in January 1949. The aircraft was then allotted fleet no. Tanker 26 and flew 226 sorties on the Berlin Airlift.
[inserted] I FLEW IN 13 OF THEM [/inserted] [diagram]
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Dennis Moore Autobiography
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Dennis Moore's autobiography, compiled and edited by his son, Terry Moore.
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Dennis Moore
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Sue Smith
12 OTU
15 Squadron
1653 HCU
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52 Squadron
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82 Squadron
90 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
air gunner
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
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bomb aimer
C-47
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
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entertainment
flight engineer
Gee
ground crew
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Hampden
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
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-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1578/26633/PBrooksWA2019.2.jpg
1ab2d071e3d54c699536fea4498280b1
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Brooks, William Alfred
W A Brooks
Brooks, Chunky
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2020-01-17
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Brooks, WA
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37 items. The collection concerns William Alfred Brooks (b. 1922, 1318320 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 10 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war. The collections contains photographs and correspondence and his prisoner of war log. The collection also contains a photo album of military service in Singapore.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Peter Nicol and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
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Road in Labrador
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Snow covered road winding through trees, low hills in the distance. Captioned 'Bringing civilization to Labrador'.
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eng
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PBrooksWA2019
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Civilian
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Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/879/17969/YHolmesWC176554v1.1.pdf
afd409937a3fb5d64878179b24c96831
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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.
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IBCC Digital Archive
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2015-11-05
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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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Holmes, WC
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July 2nd 1942. Today is the day. We paraded at 04.30 am & with usual RAF management we eventually entrained at 07.10 Heaton Park. 11.30am Carlisle. [deleted] 4 [/deleted] 16.00 hrs Gourock. Scotland & here we boarded a tender waiting to take us out to the troopship. Again the usual waiting & then finally we are off & board the LETITIA approx. 14,000 tons. Assigned to D2 deck & acquire a hammock & two blankets. We then had tea. 16 to a table & two of us detailed as mess orderlies + a Canadian corporal who is in charge. I decided to wash & shave but I reckoned with out the queue & then after took a turn on deck. 22.00 hrs. I slung or rather attempted to sling my hammock & after much effort, swearing & sweating achieved my goal. That however was only the start. One, then had to get in & stop in, which isn’t so easy. I think I did sleep after a while.
July 3rd 06.00 hrs Reveille & I turned out. “Turn” is the correct word. feeling quite sharp this morning & after inspecting the queue for the wash basins, dashed off & washed under a salt water shower. Ten minutes later I felt much “smarter” & had to rub Vaseline into my skin. Breakfast at 07.30 hrs. & then cleaning up until 09.00 hrs. The rest of the day was ours except for boat drill & a lecture telling us to sleep in our clothes & always to carry our life jackets.
21.00 hrs we are under way & we go to bed feeling very self satisfied
[page break]
July 4th. Wake at 05.30 hrs & find the ship riding quite a swell. Arrived on deck just in time to see the last of Ireland (I think) on our port bow & fast being left behind. fairly heavy swell all day & most of the lads are sick. My turn came at 8/0 pm & I then decided to put my hammock on the floor & sleep there which I did. Remembered that Marie had probably met Mum by then
July 5th. Feeling better this morning & ate a good breakfast The sea & sky are a dirty grey & we look as if we shall meet dirty weather. Our destroyer escorts are shipping seas & we have started to roll. 8/0 pm. Sea is [deleted] q [/deleted] getting rough & I am still sleeping on the floor.
July 6th. A really nice morning & not so rough. During the usual life boat drill at 10.0 am one of the ships officers starts community singing which goes down very well. The sea now appears to be light blue instead of dirty grey & it looks much better for it too. Have been wondering how Marie is getting on at Banbury & wondering if she is enjoying herself or is just bored stiff. R.a.f. issues a lot of tourist literature on Canada which is something to read at any rate. Read the novel of Al Jolson’s film “The Singing Fool” & I was as pleased with it as I was with the talkie I first saw years back. I’ll try & keep it to return to Mrs Payne.
[page break]
July 7th. The sea is very calm this morning & we all had a good breakfast. (2 Boiled eggs each). Still cheesed off with the monotony.
Fog descends in the evening & it’s a dismal sort of evening, so after posting a letter home & to Marie I turned in.
July 8th. Fog very thick this morning & our siren sounds frequently. Still very monotonous day & I turned in early. Watches put back 1 hr for the fifth time this voyage.
July 9th. Still thick fog, sea calm. We handed in our English money for exchange to Canadian dollars, in the afternoon. I again went to bed early.
July 10th. Lovely calm morning & the wind is quite warm & the sun shines. A Lockheed flew over this morning & that was the first sign of nearing land. We are all hoping to sight the Newfoundland coast this afternoon. Clock’s were not altered last night & altogether we are five hours in front of English time.
July 11th. I woke at 3.50 am & went up on deck to see what all the excitement was about. It was beautiful, the Halifax harbour & water-front was all lit up & the dawn was just breaking. One of the high spots of the war for me. Disembarked at 10.30 am & entrained at 11.0 am. Monckton 5/0pm. & dismissed at 8/0pm. Viewed the city & turned in 1.30 am. First date with French Canadian girl.
July 12th. Paid 11 dollars & promptly called home. Grub very good & plentiful. Not a bad place.
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July 13. Very hot. Scrounged as usual & went to my first flick.
Wrote & sent an airgraph to Mrs Payne.
July 14th Still damned hot & dry. Clicked for a really good permanent scrounge. Excused all parades for rest of my stay here at Moncton. Sent 2 airgraphs home. One to home & one to Gloria. Invited out 7/30pm on Wed.
July 15. Usual scrounging process. Paid $48.63. for my £11 & I now feel quite rich. Also visited 63 Bonnacord St. & had a very nice evening & supper concluding with another invitation for a car ride on Saturday evening.
July 16. After strolling in the evening I met Jean Davidson, seemed quite a nice girl & I arranged to call home for her tomorrow (Fri) at 8/0pm. I am hoping she likes me.
July 17th. Informed that smallpox had broken out on the ship coming over & had to be vaccinated all over again. pressed my slacks with an iron we had bought & christened both the iron & the slacks. Called for Jean at 8/0pm & had a really good time. she is a really nice girl & pretty into the bargain.
July 18th. Finished at 12 noon. & we went shopping early in the afternoon. 5/0pm started by car, for Magnetic Hill. had supper of N.B. pancakes with maple syrup & butter at the Hill. Rained all night from 9/0pm & we had a taxi to the camp.
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July 19. Church parade 9.30 am & Ralph & I were roped in to receive the collection. If only the padre had known us. Wrote & sent a letter to Jean at home & then took the other Jean out.
July 20th. Usual kind of day. Still cheesed. Had a quiet walk out at night & got back early for a change.
July 21st. Lee’s birthday. We bought a couple of bottles of Jamaica rum & celebrated in town. Went dancing later then got home somehow. God knows how as I certainly was canned.
July 22nd. Nasty hangover; Met Arthur Turner at the gas centre & so we got together. & had a night out.
July 23rd. Raining & looking miserable. Went to a hooch liquer place in town. Beer pretty bad & I had all I could carry.
July 24th Awful sick & a bad hangover. To hell with liquer from now on. I went along to Jean’s & stopped there until [deleted] neal [/deleted] nearly midnight talking.
July 25. 1/30pm started for the Point du Chine in the car from No 63. It’s a lovely place & the warmest water I have ever swam in. I was sorry to dress & leave for town at 7/0pm. Hot dogs & coffee on the way back.
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July 26th. Invited to dinner at No 63. Bonnacord St. Excelent [sic] meal & I stayed until about 3/30pm. Went strolling & took a few pictures & then was [deleted] hos [/deleted] invited 5 miles out of town to a bogus date. We returned by taxi sad but much wiser.
July 27th. Worked in the new gas centre until 3/0pm & then did my weekly wash.
July 28th. Last day in gas centre, the best scrounge I ever had. Went out with Arthur at night
July 29th. [deleted] F [/deleted] First day in cook house. Went to see the “Corsican Brothers” with Arthur
July 30th. Collected Jean & went to the flicks.
July 31st Clicked for fire piquet. The powers that be, are catching up with me.
Aug 1st. Out camp at 12 noon & hitchhiked to Amherst
Darn good show, we were the only cadets in town
Met Dorothy & June Gordon & met them after work finished. Stayed at “Birds Nest” & slept till 11.0 am next morning.
Aug 2nd Dined & then Bill Jones & I, again called for Dorothy & June. Left Amherst 7/0pm & arrived Moncton 10/30pm.
Aug 3. Paraded 8.30 am full of trepidation & hoping
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that we were not missed, off a fatigue party that we should have been on Sunday.
Aug 4th. Every thing [sic] under control & no mention made of Sunday. Fire-Piquet duty at night.
Aug 5th Slapped on a charge for being absent off the 10/30pm Fire-Piquet parade & I am placed under open arrest. Went out with Arthur & played bowling at YMCA.
Aug 6th. Awarded 3 days extra Piquet duties, starting tonight
Aug 7th. Usual day. Fire duty at night.
Aug 8. Wangled a 36 hr pass when I should have been on jankers & hitched to Amherst Met Dorothy & June plus their Mother. Stopped at “Bird’s Nest”
Aug 9th Went swimming at the “Quarry” Amherst & took a few snaps. Hitched back at night.
Aug 10. Roumers [sic] of a posting soon. However, when I [inserted] am [/inserted] moving Ill [sic] believe it. Letter from Dorothy & a postcard from Magnetic Hill. Fire Piquet duty.
Aug 11th. Posted to Bowden. Alberta Wrote to Dorothy & explained about the posting. Letter from Home.
Aug 12th Entrained for Montreal & slept in the luggage rack all darn night
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Aug 13th. Arrived in Montreal about 9.30 am & after marching to the C P R station we were dismissed until 6/30pm. I hurriedly viewed the city & saw the Notré Dame Cathedral. Had several beers in the first public house I had seen in Canada. I also went to the top of Mount Royal & saw the whole city from there. Also met Betty & Beryl (Note [underlined] leave [/underlined]
On arrival back at the station I was able to snap Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands complete with R M C P. [deleted] B [/deleted] in full regalia.
Entrained for Winnipeg at 8/0pm.
Aug 14th. Still travelling amidst typical Canadian scenary [sic] Excellent food on board the train. Had a chat with the driver on the foot plate at one place of call & looked the loco over.
Aug 15th. Arrived in Winnipeg where a reception, organised by last war pilots of the RAF, was held. An hour later we were given a packet of cigarettes & sweets & again entrained this time for Calgary. Stopped at Regina & Moosejaw in the evening.
Aug 16th. Still travelling in prairie land which is giving way to foothills as we get nearer the Rockies.
Watches have been set beck 3 hrs altogether on this trip
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Aug 16th. [underlined] cont [/underlined]. Arrived in Calgary at 9.30 am & were dismissed until 4/30pm. Went to a Natural History & Zoological Park in the afternoon. After entraining we had a good meal & arrived in Bowden at about 7/0pm.
Aug [symbol] 17th. Inoculated again & obtained all the gen. Allotted flying instructors etc & looked the kites over. (Stearmans.)
Aug 18th. More “gen” as regards the course in the morning & lounged about all afternoon in the crew room waiting for the first flight in Canada. Retired to the camp YM. for the rest of the evening after flying for 1/2 hr. with my instructor. Did my first flick roll & then generally stooged around getting used to the kite & the feel of the controls
Aug 19th. Usual day. Circuits & bumps for first time.
Aug 20th. Usual day. Circuits Pictures in the evening.
Aug 21st
Aug 22th. [sic] Cleared camp about 3/0pm & hiked to Innisfail where I spent the night in the hotel. Poor show. Met Susie & [inserted] Dolly. [/inserted]
Aug 23. Slept till 12.0 midday, dinner, & then called for the girls at 2/0pm. walked 4 1/2 miles out to a farm & heartily regretted it afterwards. Came back to camp by taxi.
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Aug 24th. Black Monday. Cheesed off & sick & tired of this joint Chatted to Jean in y m c a until 10/0pm & then strolled home with her.
Aug 25th Raining in torrents & flying cancelled.
Aug. 26th No flying
Aug 27th Took a few shots with a 2.9 lens camera at night.
Aug 28th Still cheesed off.
Aug 29.th. Met Margaret & had quite a decent evening
Aug 30th. Duty weekend plus flying. Saw the Smiling Ghost at the camp cinema with Margaret & went walking afterwards Learned that her people & she were Ukerainian [sic] & came from Poland.
Aug 31st. Changed my flying instructor & am now with F/O Fergusson.
[deleted] Wel [/deleted] Went walking out of camp at night. Soloed for 40 mins.
Sept 1st. Cheesed off as usual No flying
Sept 2.nd. Still bad weather & no flying. Went to Innisfail with Margaret & went to the flicks.
Sept 3rd. Weather has brightened & the sun is quite warm.
