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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/338/3502/ATaylorGH160831.1.mp3
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Title
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Taylor, Gerald
Gerald Herbert Taylor
Gerald H Taylor
G H Taylor
G Taylor
Description
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An oral history interview with Gerald Herbert Taylor (1924 - 2016, 1607305 Royal Air Force).
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2016-08-31
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Taylor, GH
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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CB: Is that ok? Right I’ll start. My name is Chris Brockbank and today is Wednesday the 31st of August 2016 and we’re in Maidenhead with Gerry Taylor who is going to tell us about his days in Bomber Command. So Gerry what are your first recollections of life with the family?
GT: The seaside really. Being born in Bournemouth I now know and have known for many years how lucky I was being born there because it gave — and also obviously the fact that my father had a car. Which is those days was, I suppose, more uncommon at the beginning. He worked for commercial traveller — as a commercial traveller and the area manager for the south of England for Crosse and Blackwell. Started his work up in Soho in London and got promoted to the job in Bournemouth as the area representative. So he covered the area of the New Forest.
[Phone ringing. Recording paused]
CB: So we had to stop for the phone but the father was an area representative for Crosse and Blackwell.
GT: Promotion to this but it involved moving to Bournemouth and having a car to take around the New Forest area. He covered, I think, an area say between Devon and all of Hampshire. And [pause] yes the first recollection, I’ve backtracked really a bit, but about cars. They apparently they took him outdoors to teach him how to drive. He had a little old Morris. And the man who showed him sort of sat him in the car and drove him up and down the road in Soho a little bit. And that’s it. He said bye bye. And that was his tuition. That’s all he got to drive from there to Bournemouth. To find the way and everything. So, he always used to joke about he never passed a test in his eighty five years. And I won’t say he never did anything wrong. He didn’t seem to to me but anyway. So that was a great advantage in Bournemouth as well because he loved the sea and swimming and he spent as much time as possible being able to swim. He used to get up early. Before seven. Down to the beach and took me down most times. I think I was probably a big disappointment because —
[Phone ringing. Recording paused]
GT: I go some morning without a sound but —
CB: Yes. So we were just talking about the swimming. So you did a lot of swimming as well.
GT: He used to swim long distances and between the two piers Boscombe and Bournemouth Pier. But I was a bit of a disappointment because I didn’t like cold water. I loved swimming but it gets too cold. It did in the mornings. So, and he was so lucky to be able to do that. And we had a beach hut which we spent as much time as possible in the school holidays and all other times. So it was really and I didn’t even appreciate it I suppose until later in life how lucky I was. And it made for a huge amount of enjoyment from my point of view and I always loved the seaside particularly. I’m sure it comes from that. Schooling was all in Bournemouth. I can remember the very first school was a little primary school. I don’t know if it would be called that now. It was close to my home in Winton. That’s the earliest one I can remember. I don’t think it was a — Brianston. No. That wasn’t the name of the school. It will come to me. But it was a very small thing. Thirty or forty little, little boys prior to going to the larger school which was a collegiate school, which is in West Bournemouth. A place called [pause] well naturally it was near south — Westbourne. That’s right. Westbourne, which was a district of it. And it was a good school. I enjoyed that. And from there I went to a more senior school at the age of around about eleven. To Bournemouth, or as it was then called, Bournemouth School for Boys. And there was also one for girl’s which was a very good school. My sister went there. But I did enjoy school — looking back on most of it. I didn’t work as hard as I ought to have done. I know that now. Whereas my sister was working away and I was — she was held up as a — I should be working like her which is true. But I didn’t like it at the time. Anyway, my most enjoyable thing at school really was the Boy Scouts I think. I went all through the ranks and levels up to troop leader and really was keen on it. And went to camps in the summer which was another nice addition you could do with that sort of thing. Boy Scouts may have been mocked a bit but I didn’t find that. I didn’t understand it really and even now I don’t. But it all changed so much I suppose. But certainly the Boy Scouts was a great thing which I enjoyed and the school was very supportive of it. And later on when after the war broke out they also had an ATC section and a Cadet Corps. I can’t think — what was it called? Cadet Corps. But they had, they were pre-army people and so I joined that as well which was quite active. And, I don’t know, I suppose I