Sept 4th. Left camp 2/30pm. & hitched to Edmonton 140 miles North. arrived 6/15pm. Jock & I & two of the lads immiediatley [sic] found ourselves a pub. A smashing night & finished up in the Liquer Control board with a liquer [deleted] lise [/deleted] licence. Stopped the night in a temperance Hotel.
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Sept 5. Breakfasted on four eggs etc etc. & started back at 1/0pm. arrived home from Innisfail in a taxi 9/30pm.
Sept. 6.
Sept 7
Sept 8 Sold camera 30$ to Pat Lockton.
Sept 9 Accident at Netook & LAC Presland was killed after baling out.
Sept 10.th Duty watch in control tower, met Al Brown, morning shift. & secured some shots of Ansons, Stearmans & a Harvard.
Sept 11th. Went shopping in Innisfail & bought socks, shorts & singlets. Flt Kay & Lee collided while landing at Netook. Nobody really hurt.
Sept 12. Flying as per usual & I got a shot of the crashed kites.
Sept 13. [deleted] Ple [/deleted] LAC Presland buried in Innisfail. Did my first Instrument flying under the hood.
Sept 14th. Changed F/O Ferguson for P/O Kersey. but I did not meet him. Letter from Gloria (great news) wrote airgraph & airmail
Sept 15th. Letter from Sid. Airgraphed him too.
Sept [underlined] 16. [/underlined] Cheesed off to tears. Put in pass for weekend.
Sept 17. Night flying! Not too bad
Sept. 18 Wyne & Instructor killed after failing to pull out of a spin
Sept 19. Weekend pass. Started hitching with Jim Grimshaw with the intention of getting to Banff in
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(saw “This Above All” at night)
the Rockies. Landed up in Calgary at 6/0pm.
Rain & cold all the weekend & a lousy time was had by all. Started back 7/0pm Sunday night & arrived back at 12 midnight.
21st Sept. Instructor on leave. Night flying also. Airgraph [deleted] 22nd. [/deleted] from home.
22 Sept. Funeral of the lost. I took a few shots of the Rockies from 4,000 ft. East of Netook.
[underlined] 23rd. Sept. [/underlined] Sent films to be developed 36.
24th. Thurs.
25th Fri.
[underlined] 26 [/underlined]th Went to Innisfail & sent a parcel of groceries home Also bought Dad some socks & shirt, Two prs stockings for Mum & 1 pr of silk, hairpins & elastic. Groceries + clothes; 10$ Went to the flicks & saw 49th Parrelel. [sic]
27th. “Genning” ? for exams.
28.th Airmanship & Aircraft paper today I think I scrambled through. Jim Grimshaw left for Trenton today “shaky do”. Airgraph from “Mr” Manchester.
29.th. Navigation & Armaments exam today.
[underlined] 30 [/underlined]th. Signals etc.
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[underlined] [deleted]3[/deleted]1st [/underlined] Oct. Transferred to 63 Course (lack of flying hours.)
2nd Oct. L.A.C. Craw stops our long weekend, God help him if the boys get him on Saturday.
3rd Oct. Posted a parcel home (clothing). Went to Red Deer & bought some stockings & my suede jacket. Lee paid 5$ for pyjamas & then lost the darn parcel. Bought another camera. 35$.
4th Oct. Went to Red Deer again, this time in a T model Ford with the prop swingers. Not bad! Met a little girl from Eckville. Tried out the camera & exposed a roll of 18. Super XX. Picture’s in camp at night. “Kit Carson”
5th Oct. Usual routine day.
6th Oct. Usual routine day. Wrote a letter home & 2 airgraphs to Manchester..
7th. Sat Navigation & Airmanship again. Jeanette Mac’donald & Nelson Eddy in “I married an Angel” Not so hot.
[underlined] 8 [/underlined]th Passed both exams. transferred to 63 Course Sat all night in Canteen “composing” verse for autograph books.
9th. Jock Davidson Posted & some of the gang. Last night out together so we went on the spree at Innisfail Hotel Smashing night & we really went to town.
[underlined] 10 [/underlined]th Sat. Boy oh boy! what a head Ive got.
Very quiet evening & finished up at flick. Saw
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Jock off.
Sun 11th. Usual lousy day. Pictures in camp at night
Mon 12th. First flip with new instructor & first aerobatics
First solo [deleted] areo [/deleted] aerobatics & quite pleased with my loops.
Tues. 13.th Lads went on leave.
Wed 14th. Cross country to De-Winton Dual.
Thur. Solo Cross country to De-Winton Met Veronica in canteen
Fri. Week end pass. Started for Edmonton & landed up in Ponoka for the night. Contacted the little girls people & gave them the photograph.
Sat 17th. Started for Calgary. Arrived 3/0pm & failed to buy a camera. Tried to hitch to De Winton & got lost on some darned side road. After finally getting back to Calgary I found a room & kipped down for the night.
Sun. 18. Lovely morning in bed & hitched back to Bowden in the afternoon. pictures at night
Mon. 19th. Letters from home & one from Bill Mobbs giving me all the gen.
Tues. CFIs check & I passed OK. Answered Bill Mobbs letter. went to Life [deleted] Bou [/deleted] Buoy Follies in Recreation Hall. A smashing evening & a real wizard show + an excellent girl singer
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Wed 21st Evening in Innisfail. Chicken & mushroom supper.
Thurs. 22.nd IF Test with W/O Davidson. Pictures in camp. finished flying here.
Fri 23rd. Hoping for leave on Mon.
Sat 24th Granted leave from Mon. pictures in Innisfail “How Green was my Valley”
Sun. 25th Invited out to Mrs Dye Bowden. Very nice supper & enjoyable evening
Mon 26. Leave starts today.? Sent airgraph to Arthur (Bath).
Tues. Leave stopped on account of 63 course dinner
Wed. Drill, PT etc
Thurs. Heartily cheesed off. Sent an airmail home
Fri. Broke camp & went to Calgary for a weekend. Hitched & arrived 8/0pm. Couldnt [sic] get a room & I finally met Mrs Edwards. (Police) who took me home & insisted I stopped there the whole weekend.
Sat. 31st. Breakfast in bed & then got in town about 10/0am & then started my Xmas shopping. Finished by 1/0pm & accidently met Eleanor Jamison. Dined together & then went along to her apartment. Quite a nice kid. Left her 5/0pm & spent the usual Calgary evening. Went home in a taxi
Sun 1st November. Slept till noon & then got
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up for dinner. Sat & yarned all afternoon while it snowed like the dickens. Mr Edwards drove me down in the car & I caught the 4/45pm bus to Bowden. Arrived Bowden 7/0pm & went to flicks.
Mon 2nd Nov. Sent Mrs. Payne, Kath. Dot (Amherst) & Mum a letter. Still snowing & blowing like a blizzard Posted to Estevan. Saskatchewan on Saturday next.
Tues. 3.rd.
Wed 4th Night out in Innisfail, 15 men to a round and oh boy what a booze up.
Thurs. 5 What a headache.
Fri 6 Pack inspection for our posting.
Sat 7th. Moved out at 11.0 am & caught Calgary train at 12. noon at Bowden. 2/0pm arrived Calgary, dashed around to Eleanor’s place & took her to a show.
Left negs. At Mc’dermid’s to be sent on.
Left Calgary 9/0pm & arrived Estevan next day. at 12/noon.
Sun 8 Moved into billets. No heating except 5 blankets Looks pretty grim. Pictures at night
Mon 9. First Parade here & its not like Bowden.
Wrote to Bill, George, & 3 airgraphs to England.
Tues10 Usual business of being posted. Domestic night and every one cleaning like a housewife. Pictures at night
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[underlined] Mon. 16th Nov. [/underlined] Started Ground school lectures today & Im not feeling at all happy about them. Saw Greta Garbo in the camp cinema.
Tues. 17.th First [deleted] ling [/deleted] link trainer hr in Estevan & I had quite a time using a wheel control column instead of the old type cont[missing letters] stick.
Wed 18th Marie’s account of her holiday came, also a letter fro[missing letter] Bath & my proofs from Moosejaw. Wrote an airmail home & to Marie.
Thurs. 19.th. Obtained “The first hundred thousand” Ian Hay fro[missing letter] station library & retired early to bed with it
Fri 20th Attended 60 Course’s wings parade, very dissappoin[missing letters] effort. Went into Estevan with Arthur & supped & saw a show. (Sat 21st posted a parcel home.)
Sat 21st First time at flights, tried to remember the cockp[missing letters] check, not very successfully. & sat around in the cockpit gettin[missing letter] the feel of things. Evening in Estevan. not impressed.
Sun 22.nd. Flying & then pictures at night saw “”Tish” very good
Mon 23rd. Flying & then on getting out of my Anson I met Mobley, a [deleted] bloc [/deleted] fellow from Bon. He seemed quite amazed when I told him who I was. promised to see him & have another chat later. Read “Heidi” by Johanna Spyri. very
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good indeed.
[underlined] Tues [/underlined] 24 Had another chat with Mobley and he told me another chap from Bon is here as well. A [deleted] cop [/deleted] corporal photographer who used to work with Blinkhorn. Hope to meet him soon. No mail yet.
Wed 25th. Usual day. Saw “Iceland” with Sonja Henie. and I quite enjoyed it. Had a letter from Moosejaw & Amherst.
[underlined] Thurs [/underlined] 26 Still no mail from home.
[underlined] Fri [/underlined] 27 48 hrs. pass. Went in to Estevan & played bowls. Stopped overnight & caught Greyhound at 6/0 am in the morning
Sat. 28th 11.0 am arrived Regina. Bought an Argus f.3.5 36mm camera. Three filters & borrowed an exposure meter for weekend. Obtained a few shots, both day & night. Saw Bette Davis in “Now Voyager” very good.
Sun. 29.th Lay in until dinner time. had dinner & then went out with camera, trying a few angle shots. Caught bus[deleted]t[/deleted] back at 5/0pm
[underlined] Mon. [/underlined][deleted] 29 [/deleted] 30th Letter from home. Pictures at night. “Gunga Din” not at all bad. met Sgt. photographer from Bon. Checked on [deleted] Tues [/deleted] camera for copying work & finished roll.
Tues. 1st Dec. Filled up with SuperXX & took a few with aid of 1 photo-flood. Received winter issue.
Wed. Snowing again
Thurs. Saw “Mrs. Miniver” a smashing picture. Wrote an airmail home.
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[missing page]
themselves. Airgraph from Jean.
Thurs. 17. Still sick & light duties. Wrote airgraphs home & to Jean. letters & Cards to folk in Canada. One to Regina about my photo’s.
Fri. 18.th. Dick Bailes off the course Went to Estevan & saw the flicks. Photo’s came. very good. Xmas & birthday card from home.
Sat 19th. Two or three drinks with Dick & Andy. & lots of grub
Sun. 20th Usual Sunday In Estevan in the evening. Grub & Hostess Club. Christmas Card from Dot & a letter from Lee, Penhold.
Mon. 21st Night on the beer with Andy, Not bad. Wrote Lee.
Tues. 22nd. Night in camp & feeling very cheesed, roll on that boat.
Flew solo in first storm, “a shaky effort.”
Wed 23rd. Night in Estevan with Archer & Andy. Pictures.
Thurs. 24 Letter from Moosejaw. Night in Town.
Fri 25th. Flying in the morning. Dinner at 1/0pm & it was excellent Officers waiting on us & the RAF dance band. Stuck all my pictures in a new album. Went to Stella’s at night & had ham & eggs chips etc. including two bottles of coke, which I mixed with a half bottle of whisky. Slept well.
Sat 26th Morning in bed. Flew in afternoon Estevan at night. Pictures & grub.
Sun. 27th Walked into town & took a few snaps. Sat in hostess club all night
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Mon 28th. Card from June (Amherst). Stella’s at night.
Tues. 29.th My birthday. In town at night with Andy & Archer. Excellent meal & pictures afterwards.
Wed. 30th. Gos on 5 days leave today. Slept in Estevan & caught 6.0 am bus.
Thurs 31st Arrived in Regina 11.0 am & bought an exposure meter. 21
Caught bus at 3 & arrived in Moosejaw 5/0pm. 1035 Calton St at about 10 mins to 6/0pm & spent a quiet evening [deleted] at home with all the folks. [/deleted] including a visit to flicks etc with Mike & (hors[missing letters] Oper[missing letters] Ruth & Mary. Walked home in the snow & really enjoyed it
Jan 1st 1943. Slept till 10.0 am & then had breakfast. Stopped in all day & ate massive meals of turkey Met Ina Johnson at the party at night, also Dorothy, (Fred’s girl.)
Sat 2nd. Rose late & then went shopping. Bought a tripod & went home early because of the cold. The cold was intense & I suffered frostbite on my ears before I could get from the bus to home.