joined it with a young kid’s version of wanting to do something. I can remember clearly on Armistice Days I used to stand. Occasionally it was me. It was others at other times. Stand for the Armistice Ceremony in front of the Memorial with your rifle sort of reversed and stand the whole five minutes or whatever it was. Might have been longer really. To stay there whilst service was going on. Which was quite a thing you could remember and all part of my interesting joint thing. I can remember, and that was all still while I was at the school. I enjoyed playing football mostly. I played a bit of rugby. Not hockey. Football was the big enjoyment of my life and we played other schools. I wasn’t that good. I think I was in the second eleven. I played once or twice in the first eleven. Which was, of course a big excitement in my life when it happened. In the sports side of it was very good. There was a lot of things to join and take part if you wanted. I just concentrated really on — did a lot with the Scouts mostly. And when the war was declared I went to this, sort of — backtrack. I went to the Bournemouth Boy’s School around about ’39. I can’t, to be honest, remember. It might have been. It was probably before that I’m sorry because I remember yes it was. It was before it. I can’t remember the date but I remember I was at a Scout camp near Bournemouth for a weekend. A short camp. And that was when they declared war. Whilst I was at the camp. And I won’t say it was excited. It was sort of awe inspiring thing. The fact that we were at war and my parents remembered the First World War. My father was in France in 1914 and he was an Old Contemptible. One of the originals who was there, excuse me, he was there for the famous football match. I don’t know if that was the one they all talk about but he certainly said there was a kicking about of footballs. Which, whilst he was alive it hadn’t gained its notoriety as it has now. But it was very interesting to know that he was part of that. And then he was wounded at one stage. I’m not sure if it was Ypres or not but he was wounded and came back to the UK. He was a sergeant in the — a drill sergeant at Aldershot. Which always surprised me because he wasn’t a particularly noisy man which as drill sergeant, you more or less have to be. I mean he could raise his voice but to be a drill sergeant at Aldershot was quite a thing. You needed a very powerful voice which was always rather intriguing to me. So that was a separate thing if I backtracked on to because of the war and knowing when I was at school. Excuse me. I left school at [pause] muddled straight up in to the joining the RAF.
CB: Well the war started when you were fifteen.
GT: ’42. It must have been early ’42. And I volunteered. I wanted to volunteer. My mother was highly anti-volunteering for it at that stage, ‘No need to do it now.’ One of my things I know, I remember, I always felt I don’t want to be told what to do by going into some army thing. I would like to go in to the air force because I was much more interested in planes because I lived very close to Hurn and was often cycling over to Hurn and watched the planes taking off. It was always of more interest regardless of the war itself. It was just the aviation side I guess. But eventually I persuaded my father to take me to a recruiting office one lunchtime ad we signed up. He pointed out there were, that I should think very carefully about it all but he didn’t try to deter me. He just said, ‘Be aware of what you’re signing.’ And so I signed up for aircrew but I was immediately put on [pause] not retirement [pause]
CB: Deferred.
GT: Deferred service. That’s the word. I’m sorry. So in 1942 when I signed up I went on to deferred service. At the same time, or roughly the same time I got a job at the school. I was a laboratory assistant in the physics laboratory and I also covered the chemistry laboratory because they didn’t have anybody. But basically I was laboratory assistant at the physics laboratory which was employed by the Bournemouth Council. So I got a ninety five percent — ninety five pence pay packet each week. I think it was a pound I think before my tax and things removed. It was about ninety five pence which I remember I carefully gave my mother something towards housekeeping and stashed away a few pennies which in those days bought bars of chocolate. So it was all a sort of growing up process. But I thoroughly, I enjoyed school. Things like physics and chemistry and the practical sides of the things. And I suppose if you enjoy it you’re possibly better at it. And if you don’t enjoy it which I definitely liked being there. And I was quite good at keeping the place tidy and getting things ready for experiments. So it was a good feeling of being a young lad and suddenly becoming an adult in the school and gave you some kudos. Still could be a member of the Scouts because it was all running at the same time so I stayed on with that. And it was almost a year when I was on, whilst I was on deferred service until I got my papers for calling up in early ’43. When I should have mentioned that after I signed up the initial papers at the recruiting office in Bournemouth I went up for the interviews at Oxford. The aircrew interviews. Aircrew. It wasn’t the reception centre but it was the interview place and we had a night. Stayed the night at Oxford. Most of us, of course, it was the first time we’d been away from home. We were in this Clarendon Laboratory. An enormous place. All I ever remember is masses and masses of beds in the place and you found your bed in the middle of it and it was listening. A night of noises from men. All very unusual. Almost everybody would have felt the same I know. But had the usual interviews there. And I, it was a two day process. I’m trying to think of where else there was attached to it. Just constant interviews really. Of asking about different things. I wanted to be a pilot. I imagined myself as a pilot I suppose and I, because of my attachment to the ATC at the school and the army OTC, Officer Training Corps, I got a trip in a Whitley. I think they took four or five of us from the school. Recruiting things. Army and the air force one and we had a trip in the back of this Whitley. There were windows of course. No comforts and we flew quite low. Floating around over Bournemouth and the area and it was exciting but I constantly felt airsick. And by the end of this hour’s flight, I suppose, a little less than that maybe, I thought to myself whatever have I done. Signed up for the air force and I was nothing but airsick. It was absolutely terrible. So it was, that was of course quite a worry. I thought I’d done the wrong thing and that was all still part of the school life really which continued until the calling up time. Just side-tracking a bit my father lost a lot of his access to the sea because they closed off lots of roads to the front. But I suppose he knew most of the people who were officials down there by that number of years he’d lived and the amount of swimming he did. So, believe it or not at the end of one row of barbed wire and some other obstruction in the water just a few feet out in the bay there was a space left for [pause] I’m trying to think exactly where it was near. Near to Durley Chine it was and you could still walk along the promenade there but he had this space where he crept through the barbed wire and had a good swim. Which was all very helpful I should think to the Germans [laughs] if they [laughs] but it was all, would have been quite hopeless really. The amount of defences they could put up really by that time. They were in shore and right on the cliffs of Bournemouth. He joined the home, he was the first in the LDE the Local Defence Volunteers and transferred to the Home Guard and he was a lieutenant in the Home Guard during the war. Whilst I was at school, part of the, being part of the staff of the school I took part in the shifts which covered the night shift and fire watch. And more than the masters I used to be able to patrol around the roofs which had warping areas. You could climb on to the roof to get to the school clock on the top. Yours truly was, I wouldn’t say was allowed, I went up there two or three times to fix the hands of the clock which slipped and that sort of thing. Although it was allowed it wasn’t officially approved of course. Health and safety not being anything that was heard of. But as far as I was concerned it was just a boy climbing up a roof. Not too steep a one. And fire watch was quite interesting. Well, very interesting. We also used to see the blaze of the sky from the fires of Southampton which is thirty miles away across the New Forest. But when there were big raids on Southampton we saw all the lights in the sky. And my house in Bournemouth was then a three storey old house on a raised part in Talbot Heath and I had a little balcony outside the window. And when there were raids on I used to climb through the window and just stand there — to my mother’s fury, ‘Get inside.’ And they were all sitting under the stairs [laughs] in the so-called air raid shelter but I used to watch the air raids. Not very safe but also you could see Southampton razed and occasionally see landmines coming down. And I can remember one moonlit night seeing a parachute. There was a bomb went off. It would have been a couple of miles away I suppose. But I cycled past the school on the way to the, my school working and this possibly was where the landmine hit because it hit. It destroyed one of the schools, or half of it, on the way. So that was just from my point of view an interesting thing to have seen. And I can recall seeing, in a daylight raid, seeing a fighter, German fighter shot down. A little bit further out towards the west of Bournemouth and I guessed the area. I cycled over there as soon as the all clear from the air raids went. And it was a German fighter and I collected a bit of scrap metal and something else to take home which had a disgusting smell about it. I don’t know what it was. But apparently it was always associated with crash, crashes and it must have sprayed oil or something over the fields. A nasty smell really. Anyway, they were kept in a greenhouse for a while. My parents, I hate to say my father didn’t mind really. I think he understood. But my mother disapproved of my nipping out at all. Which really was quite right. But I was forever nipping out and having a look. Seeing what was going on during air raids. But my grandmother who had come to live with us from Redhill when her husband died, my grandfather, she was under the stairs. My mother. And there was room for me and my sister and my father if he was there. So that was the, really I think the end of the school time and I went up to —
[Recording paused]
CB: Ok. So we’re restarting. So you’re now called up. So what happened then?