Sun. 3rd Breakfasted nearer 12.0 midday than breakfast time & waited for Mary so I could get cracking with the camera Took quite a few snaps indoors & then we all had a big sup[missing letters] of turkey & all the trimmings. Went out with Mike at night & saw the skating at the ice rink.
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Monday 4th Black Monday & I have to report to camp tonight said goodbye to everyone & travelled by greyhound back to camp.
Tues. 5th Back to work, although I had bags of mail when I got back from leave. letters from home, Marie & Ma, Lee, Jean Kath. & cables from Ivy & home for Xmas & my birthday. Spent the night replying to them.
Wed. 6th. Into Estevan & the hostess club.
Thurs. 7th Stopped in billet & did nothing all night, Finished off a film roll
Fri 8. Letter airgraph from Mum saying my 3 parcels had arrived on Dec. 18.th. Saw “Somewhere Ill find you” Clark Gable & Lana Turner & So very much enjoyed it Finished “Mortal Storm”.
Sat. 9.th. Got Somerset Maugham’s “Theatre” from library & stooged around alone. Sent a parcel of food home
Sun. 10th Walked into Estevan, saw Babe in the Canada Café. Played table tennis in Hostess club.
Mon. 11th. Pictures in camp Cross country check with Lowe.
Tues. Went to town alone & chatted to Babe for a bit, A very nice girl.
Wed 13th Went with Archer in to town & stooged the usual round of café’s
Thurs. Finished Theatre very good indeed.
Fri. Went to town & got “My Son” “My Son” from library
Sat 16th. Very cold weather No flying
Sun. 17 Very cold & getting colder No flying Stopped in all day &
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went to flicks at night.
Mon 18th. Getting still colder.
Tues. 19. Temperature 30° below freezing.
Wed 20th. Blizzard blowing up & temp. of -45 or 77 degrees of frost. Weather report so bad that we were given a 48 hrs. pass Went into Estevan at 4/0pm & did the usual stooging. Met Dorothy in hostess club & was invited to a masonic party effort. Very pleasant evening indeed & arrived back at camp 2/0pm.
Thurs. 21st Slept to 10. am Went out with the lads at 12.0 midday & waited in Stella’s for a taxi. Spent afternoon with Ladbury Joe, Braithwaite & Bonnerman in the beer parlour. Tea at 5.0pm & then dashed in & chatted to Babe “Bernice” at drugstore. Pictures on my lonesome & then met a pleasa[missing letters]
Kiddy in Deans taxi place. “Freda”. Back by taxi to camp
Fri 22nd.Slept late & then started back at ground school through about a foot of snow.
Sat 23rd. Spent night in camp. read “Marion [inserted] alive [/inserted]” Vicki Baum.
Sun. 24th. No flying still, Very cold. Telegram for birthday
Mon 25.th. No flying still, Canteen & camp evening. Wrote several letters.
Tues. 26th Getting the “gen”
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Wed 27th. Still getting the “gen” & collected for 3 day B list over missing PT.
Thurs. 28 Exams.
Fri 29 Exams Two hectic days. Went to town & celebrated.
Sat. 30.th Started B list Mrs Lackey rang up inviting me to supper tomorrow & had to turn it down as I am confined to camp.
Sun 31st More B list
Mon 1st More B list last night.
Tues 2nd. Febuary [sic]. Night in town. Deaney posted
Wed. 3 Went in with Archer & changed my look for Halters Castle. Explained to Mr & Mrs Lackey our absence on Sunday.
Thurs. Stopped in again & pasted my album up to date.
Fri. 5th Cross country with Cox. All OK.
Sat 6th. Night in Town.
Sun. 7th. Flying all day & pictures in the evening.
Mon. 8
Tues. 9 Seupplementary [sic] Signals exam. OK. Boose up with Ginger.
Wed. 10th. 3 X Country. Lots of pictures. Ginger went to Trenton.
Thurs.
[deleted] Fri [/deleted]. Concert in camp. “Gopher Pie” not too bad.
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Fri 12. Off on a 48 hr pass. Reading “this above All”
Sat. 13 No bus to Regina so here I apparently stop. Had a few beers & finished up at the pictures.
Sun. 14th. All day in the billet & its deadly. Stella’s for grub at night & then the pictures in camp.
Mon. 15. Left on 5/0pm Bus for town & wrote a few letters in the hostess club. Finished “This above All” excellent.
Tues. 16. Letters from home & one from Blondie Leicester.
Wed 17.th. Photographed for new identity card. Finished [deleted] Clad [/deleted] “Claudia” very good
Thurs 18th. Read “Shelten” by Steen. Not bad. started night flying & enjoyed it.
Fri 19. Woke at 12.0 & went to flights at 1/30 pm. told to go back & report for night flying again at 6/0 pm.
Sat. 20th. Went to see the Ice Exhibition at the rink & enjoyed it very much. Changed my library books & had the usual supper. Sent another parcel home.
Sun. Flying at night again. first Night X country. OK.
Mon 22 Started reading. [deleted] Spu [/deleted] “Fame is the Spur” H Spring Letter from home & one from Lee.
Tues 23. Usual day.
Wed. Usual day. pictures in town with Joe Berry
Thurs. Evenings photography in billet with Plumbs reflex.
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[underlined] Fri [/underlined]. 26. Low level X Country flight today. quite enjoyed it. Started a 48 hrs pass & removed to International Hotel in town. Saw “Desperate Journey” at night
Sat 27th. Lay in bed late & got up in time for dinner Roamed around with the camera most of the day. Spent the latter part of evening with Babe & Mr & Mrs Lackey chatting Had coffee etc in the Coffee bar & then went to bed.
Sunday 28th Another lay in before an early dinner. Spent afternoon in Hostess Club. 6/0pm turned up at Lackeys for supper & partook of an excellent turkey & plum pudding. Had a volume of Tennesons poems given to me. Took several pictures of Percy the cat. Back to camp on last bus.
[underlined] Mon 1st March. [/underlined] No 1 LL. X. Country with Sgt. Quinn.
Tues 2.nd. Letter from Dad Had a bust up with Grundy & F/LT Brown Pictures in camp at night. 1st Amatuer [sic] Dramatic presentation in [deleted] Duel [/deleted] Understudy for a duke.
Wed. 3rd. Went to town at night & collected films, laundry etc. Chatted in Lackeyes. Blizzard blowing up.
Thurs 4. Blizzard still raging. No flying.
[underlined] Friday 5th. [/underlined] Had supper with Lackey’s & enjoyed really super waffles + lashings of butter & maple syrup. Chatted till 8/0pm Bought a suede jacket & a tie & underwear.
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Sat. 6 Usual day of flying. Town at night & supper at the coffee bar.
Sunday 7th. Bags of polish for inspection by AOC tomorrow
Monday 8th. Slept late & collected 3 days. No mail.
Tuesday 9.th Full pack parade etc all morning & flying started at 3/0pm. New instructor P/O Enefer. Darn nice fellow & lots of gen.
Wed 10th. Last night flying session. Interview for commission.
Thurs. 11 Confined to camp again. Howie loses 230$.
Fri. 12. First wings check. I.F. OK. Went to town
Sat. Blizzard blowing, no flying. Went into Estevan as usual. The trip back was quite an adventure & we only just made it
Sun. 14. Blizzard raging & the drifts are getting very deep. I tried to get a taxi to take me to supper at Lackey’s, but they wouldnt risk it. I got ready & started for the guard house still hopeful. However I was refused permission to leave camp on account of the weather, so I eventually supped in the mess.
Mon 15. There seems no end to the blizzard & we are completely isolated. It was quite an adventure to leave the billet for meals, & we had to struggle through the storm & drifts to get there.
[page break]
Tues 16th. The weather is worse if anything & conditions are quite serious. Every man is put on rations as food is getting low.
Wed 17. At last the fury of the storm seems to be abating & we all hope to see the last of it today.
Thurs. 18th. This morning the sun is shining brightly & everything is calm. Now the real chaos can be seen & the ‘drome I U.S. until at least Sunday next. Bad news! course is again extended for another week. Road to town is blocked.
Fri. 19th. Put back a course. (Nav.) Went in & got very drunk. (Really cheesed now.).
Sat. 20. The lads are shovelling snow to clear the runways. [missing letters]urally I scrounged off it & read instead.
[missing letters]n 21st. Lay in bed all day. Went to Stella’s at night & ate an enormous supper.
Mon 22nd “Genning” for Nav.
Tues. 23rd. Sat the Supplementary & passed OK. Went to town
Wed. 24th. Stooged about all day & in to Estevan on the bus at night.
Thurs. 25th Flying started again this afternoon & 68. Co. finished off CFIs etc. I saw S/L. Bennett & asked for gen. possibility for an individual posting sometime next week.
Fri 26th.
[page break]
27th Sat Feeling lonely now that the lads are gone
28th Sun. Town as usual. Strolling around & came back early
[underlined] 29th [/underlined] Mon. Invited to supper. Wed. with local librarian
30th Tues. Went to town with Fred. Came back early & saw “Mokey” at the camp cinema. I really enjoyed it although the lads thought it mushy. He was just such a little boy that I’d love. I guess Im feeling “mushy” myself. Fred read my tea-cup.
31st Wed. Started flying again. Just got to my supper date in time. Very nice evening indeed.
1st April Thurs Flying like a ding-bat, Went to Winnipeg
2nd. Fri. Flying late & then went to camp cinema
3rd Sat. CFI check. Didnt go much on me.? Went to town & did the usual round. River very high & road to camp is under water in places. I hope it goes down soon or we will be shut off from Estevan again. sent a food parcel home.
4th Sun. Confirmed to camp by floods. No buses & road is impassable. Also collected 4 days jankers.
5th Mon. Everyone confined.
6 Tues. Started in B flight. Sent back & told to do as I like
7 Wed. Last night of jankers. Hope the river & floods are going down.
[page break]
8th Thurs. Went to town on first possible bus. Sent parcel of cosmetics etc home
9th Fri. Still Scrounging. Went out early on a[deleted]n[/deleted] chit & did a few miles on my feet. Fred & his girl came along & I took several shots of them during the afternoon. Saw “Casablanca”. very good
10th Sat. Had a wizard (salmon salad) with lashings of “miracle whip” in the Princess. After the store closed I took “Babe for a coke & bowling. Then walked her home.
11th Sunday. Went out early in the morning & finished off the reel of exposures in Stella’s.
Hitched to town with Fred. Had a splendid afternoon listening to Ron Davenport playing a church organ. “Liebenstraum”, “Ave Maria” & similar stuff to that He’s wizard on the organ. Plays under the name of Harry March professionally. His mother was Josie Collins who sang in The “Maid of the Mountains” in London. At 6/0pm I went to supper with Lackey’s & enjoyed a wonderful meal of turkey & finished up with pumpkin pie & whipped cream. An excellent evening indeed.
12th Monday. Saw the “Black Swan” very good
13th Tues Usual day.
[underlined] 14 [/underlined]th Wed. Saw “China Girl” at the Orpheum, not bad.
15 Thurs Wings parade today. Usual dreary routine & then shoals of sprog sgts, walking about town. Beer parlours are all shut & so I stayed sober. Cabled home & to Manchester.
[page break]
[underlined] 16th Fri. [/underlined] Packed everything bright & early. Chased around & said goodbye to every-one. Fred & Alf shared my taxi + two kitbags. Stopped the night with Mr & Mrs Lackeye’s
.
17th Sat. Rose at 5.45am & had a glass of milk + 2 oranges & choc. for my pocket. After saying goodbye I arrived at the station at 6.30. Entrained 7.15 & we were off on our 2000 odd mile journey to the east. 3/0pm arrive Brandon & we change for Winnipeg. Winnipeg 6/15 & I checked my webbing & had a stroll in the city. 7/20. Entrain for Montreal. A wizard set-up. Sleeping booths & a coloured boy to make our beds up. I turned in at 10/0pm & slept soundly & comfortably till 6.30.
18 Sund. Breakfast at 7.45. after putting watches on a further hour. (2 hours in all since we started). An excellent meal & then ablutions. Cleared up my kit & I now have time to observe the scenary [sic]. We are travelling through tree & snow covered territory now & in the bright sunlight it is a beautiful glistening & gleaming world.
19 Mon. Breakfasted while we drew in to Ottawa. Montreal at approx. 10.00 am. Free till 3/0pm. Strolled around the city trying to buy a camera. No luck. Looked in the Notre Dame cathedral. very impressed but as a service was
[page break]
in progress I could not stay long Had a wizard bottle of stout in the Windsor Hotel. The best drink in Canada I have ever had. Entrained at 3/15. And prepared for my last night on the train.
20th Tues. Breakfasted in St. Johns. & entrained at 7.0 am Arrived at Moncton 11.0 am. & having no reception committee, I promptly lost myself & had dinner. Reported at 31 at 1/0pm [underlined] Not impressed [/underlined] Out of camp again at 2/0pm. Stooged around as usual. Back to camp at 11/30pm. & turned in. (Wrote home & to Estevan. earlier in the evening).