GT: Yes. When I got my call up papers it was to report to Lord’s Cricket Ground which was a place known as ACRC. It’s the Air Crew Reception Centre and it was based in London. The best way I can describe it — very near to London Zoo. In that area of London. And we were all based in different hotels around Regent’s Park which had been commandeered. So we were in a room of, I think, three or four men. And all my room and most of them were about the same. All the way up along Regent’s Park Road. But that was purely part of the living side of the accommodation side. We went to lots of other places for training. So I did it but it was an amazing experience for all of us. For most of them being the first full time of being away from work. From home. Which reminds me if I could backtrack there to when I was, went for interview in Oxford. My hope had been to be a pilot but the officer said that there weren’t any training vacancies for pilots at that time but they were desperately in need of air observers. And you are just the sort that would make [laughs] make a good air observer. Now, this might have just been a load of flannel or it might have been true. Whether to do with — I quite believe they were short of pilots but whether they had suitable people for navigators I don’t know. I say navigators. That’s wrong, it was called, at that time it was an air observer and they had an O for the wings. So I accepted this without a murmur really. Disappointed but that’s what I was accepted as. An air observer under training. The — added to that at some stage I suppose within the first year the name was changed to navigator. So I was no longer an air observer. I was a navigator under training. But to go on to ACRC in London I was there about three weeks I think and we had training in various, well-known places from these hotels. Early morning was something like a 6 o’clock start. And we formed up in flights which we’d been, I suppose, arbitrarily put into and we marched from the hotel along the road to the zoo, London Zoo where we ate our meals inside the zoo. And the long columns still in the darkness and the front one and the back one had to carry back, aircrew person had to carry a lamp. A red lantern. And it was all quite amazing to sort of walk along the road at that time of the night. Then cross the little bridge into London Zoo and have our feed there. And back again to whatever training place we’d got. We had things like the Wigmore Hall which was commandeered by the RAF and probably the other forces as well to show films and lectures. But because it was big and there were several bits to it they could show big films. Most memorable of all the experiences I think to us was the showing of the anti-VD films. So they, they put these —
CB: We’ve all had that.
GT: Hundreds of us in there and put the most gruesome, I think they were American films showing the very worst part when I think about it. And I think I have to say it quite probably put a lot of people off. Exactly what it was supposed to do. And it was quite horrible really but anyway it put people off for quite a long time so put it that way. So they become a bit more hardened to life. And we not only got things like that to try and keep you on the straight and narrow so you were fit for things and not in a sort of hospital or a ward somewhere with it. We also had a very strong additive to the tea which made it taste disgusting but it dampened down your ardour evidently. And that went on all the time we were there and some of the early postings and after a while either you got used to it or they stopped doing it.
CB: That was Bromide in tea.
GT: If you were able to fly I’m quite sure you were old enough to do what you wanted then. But we went to, I can’t remember, inside Lord’s we went to several things which was a very interesting experience to think you were actually in the buildings of Lord’s to these lectures on various items. Mostly I suppose it would be administrative and drill type items. Physical drill that we would be doing rather than more intimate stuff to do with the technical side of the flying. And it was to get you in to a shape where you were part of a cohesive group really. Lots of drill there. We had a drill sergeant was, or a sergeant rather, was allocated to each flight as we were broken up into — it was called flights at that stage. And we had a sergeant took us for the drill and marched us up and down around the Lord’s area. And generally that took part of that side of it. But the amount of drill we did there was really limited I suppose by the amount of space you could march around London in without getting into other people’s way. But generally the three weeks was really, you were not allowed out until the last week. So the first two weeks you were incarcerated in this place and we had a canteen area which most people gravitated to. Or you could just go to your room at night and that was it. No going out. We were — the first episode outwards was very exciting. To go out with your white flash on and walk out. I recall the first time I had to salute an officer which was one of the first things we were taught was that you saluted officers. I recall getting very close to this officer and being concerned as to how I was going to salute him and made a real mess of it I suppose. I think he laughed out loud at my salute but he saluted back. And it was, the beginning of that was you were in the forces and that was just one of the outward things. You soon got used to that and being in uniform was, wasn’t uncomfortable at all because every valid person, or able person was in some form of uniform. And so about three weeks went quite quickly. I can’t recall any other things of that particular area. And then we were split up. If you were still regarded as suitable for air crew they were weeding some people out who I think they thought possibly weren’t warranting training what they wanted and they had to accept a lower, lower thing really. But the ones who were going further or had the opportunity to further themselves into aircrew were split up into initial, what they called Initial Training Wings. We were a flight at this time and then split up all over the place and it would depend on wherever they had vacancies. And we had different courses at each wing and most of these were or seemed to be in nice holiday places where there were lots of hotels that could accommodate the forces. Particularly the RAF who did a lot of training in this way. In the, it was called the ITW. The Initial Training Wing and that’s where you received a lot more admin and drilling and further information on the basics without getting too far into the more technical side of the operations. A huge amount, it seemed, of drilling. Walking up and down. My ITW was in Scarborough and it was, we were based in the Grand Hotel which they’d taken over. And that’s right on the front at Scarborough and was an amazing place in its day. But to see it with nothing but air force people running about inside must have been a bit of a horror to those who really knew it. But we did a lot of drilling along the seafronts and up and down the hollows of roads around the sea. Which was good for training because we did a lot of marching up hill. And the sergeants got to know us quite well really with their usual remarks about training and what they ought to be doing.