21 Wed. Usual routine on being posted. with the addittion [sic] of collecting a respirator. Im still not impressed, in fact Im worse off here as a sgt. than I was in Estevan as an Erk. Met lots of lads I knew or at least knew me.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
William Holmes memoir - training in Canada
Description
An account of the resource
Describes crossing the Atlantic to Canada and journey to Bowden, Alberta and then on to Estevan, Saskatchewan. Day by day account of activities, flying and life in Canada, Concludes with journey back across Canada
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
W Holmes
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942
1943
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Thirty one page handwritten document
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
YHolmesWC176554v1
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
Nova Scotia--Halifax
Nova Scotia--Amherst
Québec--Montréal
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Alberta--Calgary
Alberta--Innisfail
Saskatchewan--Estevan
Ontario--Ottawa
Newfoundland and Labrador--St. John's
Ontario
Québec
Saskatchewan
Alberta
Newfoundland and Labrador
Nova Scotia
Manitoba
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
1942-08
1942-09
1942-10
1942-11
1942-12
1943-01
1943-02
1943-03
1943-04
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
Steve Baldwin
Anson
RCAF Bowden
RCAF Estevan
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1292/17589/PPearceAT16030003.2.jpg
8f0fcbea0ef6f09500eccd686765e4fd
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
16 RAF Bombers Here In Mass Ocean Flight
By JOHN HUGHES
In what the Army calls the first mass military flight across the Atlantic, 16 four-engined Lancaster bombers landed at Mitchel Field at 4 P.M. yesterday on the first leg of a good will tour of the United States.
The planes, which comprised Squadron 35 of the RAF, will fly over New York City today at 1:20 P.M.
The Squadron carried its own ground crews, bringing in all 207 officers and men in the 16 bombers.
All Bomb-Run Veterans.
The fliers, all veterans of the great bombing attacks on Germany, were greeted at Mitchel Field by Lieut. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer.
Stratemeyer said he was happy to greet the men who had worked together around the clock with our air forces in crushing Nazism.
Today the planes will fly out over the Atlantic a short way, then head inland over Staten Island and Manhattan, passing over the Empire State Building at 2,500 feet in the early afternoon.
They will proceed to the Bronx, then circle back over Queens and Brooklyn before returning to Mitchel Field.
Head West Sunday.
Wing Comdr. Allan John Craig, 23, who participated in 66 wartime operations, led the group in yesterday. The planes took off from Graveley, Hereford, England, last week, and have been at Gander Bay, Newfoundland, for servicing the last few days.
Leaving here Sunday, they will [advert] fly in short stages across the country to the Long Beach Army Air Base, in California, where they will have the honor [sic] position in the Army Air Forces revue over Los Angeles in celebration of Air Forces Day on Aug. 1.
(Picture in center [sic] fold)
[photograph]
[photograph]
[photograph]
[photograph]
[photograph]
[photograph]
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
Goodwill tour of United States
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - newspaper article 'RAF Bombers on mass ocean flight'. States that 16 Lancasters landed at Mitchel Field on first leg of goodwill tour of United States. The 35 Squadron planes carried their own ground crew and all flyers were veterans of attacks on Germany. Met by General George Stratemeyer. Mentions led by Wing Commander John Craig who participated in 66 wartime operations. Flew from Graveley to Gander and will go in stages to Long Beach California. Top right - photograph of air and ground crew standing in line by Lancaster TW872. Below right - Lancaster over airfield with runway going bottom right middle right. Middle left - three men in swimming trunks eating fruit. In the background another man and two storey building. Middle right - air-to-ground view of airfield with runways. Machine gun muzzle visible on left. Bottom left - Arthur Pearce in front of wooden house. Bottom right - air-to-air view of Lancaster.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946-07
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One newspaper cutting and six b/w photographs mounted on an album page
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPearceAT16030003
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
United States Army Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
United States
New York (State)--New York
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
California--Long Beach
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
California
New York (State)
Canada
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946-07
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
35 Squadron
Goodwill tour of the United States (1946)
Lancaster
RAF Graveley
runway
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1279/17498/PPearceAT16010060.2.jpg
8082e89b8a0a912fc935335faf72565c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pearce, Arthur
A T Pearce
Description
An account of the resource
140 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Arthur Pearce (1874945 Royal Air Force) He served as an air gunner with 12, 170 and 156 (Pathfinder) Squadrons and completed a 44 operations. After the war, on 35 Squadron he took part in the June 1946 Victory flypast over London and a goodwill visit to the United States. It contains his diaries, memorabilia and photographs.
The collection also contains an album concerning his post war activity with the Goodwill tour of the United States.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Steve Allan and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Pearce, AT
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
Eight Lancasters parked at Gander airfield
Description
An account of the resource
Air to ground view of eight Lancasters with light paint scheme lined up in pairs pointing right. Beyond them a runway with buildings on the far side.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPearceAT16010060
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
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
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Geolocated
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Sykes
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
Newfoundland and Labrador
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946-06
35 Squadron
aerial photograph
Goodwill tour of the United States (1946)
Lancaster
runway
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1279/17453/PPearceAT16010015.1.jpg
509d2cdbc8d64c2015fcafc8c7db84d5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pearce, Arthur
A T Pearce
Description
An account of the resource
140 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Arthur Pearce (1874945 Royal Air Force) He served as an air gunner with 12, 170 and 156 (Pathfinder) Squadrons and completed a 44 operations. After the war, on 35 Squadron he took part in the June 1946 Victory flypast over London and a goodwill visit to the United States. It contains his diaries, memorabilia and photographs.
The collection also contains an album concerning his post war activity with the Goodwill tour of the United States.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Steve Allan and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Pearce, AT
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
Gander Airfield
Description
An account of the resource
Air-to-ground view of Gander airfield looking south west . Main runway from mid left to bottom right. Hangars and other buildings below and above runway. Subsidiary runway on right River on left.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPearceAT16010015
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Geolocated
Pending review
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Sykes
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
Newfoundland and Labrador
aerial photograph
runway
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/16107/MDonaldsonDW70185-150603-01.1.jpg
ca63ee77393cfe0525caec2c3b428938
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
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy 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
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
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
Newfoundland Customs form
Description
An account of the resource
Notes that Captain Donaldson master of Hudson AE 538 with three on board on route to United Kingdom entered and cleared Newfoundland Airport 6 September 1941.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-06
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page form document handwritten filled in
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
MDonaldsonDW70185-150603-01
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09-06
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.
Hudson
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/15138/ODonaldsonDW70185-180125-040001.2.jpg
7d62028041158ab45e5ed1f97ab46e34
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/15138/ODonaldsonDW70185-180125-040002.2.jpg
96596fc993452ac07f5d376efee490aa
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
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy 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
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
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
Newfoundland airport identity Card
Description
An account of the resource
Temporary, special area, crew pass made out to Flight Lieutenant Donaldson between 21 August 1941 and 28 August 1941
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-08-28
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two side printed card
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
ODonaldsonDW70185-180125-04
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/704/11895/LBeethamMJ[Ser -DoB]v2.pdf
e48b84bb1ab4b0ad11464c42bd3238d3
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
Beetham, Michael
Sir Michael Beetham
M Beetham
Description
An account of the resource
Five items. The collection concerns Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham GCB, CBE, DFC, AFC, DL (1923 - 2015) and contains his five flying log books. He flew a tour of operations as a pilot with 50 Squadron. After the war he flew on the goodwill tour of the United States with 35 Squadron. He remained in the RAF and rose in rank until his retirement in the 1980s.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Sir Michael Beetham 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
2015-09-09
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
Beetham, MJ
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
Michael James Beetham’s pilots flying log book. Two
Description
An account of the resource
Pilots flying log book for Michael James Beetham, covering the period from 5 December 1945 to 18 July 1952. Detailing his post war squadron duties, staff duties, flying training and instructor duties and flew the victory day fly past and good will tour of the United States. He was stationed at RAF Graveley, RAF Hemswell, RAF Finningley, RAF Eastleigh, RAF Middleton St. George, RAF Bassingbourn and RAF Andover. Aircraft flown were, Lancaster, Oxford, Lincoln, C-47, B-17, Expiditor, Anson, Wellington, Devon, Valetta, Meteor, Canberra and Proctor. Flying duties were with 35 Squadron, 82 Squadron, Headquarters Bomber Command and Staff College.
Format
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One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
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Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LBeethamMJ19230517v2
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
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Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Ghana
Great Britain
Kenya
Nigeria
South Africa
Tanzania
United States
Zambia
California--Mather Air Force Base
Colorado--Colorado Springs
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Durham (County)
England--Hampshire
England--Huntingdonshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Suffolk
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
Ghana--Accra
Ghana--Takoradi
Kenya--Nairobi
Michigan
New York (State)
New York (State)--Mitchel Field
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
Ohio
Ontario--Ottawa
Ontario--Trenton
South Africa--Pretoria
Tanzania--Dar es Salaam
Tanzania--Lindi
Tanzania--Mbeya
Tanzania--Tabora
Texas
Washington (D.C.)
Zambia--Ndola
California
Colorado
Ontario
Newfoundland and Labrador
35 Squadron
82 Squadron
aircrew
Anson
B-17
C-47
Goodwill tour of the United States (1946)
Lancaster
Lincoln
Meteor
Oxford
pilot
Proctor
RAF Andover
RAF Bassingbourn
RAF Eastleigh
RAF Finningley
RAF Graveley
RAF Hemswell
RAF Middleton St George
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1009/11266/YMadgettHR1330340v3.1.pdf
31389c6e68faef31ddc009947d31e67f
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
Madgett, Hedley Robert
H R Madgett
Description
An account of the resource
250 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Hedley Madgett DFM (1922 - 1943, 147519, 1330340 Royal Air Force), a pilot with 61 Squadron. He was killed 18 August 1943 on the last operation of his tour from RAF Syerston to Peenemünde. The collection consists of letters, postcards and telegrams to his parents while he was training in the United Kingdom and Canada. In addition the collection contains memorabilia, documents from the Air Training Corps, artwork, a railway map, diaries, medals as well as his logbook, photographs of people, places and aircraft. Also contains letters of condolence to parents and a sub collection containing a photograph album with 44 items of his time training in Canada'.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Joan Madgett and Carol Gibson, and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Hedley Madgett is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/114690/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/madgett-hr/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-03-17
2019-06-14
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. 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
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Madgett, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
THE
CANADIAN
POCKET
DIARY
1942
[page break]
MEMORANDUM FROM 1941
[underlined] Ground Examination Results [/underlined]
[underlined] Armaments [/underlined] Oral 68%
Written 86%
Airmanship 114/200
Navigation 117/150
Meteorology 28/50
[underlined] Signals [/underlined] Oral 100%
Written 25.5/50
Total 539.5
Average % 71.9%
Position 24th. Total in
Class [deleted] 49 [/deleted] Top mark 81
(Pascoe). [page break]
MEMORANDUM FROM 1941 [page break]
January THURSDAY 1 1942
Still terribly cold. Snow came down light but steady in afternoon washing out flying. I cannot see us getting through the course on time with sufficient hours. The course is due to finish Feb. 13th. a Friday! Also, at the moment only 13 Harvards are serviceable out of 31. Hydraulics being main cause & no replacements. Seriously swotted in evening for first time.
FRIDAY 2
Snow falling more heavily today making it a bit warmer thank goodness. No [deleted] ‘w’ in now [/deleted] flying again due to weather, but clears when our squad have lectures in afternoon. Had P.T. (baseball game) before tea, and then did some more swotting in evening. [page break]
January SATURDAY 3 1942
Up with P/O Hansel in afternoon 1.45hrs. instrument flying etc. Then he did a formation take off with another kite. Then F/Lt Raynor took me on solo check. Did badly but passed to my astonishment. Up solo for 30min. for a circuit. Baulked in 1st approach & had to go round again. Down town in evening to send cable home haircut & bit of shopping. Very cold.
SUNDAY 4
On early flying this morning & had to be over at hangar at 7.15am when temp. was -30°C. Was terribly cold. Worst its been I think. Was up solo 1.30hrs did 2 spins. In p.m. swotted a bit & also after tea. Our exams (Navigation a/c rec. arms) this week, & I certainly do not feel very confident about them. [page break]
January MONDAY 5 1942
On ACP with Lowden and Markham in Control Tower. Saw Oxford (No. 813) do overshoot action, starboard engine cut & a/c swung round & stalled & crash into ground on ‘drome boundary. Two pupil pilots were in it. They were not hurt badly, only cuts, which is a marvel because kite was smashed up completely. Visibility bad during afternoon due to snow clouds.