[Recording paused]
We still looked upon the sergeants or the NCOs as some, a different breed. And I recall we used to take our shirts to, you could send them to the camp laundry or whatever you called it and you’d get them all back nicely but if you sent them to the Chinese laundries of which there were loads of them proliferated around these centres of RAF and, I expect the army as well. You got a fantastic wash and your collars, which were loose collars in those days, they came back like little sheets of cardboard but looked exceptionally smart but they were very nasty to wear. When you folded them over you had a sharp starched edge which really made your skin sore. So people were walking around with little red necks until you got used to it all and softened them up a bit. I remember one night we were out, a little group of us put our laundry in to the little local Chinese and a voice over our shoulder said, ‘So this is what you do in your spare time is it?’ And this was our drill sergeant. He’d never spoken to us, as I say, an off-duty human. But we were all very surprised to find that that he was sort of human beings too. Which was quite good and quite funny really. He chatted to us for a while but that was our first free contact with a permanent RAF person, I suppose. And we had competitions between the different flights in drill. Which was quite good because we got very very keen on it and we, my particular flight got very good at it and got very good at the drilling. The American drill which, I can’t recall the name of it but you had, went through a long, long series of manoeuvres without any orders being given at all. It has a word to it but it’s an American invention. You just started off and you went through and you followed the instructions you learned and they used to have competitions between the different wings.
[Phone ringing. Recording paused]
GT: So anyway, we won one of these competitions which was all very gratifying. And we did some classroom work which was all very basic but it was certainly leading towards being in an aircraft and flying and what outer extraneous things affected you. Like the weather. Very, very basic things. Talking about the weather and how it affected you and other types of thing which affected the flying of aircraft that were all very basic but things we didn’t know about at all. And a reasonable amount of class work doing that and we also learned a lot of — the drill was at another section which was kept to itself really. We learned small arms shooting. There was a range up on the hills above Scarborough. A shooting range. And we used to go, not often but quite regularly up there to learn to manipulate sten guns, Bren guns. Particularly sten guns and fire them both on the range. And then hand guns. I can’t remember what weapon it was, a revolver on the range to see and actually shooting at a targets. And we learned the mechanics of a sten gun because that was something we would or could come into contact with on an airfield. And we learned to take it apart and know every single nut and bolt of the thing, and that’s the sort of thing I enjoyed. So I got very good at dismantling and naming sten guns and becoming top in speed in getting them undone and put back together again. But it was the sort of thing that somehow seemed useless. What on earth are you doing that for because basically we might not see them. We would see them again obviously but not come into contact with use. But all part of the same thing. And we did skeet shooting quite a bit which was again part of observation in the sky and that fed back in to the fact that one of the other things we learned in the classrooms was aircraft recognition. And there were various ways of teaching us. Slowly learning well that’s a Junkers 88 from little cards. And we used to get these flash jack slides quicker and quicker and you had to jot down what they were. Again, eventually it ended up in little competitions to see if you could get them in time. And the cut down time was two or three seconds you’d get given to see some fighter which would flash across and you’d think you’d hardly had time to imagine what it was. But it was, it taught you which we did get into that in greater detail in further training. But most of, well all of the stuff was relevant to your future existence. But it seemed at the time why are we learning this and not getting on with learning with, in our case being navigators. But it was, in fact, part of it and in addition to doing that the ITW, the training wings held you as a group before going on to the further training which was more likely to be overseas. They had a scheme, a massive scheme organised. The Overseas Training Scheme which had a lot of training facilities for pilots and navigators in — Canada and America and South Africa were the main ones. I’m trying to think. And there were some in the UK but a smaller number for various obvious reasons it was sensible to train out of an operational dangerous place. So we then, from ITW, got [pause] let me get this right, we were posted to, I’m not sure at that stage we knew it was overseas or not because we went to Harrogate. Posted to Harrogate. Not knowing exactly what we were doing but the rumour was we were going to go overseas. And obviously we didn’t know then. We worked it out from later years there was a hold up. In other words there might have been a shipping hold up. There might not have been the ships to take us. From Harrogate we were just floating about in, again in hotels. With minimal training. And we went from there to Ludlow in Cheshire. I think it was Cheshire. Shropshire. Shropshire. I’m sorry. In Shropshire where we lived in tents and we had about five weeks there I think. And what we did there was really [laughs] well it was a waste of time but that was what it was designed to do. When we got there we had to — one of two things. We either built a drain with pipes etcetera along a route that was already there and we either built it, made it a bit longer. All part of a drainage system and sewerage system which they were laying up. Now, the next group that came in after we went — their task was more likely to be take up this building it, or this construction area that we’d done, take it all up and pack it away so that it wasn’t there. So it was just a waste of time really but it was what we were doing. And wandering around Ludlow I think. It was quite strict but it was just under tents it wasn’t very enjoyable really. And we were allowed out in to Ludlow which had one of the highest percentages of pubs in the UK I think. But that was occupied best part of a month at Ludlow and then we were back again to Harrogate. And from Harrogate one night we went by train to Glasgow. We didn’t know any of the destinations to start with. But Glasgow — we knew once we got near it because one of the trainees was Glaswegian who lived right down near the Clyde and knew it all intimately. So we got down there after a night on the train and shunting. Waiting. Kept waiting. Eventually, we got down to the docks and boarded a boat, or a ship. Whichever it was. We didn’t know where it was going or what the boat was. I think that was about a stage following, that’s right continuously on from, back from Harrogate into, back into Harrogate. Sorry into Harrogate for holding for a couple of days and then on to the train up to Glasgow, then onto the ship. The ship sailed, and it was alone. It didn’t have any escort at all. We then learned that it was the, or what became the Queen Elizabeth the 1st. It hadn’t been named. It was the first of the very very big ones and it was very fast. Thirty five odd knots which could outrun any of the German destroyers and submarines. So we crossed the Atlantic from Glasgow right down to the Caribbean Sargasso Sea where we knew where we were then simply because of all the seaweed stuff. We had no escort at all but we zigzagged the entire way across the Atlantic. Quite an experience really. And we also were taking back a large group of American soldiers. They were on board on a different deck. But the first time we’d ever seen live American soldiers. And massive great rooms in which we slept in hammocks. And also the long long tables I can remember where the food used to slide along when it was rough. It would slide right down to one end if somebody didn’t stop it. But it was all an amazing experience. I didn’t like sleeping in a hammock. I don’t think I ever got comfortable and spent quite a lot of time being seasick. I think I did get less seasick as the voyage went on. And it was really fairly boring. We had films which were all relative to our future training and flying and I suppose various sports activities which we could, I don’t say volunteer, you had to do something. You chose which one you did. I could always recall one thing. At night we saw on the horizon, in the distance, a light. Masses of people up on deck and we watched this thing and we thought goodness me. It’s getting brighter and brighter. And I don’t know, recall when it was but it was enough to see it was a very highly illuminated ship. It was a hospital ship. We found out eventually, again on its own and illuminated to indicate, indicate that it was a hospital ship. So —
[Recording paused]
CB: Ok.