TUESDAY 6
Bags of flying this morning in bad visibility. 2.55hrs. solo and 1.05hrs. with P/O Hansel. I have now 16.45hrs. total. In afternoon had signals check morse receiving & sending, & aldis receiving. I got all OK & no mistakes. In evening had a/c Recognition exam Had to know spans & speeds. Although I knew very little if anything, I managed to get all the answers, I think all right, as did majority. [page break]
January WEDNESDAY 7 1942
Lectures in morning & flying in p.m. but was not up because was on Link at 3 to 4pm. In evening after tea all our course went to G.I.S. for a ‘met’ film. We have our final exams all on Saturday now and am afraid I know precious little. If they are like the a/c rec. exam yesterday, it won’t be so bad. We have been given ‘gen’ that we shall have question on Artificial Horizon.
THURSDAY 8
Bad visibility this morning & slight fall of snow. Robinson lost with his instructor P/O Mackie. Got plenty of ‘gen’ on our Armaments & Navigation exams. Even more complete than at S. Current. [page break]
January FRIDAY 9 1942
Robinson still missing this morning. All our aircraft are searching.
Was in the R/T booth for first time this afternoon. Then went up with P/O Hansel doing a search.
SATURDAY 10
Robinson & Mackie still missing. Had our final Navigation Exam in morning. Did not do the plot very well. Armaments in afternoon which was easy, & then Signals which I did very badly. Did not have a chance of cribbing – was on front row. (Signals written exam)
In evening went down town to see Fred McMurray in “Dive Bomber”. Robinson & Mackie found – their kite blown to bits & scattered over 100 Yds. [page break]
January SUNDAY 11 1942
Up very late. Flying in afternoon 2.20hrs. solo and 1.40 dual in a X. country to Skiff and back. Weather has now got very warm and the snow is thawing
MONDAY 12
Only went up this morning for Navigation Test with P/O Sproston (late of Swift Current). I had to fly a 3 leg course to Richmound, Maple Creek & back. I missed Richmound, only because I could not see it as right below us. However I passed O.K.
Had oral armament exam at 2.30pm. Was fairly simple & pretty well knew I have passed. [page break]
January TUESDAY 13 1942
Our Flight ‘F’ attended the funeral of Robinson this morning. Last Post sounded at the grave & a [deleted] sl [/deleted] salute fired by the gaurd. [sic] A fitting ceremony.
Flying in afternoon 2.00hrs solo & 1.40hrs. dual doing blind take offs under the hood. These are terrible things: the first take off was atrocious swing right off the runway.
WEDNESDAY 14
3.10 hours solo in morning. Weather still very good. Many more Harvards are now serviceable so that we are getting more hours in now.
Lectures in afternoon including a boring lecture on accidents, spins etc. by the C.F.I. Then after tea had a Navigation lecture till 8.15p.m. on filling of X Country Log. [page break]
January THURSDAY 15 1942
Did No. 1 X Country Solo to Shaunavon (105 miles) and back. Time 2.10hrs. Got to Shaunavon O.K. but Go back calculated wrong so had big Track Error. After a long lapse was on Link in early evening. Did 22 landings. Not so bad as I thought.
The other Flight (E) start night flying tonight.
FRIDAY 16
Started night flying this evening. As P/O Hansel has 48 hours leave, was up with F/O Winder. Only did one overshoot and one landing as Winders’ eyes were not too good. But landing is hell – you just go down & down into the black darkness until you hit the deck with a crash. On the 1st circuit we just missed another kite. [page break]
January SATURDAY 17 1942
This afternoon I did the No. 2 X Country Solo to Claydon – Skiff and back. Met. wind was badly wrong especially last half. But did not get lost which is the main thing.
Was going out in evening but changed my mind as felt too lazy.
Was great surprise to hear that Bill Girdwood is off his course at Moose Jaw – spirals at night flying.
SUNDAY 18
Had to be up disgustingly early for flying at 7 a.m. Had 3.55 hrs. 2.45 was Solo. Although I have over 40 hours in, I have not done or [inserted] been [/inserted] taught aerobatics; will ask to do some next time.
Night flying with P/O Hansel 21.45 to 22.45 hrs. At last moment night flying arrangements altered. I am on from 1 to 2 a.m. with Hansel. Did quite well except for the last [page break]
January MONDAY 19 1942
[underlined] So starts our [/underlined] 8th week of the course landing which was just a crash on to the deck. Hansel yanks the stick back & up into the air we go. He gets it down again using throttle.
Not up till 11 a.m. this morning & then flying again in afternoon. Was taught rolls & loops & then went Solo practising them. Quite easy but very tiring after a well. [sic]
TUESDAY 20
Flying in the morning during which had the ‘D’ test (i.e. I.F. take off & a night circuit). Passed O.K. by F/O Pexton, the Sqdn. Commander. This is a test to be passed before Solo at night.
Flying at night with P/O Hansel 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Can do the circuit perfectly but cannot land yet. [page break]
January WEDNESDAY 21 1942
In bed most of morning.
Only had 1.10 hrs. with Hansel flying in afternoon. This is unusual because I pretty well always get in over 2 hours per day.
Weather is still perfect. The new course is starting flying on the Oxfords (Course 35) making the circuit very congested & wide
THURSDAY 22
Tragity [sic] today. At 11.30 P/O Hoar, a young Canadian instructor was killed instantly & Eric Markham seriously injured when their kite, stationary off end of runway was hit by a kite taking off – P/O Blamires & Pring, which was assumed to be doing an I.F. take off. Condition of Pring & Blamires not bad. Wreckage terrible. The back of one kite broken (Hoars’) completely & other fuselage ripped off wings. Poor Markham dies [sic] in aftermath [page break]
January FRIDAY 23 1942
Eric died of fractured skull – revealed today. P/O Hoar was decapitated. Pring O.K. & cheerful & Blamires not a scratch.
Did the No. 3 X country today to Senate – Cross & base – 2 hrs. Quite easy & is the last Solo X Country. The next is dual to qualify for wings. Heard from home that Bernard Wright is home wings up & 3 stripes.
SATURDAY 24
Had a letter from Betty today & a very [underlined] uninteresting [/underlined] one from Mary (Stewart).
Night flying with F/O Cherrington for 3 landings after which he let me go Solo. Cherrington was best I’ve known him. Did not bind once. Did 2 Solo landings both of which were absolute peaches – just as smooth as day time landings. Must confess that moon helped a lot (First Quarter) and shall now thank that moon for letting me Solo my N.F. finished at 11.45 p.m. [page break]
January SUNDAY 25 1942
In bed most [inserted] of [/inserted] morning and flying in afternoon. Did a 3 – leg X Country I.F. to Schuler and Maple Creek. Was under hood all the time and afterwards Hansel said I was pretty good up to M. Creek but last course was wrong. The gyro or compass must have been wrong so at E.T.A. Base finished about 20 mls. South of Med. Hat. our log sheet in instructors room. I have been grounded for a while – I have most hours – 62.45 hrs.
MONDAY 26
Hansel gives me the morning off from flying so stay in bed.
I [sic] afternoon had signals exam receiving & sending & then had to polish out and clean windows of the crew room ready for Inspector General’s visit tomorrow.
In evening at 6.30 p.m. had the final Airmanship & Maintenance exam, Was not a very nice paper but think I got through. This is the last exam we take here. [page break]
January TUESDAY 27 1942
In [deleted] afternoon [/deleted] [inserted] morning, [/inserted] the Inspector General of the R.C.A.F. attends the parade & then visits around the station. Talk about fuss for one man. All flying stops while he is at the parade because of noise. Our course did not have to go on this parade, thank goodness.
Did our first bit of formation flying. I was with F/O Cherrington & the 2 others were P/O Hansel/Oakley & Sgt. Brearley with Thomas.
WEDNESDAY 28
Was to have my Wings Test – a 3 – leg X Country to Mendham & Piapot (197 miles) but low cloud stopped X Country flights.
Wright N. on a X Country was forced down near Maple Creek because of visibility. Night flying from 00.45. Did one circuit & landing with P/O Matthews then 1.00 Solo. Only did 1 landing as flare path was blocked by Wood on his nose[?]. Low cloud again stopped flying. [page break]
January THURSDAY 29 1942
In evening went down town with Leslie Mills. Did a bit of shopping and went to flics to see Cary Grant in “Suspicion”. Was a very good picture.
FRIDAY 30
Pay day [deleted] one word [/deleted] I get 40$.
Night flying. did one landing with Hansel then 2 hours solid solo, during which I got in 8 landings. Full moon out which made it pretty easy landing. Finished 12.45 a.m. Saturday. [page break]
January SATURDAY 31 1942
In bed all morning and 1 hour flying with Hansel in afternoon. I could not do anything right.
In evening went down town; saw picture “The Secret Falcon” with Mary Astor & Humphrey Bogart. Quite good detective story.
February SUNDAY 1
Low cloud & light snow in early morning stops flying temporarily. But I was up later Solo formation flying with Mills & Cpl Redfern. Getting on swell; can get quite close now.
We have 10 days leave after graduation. Propose going to see Rosemary Stapp & then on to New York if possible. Wrote R. Stapp tonight. [page break]
February MONDAY 2 1942
In bed all morning and flying in afternoon. Was only up 1.40 hr formation flying solo with Pain C.A. and Mellor. I at least am getting much better & can get pretty close.
TUESDAY 3
Only up for a height test this morning Solo, during which you record down on a form boost, revs, Air Speed, Oil temp etc every 3000’. At 15,000’ you stop. Up there you find yourself breathing very quick because of lack of oxygen.
Night flying. I dual landing with Sgt. Brearley and 7 Solo. This completes my 40 landings & 12 hours night flying. [page break]
February WEDNESDAY 4 1942
In bed this morning as usual. In afternoon went on No. 4 X Country with F/O Winder (Wings Test) Ran over cloud on way to Mendham & turned on E.T.A. No cloud above Piapot however, but last leg had to come down to ground level & follow the railroad because of very low cloud & snow. Icing conditions. Passed test however. Exam results out. Came 24th. Not too bad.
THURSDAY 5
Was up early, but I myself did not go up. Free afternoon except for 1 hour of Link (am now on Lorenz beam).
Not out in evening.
Only 7 more days. The Wings dinner is on Wednesday 11th. [page break]
February FRIDAY 6 1942
This morning had final Link test – 2 legs of a X Country & a landing by Lorenz Beam. Got 72%. Was up 2.05 hrs. with Hansel most of which was I.F. under the hood. Got on very well – my best yet I reckon.
“Gen” floating around about final positions Thomas N.W., top.
do not know my position but not in 1st 20 so bang goes a commission not that I really want one.
SATURDAY 7
Had the Flight Commanders Test by F/LT Rayner. Did very well & pleased him. Then up with Hansel and was under hood almost all the time. Ceiling very low – 800 ft. above the drome. In other parts less.
In evening went down town & spent & spent. Bought coloured socks for Peter, stockings – 6 pairs, & 2 pairs of Wings. The kind issued are a dirty yellow colour. [page break]
February SUNDAY 8 1942
No flying at all the whole day due to low ceiling. In afternoon I was one of the unlucky few that had to go compass swinging in the snow. Oakley was with me & P/O Hansel & Matthews were in the kite.
Did not do anything in evening except write a letter home & have a shower.
MONDAY 9
Still no flying all day. Went down town in afternoon after S/Ldr. Pexton gave us his experiences on ops. at Croyden, in Belguim [sic] & France. He was on Gladiators most of the time & then on Hurricanes.
Bought a suite [sic] case, a leather coat & some nice slippers for Mum (if they fit). Had letter from Rosemary Stapp agreeing that we can meet in Detroit & live at her fathers [sic] big house in Arm[?] Arbor[?]. [page break]
February TUESDAY 10 1942
Flying in p.m. 2.30 hours Solo only. I did not go out in evening because of flying too late. We are now in daylight at 6.30 p.m. due to Daylight Saving Time just introduced to Canada.
I am now waiting for the last test – C.F.I. test. I only hope I do not go up with W/Cdr. Scragg; I want S/Ldr. Pexton (just promoted from F/LT)
WEDNESDAY 11
Had very funny letter from Rosemary, but it was for her sister Mary Anne. She told Mary Anne that I may or not be a “goon or anything else”, “after all helping a Britisher” I wrote a sarcastic letter back. In evening went down town to cable her that course is extended 2 days & Wings Parade on Sunday 15th morning [page break]
February THURSDAY 12 1942
Today finished my flying.
Had a CFI Test with S/dr.[sic] Pexton. I only had to go over to Whitla [?] & do a precautionary & then back to base again where I did a very ropy [sic] 3 pointer. I cannot do them now. Then I was up with [indecipherable] one word [/indecipherable] for over an hour taking some pictures above the clouds. Have now completed 94.20 hrs here & 160.40 grand total.
FRIDAY 13
As finished my hours had a free day. In evening went down town with Leslie Mills & Oakley to see our instructor at the Cecil Hotel. Vic Matthews there also with his pupils Pain, Paine & Lowden. Had a few drinks etc. At about 10 o’clock we broke up & I went to the Legion where the micks were having a booze. Got a bit drunk & came home with a maintenance fellow after having a meal in Jimmys Café. [page break]
February SATURDAY 14 1942
Handed in our flying clothes & extra winter equipment. For dinner Cpl. Redfern , Mills & Oakley & me went down town to see Tuck & Vic. Back in camp after & I went to do shopping after tea.
Back early & did a lot of packing which is a job. There are 19 commissions. Perkin got one. 3 instructors Thomas. Stewart & Davids. 6 on G.R. course at Charlotowne [?]
SUNDAY 15
The great day has arrived. Wings parade 10.30 a.m. Rest of day spent getting tickets handing in bedding etc. etc. In late afternoon had stripes and wings sown on by the Empire Club. Had a good tea & booked in luggage which is going to Montreal. Left Med. Hat at 1.30 a.m. Monday morning. [page break]
February MONDAY 16 1942
Slept in bunks & very comfortable Very cold weather.
Got to Winnipeg 2 ½ hours late [underlined] thus only stopped for 30 mins [/underlined]
Came in their huge Cadillac, Rosemary smashing. Mr. Stapp owner of the Pretzel Bell where had meal after seeing all the colleges. Met lots of couples. Bed very late.
TUESDAY 17
Slept very badly due to rocking of train rather more than usual. Passing thro’ very good scenery & took plenty of pictures from the observation car at the rear.
Stopped at Winnipeg for 25 min. [page break]
February WEDNESDAY 18 1942
Arrived Toronto at 9.15 a.m. 3 hours late. (not unusual) Spent almost all of time getting fixed up with American Currency & 3 photos for the American Consulate. They could not see me till Thurs. morning so I travelled to Windsor [?] with Brown on 11.40 train. which arrived at 7 a.m.
THURSDAY 19
Very cold wind this morning – more so as we had to wait 20 min for a bus at 7 a.m. Got bus to town & had breakfast at café. Then Brown left for his people & I spent 1 hour waiting for Consul to open at 9 a.m. So listened to broadcast in same building of station WRLW & said a few words thro’ the mike!! Took 3 hours to get passport. Arrived Ann Arbor 1.45 p.m. Rang up & Rosemary & Sally [page break]
February FRIDAY 20 1942
[inserted] Not up till 10 a.m. [/inserted]
Did some skiing & sleding [sic] one the slope behind the house in the afternoon. Met Rosemary's sister Mary Anne - not so pretty as Rosemary I don't thing [sic]. 4 months older than me. At the Pretzel Bell in evening & met hundreds more - including Tom Harman the great football star of America. Very nice fellow. Got his autograph. Rosemary & I went to bed at 3.30 - did not kiss her.
SATURDAY 21
Up late as usual. In evening Rose & I went to Detroit by train to see night life. Went to "Tropics" a night club in Wolverine Hotel. No floor show as we expected. Danced a few times tho' [sic] & saw several other English airmen. Got 12.30 am train back. Stapps waiting up for us to tell them all about it. That evening I fell for Rosemary. For first time I really felt in love. She kisses wonderfully - if only she did not have to go tomorrow & me on Tuesday. I love her. Bed at 4.15 am. [page break]
February SUNDAY 22 1942
Saw Rosemary & Virginia her friend off the 3.20 pm train at Detroit. She was sobbing a bit I think in the coach. I was sorry too. Came back alone & felt very alone without Rosemary.
Met more very nice young people in the Pretzel Bell in the evening & went to bed at 1.30 the earliest yet at Ann Arbor.
MONDAY 23
Missed Rosemary a lot. Up very late as usual. In afternoon did some shopping & bought some stockings. Then to a movie show in evening with Mrs. Stapp (Sally). Some good acts on the stage including Ted Weems & his orchestra, a really hot band.
Back to Pretzel Bell & heard Roosevelt's speech. Nothing exceptional. [page break]
February TUESDAY 24 1942
Up late again. Catching 1.10 pm coach to Detroit so had to rush around & see Mary Anne, the law student I met on the way here & finally Mr. Stapp (Phil) at the Pretzel Bell. Sally took me to coach depot. Wish I did not have to go.
Got thro' [sic] customs easily & got 5.20 pm train from Windsor. Arrived Toronto 11.15 p.m. & after 30 mins set off again on same train to Montreal.
WEDNESDAY 25
Arrived Montreal 8.15 this morning with Peter Wood & Brown who I met in my carriage. Had breakfast & Peter & I walked around town till 2.30 p.m. This is a filthy town - did not like it at all. Met rest of the crowd at 2.30 p.m. & got 3.15 pm train which arrived at St. John 6.45 am Thursday morning. [page break]
February THURSDAY 26 1942
Got on the S.S. "Princess Helene" via a free taxi & set sail 8.15 a.m. bound for Digby. Arrived there 11 a.m. Got train again - which was a very dirty one & terrible food. At the station we were transported in trucks to "Y" depot, Halifax arriving there about 6 o'clock. Had a meal, & at 8 p.m. had to sign a few (unusual) forms. At 12 midnight had F.F.I. inspection & were issued with respirators.
FRIDAY 27
[inserted] Very hot & stuffy in the billet last night. Got up late (11 a.m.) & had a parade at 1.30. [/inserted]
Nothing doing. Lots of rumours when we shall go. Some say tomorrow night. Down town in evening with Lucy. What a hole! The filthiest town I've come accross [sic]. Dirty little street cars, narrow streets, dirty houses, no respectable girls (all whoars [?]) & crowded with service men, R.A.F., Army, Navy & Yankees. Went to see James Cagney in "Captains of the Clouds". A very good flying film with episodes of Harvards in it.
[page break]
February SATURDAY 28 1942
As so hot last night, someone cleverly (!) turned off the heaters so that by morning we were frozen. Had 1 hour P.T. & the news we were to be hear [sic] till 16th. My God! Nearly 3 weeks in this hole! Another very [inserted] big [/inserted] draft went today including those from Moose Jaw. Saw Marsh yesterday - he went in this draft.
SUNDAY 1
Had to parade at 10 a.m. only Nothing [sic] new. Rest of day spent sleeping & eating. Nothing else to do in this dump & town is a rat-hole.
In evening saw the movies in the camp. [page break]
March MONDAY 2 1942
Had to P.T. all morning & then again in afternoon - to which we objected greatly. But the P.T.I. F/O Such persuaded us by kindness only. However, most of time spent playing games – badminton and basket-ball. The latter developed into rugby - & had some good fun. Went to camp movies again in evening to see "Boys from Syracuse".
TUESDAY 3
P.T. once again in morning but not very strenuous thank goodness. Still not "jen"[sic] on when we shall leave this dump. Afternoon spent in G.I.S. doing a/c recognition. We knew more about it than the instructor. Then wasted time supposed to be doing signals but never took it down. Steadily going nuts in this joint. [page break]
March WEDNESAY 4 1942
Had letter from Betty transferred from Med. Hat. Seems to be having a very frivolous time with Ted on his leave. Can't understand them - [deleted] his [/deleted] he is 4 years her senior. No word from John in the R.a.f.[sic] yet.
THURSDAY 5
[blank]
[page break]
March FRIDAY 6 1942
Movies in evening in the gym. Rain storm all night.
SATURDAY 7
Heard today that we are going tomorrow or Monday.
Went out with Peter Cole in evening down town. Halifax has worst main street I have come across.
[page break]
March SUNDAY 8 1942
In morning had another F.F.I. & then paid $24.13 plus £3. We on the draft left the camp 1.45 p.m. & marched down to a pier - 1 1/4 hour march. Little ferry boat took us to [deleted] a [/deleted] our boat, "S.S. Beaverhill". Left Canadian shore 3 p.m. Beaverhill from outside is an old tub rusty cargo boat. Our quarters however very good & very good food & plenty of it. We have cabins 4 or 6 in a cabin. I am with Pollard, Pettit & Paine D.E. worse luck.
MONDAY 9
Still in the bay this morning with a lot of other merchantmen. Its [sic] going to be a large convoy. At 10.20 we started. At 11.45 am had life boat drill. I spent all afternoon sleeping as there was nothing else to do except read old mags. [sic] in the smoking room. The weather outside is pretty foul - a high wind - rain - fog and quite rough, although we are not rolling a lot. We must be very heavy because some waves are huge, the spray reaching over the deck. [page break]
March TUESDAY 10 1942
Weather perfect today. Sunshine - little wind and a gentle swell.
The meals here are really superb could not wish for better. Our cabins are very comfortable but are a bit crowded for room when we get up in the morning.
In the evenings there is usually a sing song over drinks etc. in the lounge.
WEDNESDAY 11
Another day of good weather. This afternoon we saw an empty raft float by and later a life belt, but no wreckage etc. Towards evening weather broke up and light snow started. Joined sing song in evening but went to bed fairly early (10 p.m) and read in bed till 11.15 p.m.
On board are 5 women - ferry pilots 2 of which are very easy on the eye. Just cannot imagine them as pilots. [page break]
March THURSDAY 12 1942
This afternoon we had a debate "That Air Power is more important than Sea Power". The Australians & New Zealanders opposed the notion & due to good speakers they won. The speakers never got to the point especially on the proposition side. (English & Canadian)
The weather now pretty rough. Extremely high wind from port making sea quite rough & choppy. Very often bows were awash. Only one or two sea sick but I am O.K. so far.
FRIDAY 13
Getting quite rough. This morning I was one of about 4 or 5 standing by the stern when suddenly a colosal [sic] wave came right over & swamped us. Lucky none of us were swept over board [sic]. In afternoon it got worse & ran into a storm. The rollers were terrific & often bows & decks were awash. Also the propeller came out of the water frequently when we were on top of a crest & then the whole ship shudders. Going thro' [sic] several storms. [page break]
March SATURDAY 14 1942
Waves getting bigger. One of the lifeboats was damaged and left hanging on one davit by a colosal [sic] wave that reached over the top deck. Later lifeboat was cut adrift. Instead of going to sleep as per usual in afternoon I packed my kitbag more scientifically so that there is more room now for goods wanted at home. The ships [sic] canteen is not a very good one but can get Razor Blades, fags and tobacco & chocolate.
SUNDAY 15
4th day of rough weather: it began to tell on me: I began to feel slightly sick & had an awful headache. But by end of day seas had calmed down a bit & we did not roll so much.
Slept in afternoon as usual. We are supposed to be 100 miles south of Greenland this afternoon: tonight we put clocks on 1 hour.
In the convoy now are 16 ships besides ourselves; we are the biggest ship (10,000 tons). [page break]
March MONDAY 16 1942
7th day out at sea. Sea quite calm & we did not roll or pitch much, so I feel O.K. again now. At 7 a.m. this morning we had done 980 miles, giving an average speed of 6 knots.
During the morning the convoy zig zagged each ship individually ‘for practise’[sic] in case attacked.
In afternoon had a morse session & then heard a talk given by an Aussie Sgt. Observer. Quite interesting but he did not think much of pilots. (The majority of us on board are pilots).
TUESDAY 17
Another day of calm sea & sunshine, but not particularly warm. In afternoon had a talk by an Aussie on colour photography. He certainly knew what he was talking about & sometimes quite [underlined] technical. [/underlined]
Few days ago met an Aussie pilot whose relative, a doctor, worked in Queen Mary’s Hospital – Sidcup. A nice chap. We may meet when on leave if there is a chance. [page break]
March WEDNESDAY 18 1942
A fine day again. We are supposed to be 200 miles south of Iceland today, which makes this weather rather exceptional so far North.
For something to do found that we were in Canada (& America) for 6 months & 20 days.
THURSDAY 19
Bright warm sun & one or two showers today. Today [deleted] starts [/deleted] we enter "danger" zone, which means we have to man the 4 gun posts. We go in 2 hours shifts from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. We do not do any night shifts. We don't particularly mind this as it will be something to fill in the time, as it gets very boring doing nothing & reading occasionally.
Clocks put on 1 hour again tonight. [page break]
March FRIDAY 20 1942
Was on the lower starboard gun shift from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. with "Loftly" Paine this morning. It was a double Marlin - 500 rounds a minute each, but had no chance to use it. Rather boring in fact - but lovely weather. Later it got quite hot & was the nicest day of the trip. Had an awful bath in salt water in afternoon. This afternoon the convoy changed positions. We are now in 2nd. row to port instead of s'board [sic].
SATURDAY 21
[Page 8 has been cropped slightly during scanning]
[one indecipherable word] Boats! At 11.30 a.m destroyer dropped 8 depth charges about 7 miles port & then occasionally more later on. We had to alter course out of way of subs. [sic] A destroyer & corvette stayed back all day to drop charges. They caught us up again in evening & even dropped a few while we were having dinner in evening.
Paine D.E & I were on gun watch again from [missing number, assumed to be 3] p.m. to 5. Nothing happened but read and heard lot of messages to & from the Commodore ship S.S. "Deuseldorf" [sic], a captured German at about 7.30 p.m. after black out - small moon & stars out, one of our aircraft signalled to one of the ships & knocked round. They were expecting something in the night so orders were that we had to sleep fully dressed.