GT: Yeah. So generally fairly boring really. The thing had not a lot to it. I think most of us were concerned or very interested to what the future would be. The food on board was obviously supplied by, or most of it, from America because it was food lots and lots of us hadn’t come in to contact with and it was quite good really. Nothing really to complain about on the whole. And anyway, down to the Sargasso Sea and then turned back upwards. North westwards we’d be sailing to — New York we found was the destination. We didn’t know before but we glided in one morning. Beautiful sunny morning. I can remember seeing the Statue of Liberty going up to one of the docks in the Hudson River I believe it was the Hudson. And as I can recall how fascinating it was standing at the, on the deck looking out over New York early morning. Peering down at the dock from the huge height of this ship. And we carried on from there each of us individually not knowing what we were going to do. We got off the ship onto a train and the train took us up along through New England up to Canada. To Halifax. I’m sorry — to Nova Scotia. And we went through the New England states at the best time of the year to watch the trees’ colours. And it was just a phenomenal trip. Open mouthed in amazement we were. Apart from the American train being a great interest in itself. And when we got up to, it was Halifax we went to in Canada spent I think three or four days or nights there and then we got on to a train for a four day journey across Canada to Rivers. I don’t honestly remember whether I knew where we were going but this train was non-stop. I thought it was going across to the far side of Canada and our group was going to get off at Rivers which is about a hundred miles west of Winnipeg. Right bang in the middle of Canada. And at this Rivers — a very large airfield and it was a central training place for the Canadian Air Force and we got off there and then spent some six months or so training as a, to be a navigator. The amazing thing really about, I think that struck us first of all was the flatness of everything. The prairies. This was right in the middle of the prairies and they were just flat. We did a lot, quite a lot of classroom training to start with. Relevant to flying before we actually were allowed flying. We did our training, the navigators, in Ansons which had a couple, possibly three trainees in the back with a desk to work from in the rear half of the aircraft. Possibly two. I think it was, not very often three but certainly two and you had a navigation table where you were now learning the very basics of navigation flying. And it’s a very uncomfortable old aircraft but it’s quite good for observation outside and being a very flat country that was a help to you in that. In the way of training. You could see a long long way across the prairies. You would be able to navigate down the railway line which we say which went exactly east west and had various silos at places so there was very little detail on the ground which was the way we were navigating in these days. Observational navigation really. And lots of our exercises were along the Canadian/American border. Lots and lots of stuff was at night time. Again, that was much easier than it would have been elsewhere because it was still very flat and there were lights on of course in what cities that there were. There was supposed to be. They hadn’t shut off their lights yet. And Rivers itself was, strictly was a Canadian Air Force station and it was run much like an American one which is quite understandable because they were next door to each other and they were very much cooperating in their training and living. But they’d got enough space to take on and train a lot of people from the UK. And it was number, this was Number 1 Central Navigation School and it was 1 CNS which was where we were for the next six or eight months. We had a lot of sport. Particularly things like basketball and the indoor sports which I thoroughly enjoying doing. Outdoor was limited. Certainly in the winter by the weather. And it was all definitely indoors then. We had a great time when we had leave for weekends which we used to get. Possibly about once a month you’d get two or three days off for the weekends. So most of us went in to Winnipeg and we, through an organisation the Canadians had set up you could ask to go and stay with a family and they sort of adopted you which was very nice. I had a nice family and I went to stay with them always and they took me to learn ice skating and things like that. Or perhaps took me out to see some local thing of interest. I don’t know. All sorts of things. It was very interesting. But they were very good. And it also depended, I suppose on how much you wanted to integrate and see what, what they were doing. But it was also quite fascinating in Winnipeg itself to have all the shops open and everything else. And the massive great shops in Winnipeg. And I remember walking down the street just browsing in a shop window one day when somebody thumped me on the shoulder and said, ‘You’ve got frostbite.’ We had those hats on with little flaps on which pulled down. Which made sense there but which were not properly used in most places. But I was taken inside the big shop there. Immediately bustled in there and they, the shop keepers, shop assistants took over the care of me and whipped me into the first aid place straight away and apparently my ears were sort of second degree frostbite because they went blue and black. And if it had gone further on it goes to the stage where your lobe or you ear is actually frozen solid. Then you’ve got a problem because you’re quite probably going to lose that bit of your ear. And there were quite a lot of people around with little misshapen ears where they’d got frostbite. So after this they made me wait quite a while before going out and gave me various instructions of what to do when getting back to the camp. To go to the sickbay and treat it further. But it they said, ‘Do not ignore it. It will be quite serious if you don’t just take care of it and treat it.’ So that was a thing I did. From then on I was very very wary of not getting too cold. I knew I was cold but I didn’t realise just how cold it was. And that was, they responded very very quickly to this because they were all so used to it of course, or the possibility of it. And all in all it lasted years. I wrote letters to these people. Our friendship, somehow, it died off, and I don’t know quite why now, never could quite decide whether his mother and father of the family died or what happened. Years later during the war but our letters sort of eventually ceased. But we were great friends and it was very nice to have it. And it was about six, seven, eight months I was there roughly. I can’t be too sure and then eventually you passed out or either you did pass out as a navigator qualified or you, you failed. Sometimes you failed on just a short amount or small amount of study which they might give you to resit after another bit of training. But I passed and then that meant that you were on the return list for going back to the UK. Which in turn meant a train back to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Another four days. And then getting on a boat there. A day or two there. I can remember lots and lots of ships in the sea at Halifax. We were on the Empress of Scotland. Which we eventually ended up in [pause] wait a minute [pause]
CB: Can we just take a pause on that?