Sea was calmest ever in fact amazingly calm for Atlantic - smooth as mill pond. [page break]
March SUNDAY 22 1942
In sight of land this morning - N. Ireland, still going East. Very misty so we could not see Scotland very well later on. The convoy is now going line astern through a minefield. In evening there was a rowdy sing song but was not a general booze up.
Clocks put on 1 hour so that we are [deleted] not [/deleted] now in British Daylight Saving Time. We are due in Liverpool tomorrow afternoon or evening.
MONDAY 23
Another misty morning & no land in sight. Heard radio in morning from BBC & was quite a treat to hear decent music. During lunch we arrived outside port. After lot of manoeuvring we finally docked [deleted] at [/deleted] & disembarked 3.15 p.m. Trucks took us to our billet an old Institute for the Blind. Got a sleeping out pass & went by taxi to Lisburn Lane to see Edith, Mr. & Mrs. Halstead & Joyce. Very surprised to see me. Found that almost everything is now rationed and food etc. more scarce than when we left England. After some spaghetti on Toast [sic] for tea, Edith used her influence to get me through on phone to home. Spoke to Mum & Dad - very excited they sounded & glad to know am safe. [page break]
March TUESDAY 24 1942
Got up 6 a.m. & said goodbye: got back to billet at 7 a.m. & we left to catch train which left Lime St. (L.M.S.) 8.15 a.m. Spent an hour in London getting grub at Union Jack Club Waterloo Road, & then left Waterloo (S.R.) on 3.15 p.m. train & arrived in Bournemouth after fastest journey I've had on S.R. Had to march (no transport) to a hotel where had some not too good food & then marched again to another big place which were our billets, at 8 p.m. I am in room with Paine, Pollard, & Pettit & Brown, who I just don't like. The others are O.K. The 1st sirens over hear [sic] we heard 9.25 p.m. tonight. Heard that Jerry had visited every South Coast town except here last night.
WEDNESDAY 25
After the parade at 9 a.m. We went down town to have some breakfast at a café & then strolled around the shops. Very nice shops & generally Bournemouth is a very nice place with a lot of decent looking girls. We had the usual F.F.I. in afternoon. [deleted] about ten indecipherable words[/deleted] Went with Stan Pollard to Westbourne to the movies picking up Eccles on the way worst luck. He's too French. [page break]
March THURSDAY 26 1942
Paraded 8.30 am & then off down town to get some breakfast. Bought a good pair of wings & spent rest of morning sewing them on. Had a good bath after dinner, changed, & after tea, Stan Pollard & I went to the Pavillion [sic] dance. A super place & nice lot of girls. However, it was hard to pick up any of them as most had booked their own table in couples.
FRIDAY 27
Everyday we parade at 8.30 am. & 1.30 p.m. just for the sake of a parade. An uneventful day for me. Did not go out in evening but went to bed early at 10 p.m. [page break]
March SATURDAY 28 1942
All morning we waited for pay and eventually received £20, pay due to us since embarking Canada & 2 weeks advance for leave. Filled in deficiency list in afternoon & laid out our kit which was not inspected. Stan & I went to see "Lady Behave" in evening - Billy Tasker took Bobby Howes [sic] place. Show very good & funny.
SUNDAY 29
Compulsory church parade this morning but not a very good service. Today our mess hotel was changed & for lunch there was a long queue so went down town & had something.
Packed my kit bag in afternoon & spent evening with Stan in Pavilion listening to the Musical Orchestra. Quite good, but not keen on the straight music. "Gems of Sullivan" was best player.
[page break]
March MONDAY 30 1942
Had a wonderful letter from Rosemary sent on from home. She sent me her picture & a Quill & Scroll pin for me to promise to wear always for her. Took her 2 years to win it for a scholarship.
In the afternoon, about 200 of us waited for hours on end at the stores to get some flying clothing. I myself had to wait 3.20 hours - typical of R.a.f. [sic] stores.
TUESDAY 31
More stores waiting this morning. Took me 3 hours again to get another shirt, tunic, tin hat, gas cape, wellingtons & new hat.
Had a good meal for once in Boscombe. a 2d bus ride from us. Things much cheaper & plentiful in Boscombe because in Bournemouth you pay for its name.
In evening went with Stan again & Peter Cole to Pavillion [sic] & saw "Divorce of Lady X". A really good play & very good natural acting. [page break]
April WEDNESDAY 1 1942
[underlined] LEAVE TODAY [/underlined] We caught the 10.20 a.m. train from Bournemouth West. Arr. [sic] Waterloo 1 p.m. I rang up Dad, & went over in taxi. He met met [sic] me outside the office: saw Marj & then had dinner at his usual restaurant in Tosley St. Came home in car - me driving last part - & met Mum & Jock. [deleted] one indecipherable word [/deleted] The cat has been destroyed now - bad leg. Nell came round after I arrived & later Peter on his motor bike back from work. After dinner he gave me a ride on pillion - rather hectic & very windy. Its [sic] an A.J.S. Did not go out in evening but just talked & talked.
I have 14 days leave till the 15th.
THURSDAY 2
This morning I unpacked all the goods I had brought home - cigarretes [sic], razor blades, silk stockings, soap, slippers for Mum, & horse skin jacket for Dad, & brightly coloured socks for Peter. Then visited Mr & Mrs Biggs, & met Mrs Bailey of all people to see - & Dr. Williams & son Roger.
[page break]
April FRIDAY 3 1942
Went down by car for the day to see Aunt Ada & Ada at Camberley. They are very lonely down there & so were glad to see us & especially me. Peter did not come but Nell came instead. I drove car there & back.
Kath & Nora & Nell rang up from Sidcup Place in evening & had long talks with all of them. Kath & Nora still as lively as ever.
SATURDAY 4
Went to dentist - Wallis by appointment had 2 fillings dressed & them to have portrait done at Kelloways. Took most of afternoon waiting for hair cut & took the car to go & meet [deleted] Kath [/deleted] Kay outside "Bull's Head" Chislehurst for the dance there. Not many people there & dance rather flop so we all went to the dance studio in Eltham. Much better there. Had quite a good evening. Got home in pouring rain 12.30 a.m. [page break]
April SUNDAY 5 1942
[deleted] Went down by car to see Aunt Ada & Ada at Camberley. Peter did not come but Nell came instead. They are very lonely down there & so we [sic] very glad to see us, especially me. [/deleted]
Up late in morning. In afternoon saw Betty, Maureen Bowerman & [blank]
MONDAY 6
[blank]
[page break]
April TUESDAY 7 1942
[blank]
WEDNESDAY 8
[blank]
[page break]
[Pages detailing events from 9, 10, 11 and 12th April missing]
April MONDAY 13 1942
[blank]
TUESDAY 14
[blank]
[page break]
April WEDNESDAY 15 1942
Leave finishes. 2.30 p.m. train from Waterloo to Bournemouth.
THURSDAY 16
[blank]
[page break]
April FRIDAY 17 1942
[blank]
SATURDAY 18
[blank]
[page break]
April SUNDAY 19 1942
[blank]
MONDAY 20
Paid £3. Rather a surprise at so small amount.
Got 8 pm train from B'mouth to Harrogate (Yorks [sic]), going via London.
[page break]
April TUESDAY 21 1942
Arrived Harrogate 7 this morn. Billeted in Hotel Majestic, a big place.
[entries from 22 April 1942 to 24 April 1942 have been left blank]
April WEDNESDAY 29 1942
[Blank]
THURSDAY 30
[Blank]
[page break]
May FRIDAY 1 1942
Told on afternoon parade that I was posted. Great surprise especially as I am only one going to a place called Hurn, near Christchurch, Hants. About 20 of us, all on individual postings.
SATURDAY 2
Leave Harrogate on 8.40 a.m. train. Change at Holbeck & Leeds & get to Kings X an hour late - 3.30 pm. So go home.[sic] & arrived at 5.30 pm
All well & O.K.[page break]
May SUNDAY 3 1942
Go up by car & leave Waterloo Stn. on 9.30 am train. Arr. Christchurch about noon. R.A.F. truck took me the 4 miles to the station which is very dispersed.
Adjutant was in but not C.O. so have to report again 9.15 a.m. tomorrow. Found billets - no water or light. In small room of my own. Weather very hot.
MONDAY 4
Have met 'Reg' Bowley here, also doing nothing. This is supposed to be an experimental station having all types of fighters & bombers here - from Moths to Halifax's [page break]
May TUESDAY 5 1942
Paid £7 this morning (fortnight’s pay)
WEDNESDAY 6
On leave again (7 days) as nothing to do & not wanted Caught 3.30 p.m. train with Reg. Bowley.[page break]
May THURSDAY 7 1942 to May SUNDAY 10 1942 [Missing pages]
May MONDAY 11 1942
[Blank]
TUESDAY 12
Had another nice letter from Rosemary. Wrote to her at once, and also to Mr. & Mrs. Stapp in Ann Arbor.
Went to Orpington Hospital with Mum to see Mrs. Biggs who was in a bad way there, but when we saw her she was O.K. & had stiches [sic] out now.
Evening spent at Molly Simpsons & Hubbie with Diana Tatnal [?].[page break]
May WEDNESDAY 13 1942
Back to Hurn again - 5.30 p.m. from W'loo. [sic]
THURSDAY 14
[Blank]
[page break]
May FRIDAY 15 1942
[Blank]
SATURDAY 16
[Blank]
[page break]
May SUNDAY 17 1942
Down to Lilliput to see Mr. & Mrs. Gilson this afternoon.
Coming back had to walk from near Christchurch in light rain.
MONDAY 18
Letter from John.
[page break]
May TUESDAY 19 1942
Letter from home. Peter fined 20/- & license suspended 4 mths. because was caught riding with number plate showing on wrong side [deleted] of [/deleted] on his motor bike.
WEDNESDAY 20
[Blank]
[page break]
May THURSDAY 21
[Blank]
FRIDAY 22
[Blank]
[page break]
May SATURDAY 23 1942
Up for 15min. in a Wellington this morning. Sgt. Haley pilot. Very slow [deleted] on [/deleted] & heavy on controls.
SUNDAY 24
[Blank]
[page break]
May MONDAY 25 1942
[Blank]
TUESDAY 26
[Blank]
[page break]
[Pages May WEDNESDAY 27 1942 - June FRIDAY 19 1942 missing]
June SATURDAY 20 1942
[Blank]
SUNDAY 21
[Blank]
[page break]
June MONDAY 22 1942
[Blank]
TUESDAY 23
Posted from Hurn to Brize Norton, near Oxford. (No.2 (P) A.F.U).
Go via London to save changing about 5 times. Get 11.27 from Christchurch & arr. B.N. 7.30 p.m.[page break]
August TUESDAY 11 1942
Dads birthday.
John's birthday.
WEDNESDAY 12
[Blank]
[page break]
August THURSDAY 13 1942
[Blank]
Friday 14
Rosemary's birthday (?) [or 17th) [page break]
[August SATURDAY 15 1942 - December FRIDAY 4 1942 missing]
December SATURDAY 5 1942
[Blank]
SUNDAY 6
[Blank]
[page break]
December MONDAY 7 1942
Mr Philip Stapp birthday.
Betty Skinners birthday.
TUESDAY 8
[Blank]
[page break]
R.A.F. VOLUNTEERED 7th DEC. '40
MEMORANDA
[deleted]
1941.
MAY 12. CALL UP PAPERS.
" 24 ARRIVE [underlined]STRATFORD[/underlined]
JUNE 7 " [underlined] SCARBOROUGH [/underlined]
[deleted] Aug [/deleted]
JULY18 " HOME ON LEAVE
" 27 " SCARBOROUGH
AUG. 1 " WILMSLOW.
" 8 LEFT ENGLAND. (GOUROCK)
" 15 ARRIVE HALIFAX, CANADA.
[/deleted]
UXBRIDGE
STRATFORD ON AVON
SCARBOROUGH.
HOME ON LEAVE. (2 WEEKS)
WILMSLOW
GOUROCK.
HALIFAX.
SWIFT CURRENT (SASK. )
CALGARY
MEDICINE HAT.
ANN ARBOR (AMERICA)
[page break]
MEMORANDA
HALIFAX
LIVERPOOL
BOURNEMOUTH
HOME ON LEAVE (2 WEEKS)
HARROGATE, YORKS.
HURN, NR. CHRISTCHURCH. HANTS.
HOME ON LEAVE (7 DAYS)
BRIZE NORTON. OXFORD.
[page break]
WEATHER RECORD
Date Remarks Therm.
4/1/42 At 7.30 a.m. (morning) -30° C.
[deleted]
Oct
1. Rain. p.m.
2. Rain. p.m.
3. Rain. p.m.
4
[/deleted]
[page break]
ADDRESSES
Name Residence
Mrs. ARNOLD [tick] 26 Kingsley Road.
Northampton.
Reg. Brooks [tick] 29 Ryegate Road,
Grassendale,
Liverpool.
Miss E. Brooks [tick] [address deleted]
Miss E. Madgett [tick] 23 Blenheim Court,
Main Road,
Sidcup.
Kent.
Miss A. Madgett [tick] "Greenend"
Crabtree Road,
Camberley. Surrey.
Mr. L. Madgett [tick] 87 Westwood Park
Forest Hill.
London. S.E.23.
Mrs. W. Radley [tick] 4 Galahad Road,
Grove Park,
Bromley.
Kent.
Betty Skinner [tick] 62 Sidcup Hill,
Sidcup. Kent.
Maureen Bowerman High St.
Sidcup. Kent.
Mary Stewart Odeon Flats,
Station Road,
Sidcup. Kent.
Joan Eldridge [tick] "Granezza"
Green Way,
Chislehurst. Kent.
[page break]
ADDRESSES
Name Residence
Frank Marsh [tick] 48 Roslin Way,
Bromley. Kent.
Dick Kirby [tick] 41. St. Johns Rd.,
Sidcup. Kent.
Rosemary Stapp [tick] 332 East North St.,
Greensburg.
Indiana. U.S.A.
Elspeth McNelly [tick] 2904 Hill Avenue,
Regina. Sask.
Major H.E. Ford [tick] 101 Saskatoon Cresc.
West. Saskatoon.
Sask. Canada.
Mrs. A.M. Hamilton [tick] Dalhousie Junction
New Brunswick.
Nick Nash [tick] 670. 8th. St.
Medicine Hat.
Alberta. Canada.
Al Williamson [tick] 249 Furby St.
Winnipeg. Canada.
Kahn Optical Co. Ltd [tick] 410 Canada Bldg.
Winnipeg. Canada.
Nora Jeffrys [tick] 54, Dorset Road,
Mottingham,
London. S.E.9.
Ralph V. Hansel [tick] Covington.
Kentucky, U.S.A.
[page break]
Cash Account – January
Date Received Paid
1 Carried forward 1941 90 83
15 Pay Day 33-0 113 93 9 90
19 Pay Accounts 100 -
30 Pay Day [smudged]40-0 [/smudged] 40 2
[page break]
Cash Account – January
Date Received Paid
1 Carried Forward 40[deleted] 2[deleted]
33 89 6 13
[page break]
[Cash Account - February missing]
Cash Account –March
Date Received
£. S. Paid
28 Pay Day 20 -
[page break]
Cash Account – March
Date [No entries] Received Paid
[page break]
Cash Account – April
Date Received
£. s. Paid
20 Bournemouth 3
[page break]
Cash Account – April
Date [No entries] Received Paid
[page break]
Cash Account – May
Date Received
£. s. Paid
£ s
Carried forward 2 12
5 Hurn. R.A.F. 7 -
9 P.O. Savings Bank 5 -
16 Hurn. R.A.F. 2 -
28 Hurn. R.A.F. 6 18
31 Month expenses 4 16
[page break]
Cash Account – May
Date [No entries] Received Paid
[page break]
Cash Account – June
Date Received
£. s. Paid
£. s.
1 Carried forward 8 14
12 Hurn. R.A.F. 6 18
15 P.O. Savings Bank (Christchurch) 11 -
21 Hurn. R.A.F. 6 18
27 P.O. Savings Bank (Witney) 5 -
30 Months expenses 5 10
[page break]
Cash Account – June
Date [No entries] Received Paid
[page break]
Cash Account – July
Date Received
£ - s Paid
£ - s
Carried forward 1 -
3 Brize Norton R.A.F. 3 10
14 Brize Norton 6 18
31 Months expenses 11 8
[page break]
Cash Account – July
Date [No entries] Received Paid
[page break]
Cash Account – August
Date Received
£ - s Paid
£ - s
Carried forward 16 16[deleted]
7 Little Rissington 10 -
20 " " 6 10
20 P.O. Savings Bank. Rissington. 11
[page break]
Cash Account – August
Date [No entries] Received Paid
[page break]
Cash Account – September
Date Received
£ - s Paid
£ - s
4 Kinloss. Scotland 7 -
4 Edith Brooks. 10
14 Kinloss. 8 -
30 Month expenses. 4 10
[page break]
Cash Account – September
Date [No entries] Received Paid
[page break]
Cash Account – October
Date Received
£- s Paid
£ s
1 Carried forward 11 -
3 Kinloss. Pay day 7 -
17 Forres. Pay day. 7 8
31[deleted]
31 Forres. Pay day 7 8
[page break]
Cash Account – October
Date [No entries] Received Paid
[page break]
Cash Account – November
Date Received
£ - s Paid
£ - s
1 Carried forward. 14 6
[page break]
Cash Account – November
Date [No entries] Received Paid
[page break]
[Cash Account December missing]
Cash Account –SUMMARY
Date Received
$ c Paid
$ c
JANUARY 163 83 109 90
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
£- s- £- s-
MAY 18 10 9 16
JUNE 22 10 21 10
JULY
AUGUST 13 [del] 4
[del] 10
[del]
SEPTEMBER 15 10 4 10
OCTOBER 21 16
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
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
Hedley Madgett diary 1942
Description
An account of the resource
Beginning of the year daily entries describe weather, training and activities at Medicine Hat. Course finished mid February and takes leave to see female friend in United States before travelling to St Johns. Voyage in convoy back to United Kingdom in March involved u-boats and depth charging. On return to UK posted to Bournemouth the to RAF Hurn and Brize Norton in May, Scattered entries for rest of year. Includes addresses and accounts.
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
Fifty four double page pocket diary and cover
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
YMadgettHR1330340v3
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
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Alberta--Medicine Hat
Ontario--Toronto
Newfoundland and Labrador--St. John's
Ontario--Windsor
United States
Michigan--Ann Arbor
Michigan--Detroit
Great Britain
England--Lancashire
England--Liverpool
England--London
England--Dorset
England--Bournemouth
England--Christchurch (Dorset)
England--Oxfordshire
Michigan
Ontario
Alberta
Newfoundland and Labrador
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Beth Ellin
Dave Bloomfield
Alan Hather
Sue Smith
Debbie Record
Clare Bennett
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Hedley Robert Madgett
aircrew
entertainment
love and romance
pilot
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Hurn
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/947/10643/LMathersRW55201v2.2.pdf
55bec3251d71f385ab46787c57ae829d
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
Mathers, Ronald
R W Mathers
Description
An account of the resource
20 items. The collection concerns Wing Commander Ronald Mathers DFC (55201 Royal Air Force) and consists of his log books, photographs, correspondence, his decorations, and copies of two letters from Dwight Eisenhower to Sir Arthur Harris. Ronald Mathers completed a tour of operations as a pilot with 9 Squadron from RAF Bardney. After the war he took part in victory flypasts and a Goodwill tour of the United States with 35 Squadron. The collection also contains a scrapbook of the Goodwill Tour to the United States.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Heidi Peace and Ingrid Peters, 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
2017-07-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Mathers, RW
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
Ronald Mathers pilots flying log book. Two
Description
An account of the resource
Pilots flying log book for Ronald Mathers covering the period from 1 October 1944 to 24 February 1948. Detailing his flying training, instructor duties and duties with 35 squadron. He was stationed at RAF Swinderby, RAF Finningley, RAF Hullavington, RAF Gravely, RAF Stradishall and RAF Scampton. Aircraft flown were, Stirling, Lancaster, Oxford, Wellington, Hotspur, Auster, Harvard, Reliant, Hudson, Halifax, Dakota, Warwick, Lincoln, Meteor, Spitfire, Buckmaster, Mosquito and Anson. He also flew operation Goodwill to America, visiting Lagens, Gander, Mitchel Field, Scott Field, Lowry Field, Long Beach Field, Kelly Field, Andrew Field and Westover Field.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
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.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LMathersRW55201v2
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
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
United States
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Suffolk
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
California--Long Beach
Colorado--Denver
Illinois--Belleville
Massachusetts--Chicopee
Maryland--Camp Springs
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
New York (State)--Long Island
Texas--San Antonio
Azores--Lajes
California
Colorado
Illinois
Maryland
Massachusetts
New York (State)
Texas
Newfoundland and Labrador
Canada
Azores
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1660 HCU
35 Squadron
Anson
C-47
forced landing
Goodwill tour of the United States (1946)
Halifax
Harvard
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hudson
Lancaster
Lincoln
Meteor
Mosquito
Oxford
RAF Finningley
RAF Graveley
RAF Hullavington
RAF Scampton
RAF Stradishall
RAF Swinderby
Spitfire
Stirling
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/998/9873/PWardEM16010039.2.jpg
6a0c664b54f8304d87c671cec394313c
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
Ward, Mary. Album
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-14
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
Ward, EM
Description
An account of the resource
42 items. The album concerns the work of 517 Squadron Meteorological Flight at RAF Shawbury, RAF Chivenor and RAF Brawdy. It contains photographs of aircraft and staff at work and on leave.
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
Lancastrian at Newfoundland
Description
An account of the resource
Top, photograph of a Lancastrian with its crew on a airfield with aircraft in the background, captioned 'May 1946 Gander'.
Centre left, is a photogrpah of an airman in uniform, seated with back to photographer, over looking a coastline, captioned 'Ross Alger', '1946 Newfoundland'.
Centre right is a photogaph of an airman seated overlooking a coastline, captioned 'Roy', ' 1946 Newfoundland'.
Bottom left, is an airman in uniform standing next to a canon overlooking a coastline, captioned 'Ross Alger ', ' 1946 Newfoundland'.
Bottom right is a photograph of three airmen in uniform standing under a building canopy with logo TORBAY, captioned 'Roy, Tony Palmer', '1946 Newfoundland'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946-05
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five b/w photographs on 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
PWardEM16010039
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
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador--St. John's
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946-05
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
Lancastrian
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/998/9866/PWardEM16010040.2.jpg
41598ad2dc1bf21501bbcfedfcf7087d
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
Ward, Mary. Album
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-14
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
Ward, EM
Description
An account of the resource
42 items. The album concerns the work of 517 Squadron Meteorological Flight at RAF Shawbury, RAF Chivenor and RAF Brawdy. It contains photographs of aircraft and staff at work and on leave.
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
Newfoundland
Description
An account of the resource
Top, photograph of countryside, captioned 'Seen on Marine Drive, Newfoundland'.
Centre, photograph of small boats, beached, with sea and coast in background, captioned '1946 Newfoundland'.
Bottom, photograph of a coastal bay, captioned '06 Colliers, Conception
Bay, Newfoundland'. 'Copyright'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three b/w photographs on 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
PWardEM16010040
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador--St. John's
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946
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.
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/998/9863/PWardEM16010041.2.jpg
5d82ce06cadf41bb5beb7c2788258e55
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
Ward, Mary. Album
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-14
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
Ward, EM
Description
An account of the resource
42 items. The album concerns the work of 517 Squadron Meteorological Flight at RAF Shawbury, RAF Chivenor and RAF Brawdy. It contains photographs of aircraft and staff at work and on leave.
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
St Johns Newfoundland
Description
An account of the resource
Top, photograph of countryside around St Johns, captioned, '50 Shadow pool, Bowring Park, St John's. Newfoundland', 'Copyright'.
Centre, photograph of buildings with the sea in the background captioned 'St Johns, Newfoundland 1946'.
Bottom, photograph of coastline captioned, '119 Fort Amherst Lighthouse at entrance to St John's, Newfoundland', 'Copyright'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946
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
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PWardEM16010041
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
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador--St. John's
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946
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.
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/957/9613/SMathersRW55201v10009.2.jpg
09785a570bbe3c25830d11616a069f50
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
Mathers, Ronald. Album
Description
An account of the resource
45 page scrapbook of Squadron life and The Goodwill Tour to the United States by 35 Squadron in 1946. It includes photographs, newspaper cuttings, and programmes. The tour visited stations on both the East and West coasts of the United States and the airmen were entertained with visits to Hollywood.
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
SMathersRW55201v1
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-17
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
Operation Goodwill
Description
An account of the resource
A map of North America with a route plotted on it. Airfields visited are listed from Gravely and back. It is captioned '"Operation Goodwill" 8th July to 29th Aug 1946.'
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed map with handwritten annotations.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Map
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SMathersRW55201v10009
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.
Azores
Canada
Great Britain
United States
California
Colorado
Massachusetts
Missouri
Texas
Washington (D.C.)
California--Los Angeles
Colorado--Denver
England--Cambridgeshire
Massachusetts--West Springfield
New York (State)
Newfoundland and Labrador
Texas--San Antonio
England--Cornwall (County)
Illinois--Belleville
Illinois
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946-07
1946-08
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.
Goodwill tour of the United States (1946)
RAF Graveley
RAF St Mawgan