[Recording paused]
CB: So you talked about when you qualified as a navigator. What was the process that happened then?
GT: Well I think the, it must have been a series of marks you got over exams in different courses. I can’t remember them all but certainly the different courses I can clearly remember would be meteorology and aviation and how it affected weather or how weather affected you, the aircraft, and the performance etcetera. And the ability to operate in bad weather. That would be under meteorology. There was, wireless was another thing we had to do and we did do this. In part, I remember with wireless operators who were people who were training to be wireless operators but they went on to a much higher standard in the way of speed. But we, I think we were all required to get up to something like twenty words per minute in Morse code. And whereas a wireless operator would be up around seventy if he was a good one. And eventually yes that would be much much faster than we could be. But there was — wireless was another group. Map reading. There was a map reading construction. We learned quite a lot about the way different types of map locators and other maps were constructed and made. Why they, why one type of map was better for you if you were flying in a certain area or a certain way. So that was a series of, series of lectures. And, of course, with all these you had an exam at the end of it on which you were marked. You had, I said about a signals one.
CB: Astro navigation.
GT: We had astro a lot. Strict navigation was split into dead reckoning as they called it. DR which was dead reckoning which was calculating in your head using different pieces of information you got from [unclear] compass or speed that the pilot would give you and you had to calculate from these using your charts the information you needed to give to the pilot. The idea of the navigator was to produce [pause] produce the route that the aircraft would fly to get to a target at a certain time. You had initial information given to you. If you were going to go on a bombing raid you had a load of information given to you by the Met Office, probably more than anything else. And then you were given the route and the name of the target or whatever the target was. And you went — I think I’m jumping ahead here. This is really, it did, you did this in practice yes. So in practice we were given the target and you separated from the rest of the crews and you went to, say the navigation room and you had your charts with you and all the other information. And incidentally the navigator would always be recognised as being a navigator as he was always carrying loads of baggage. One was a sextant. At least one. May have two. A navigation bag which was full of books. And so you had two or three things plus your parachute to carry around with you. And you put your chart out on a table and you had a table to work on. And you would go and trawl or plot it as they called it. Your track from A to the target. A — the starting point, B — the target. But you went via a host of other places for various reasons either because you were told to at the briefing for various reasons which could be to say avoid you going over heavily defended area or fortified town or something.
CB: So this was all marked for you. This was all marked as part of your qualification. So we’re talking about the marking and the qualification.
GT: Yes.
CB: And then you qualified for your brevet?
GT: Yes. I’m sorry I’ve just —
CB: That’s ok. I’ll stop for a mo
[Recording paused]
CB: So you passed all the tests?
GT: Yeah.
CB: And then you got your brevet?
GT: Yeah.
CB: So, what, what happened then?
GT: Yeah [pause] I’m trying to think if I could give an order of things. I don’t think I can. I think I’ll start off [pause] So when you had or had not passed your course I can clearly remember that I was elated to pass the final thing which obviously meant that I now had my wings as it was called. But I also remember a young, little Scots lad, very small, very small boy. Whether he had a chip on his shoulder about being so small I don’t know but he was very touchy. But unfortunately he failed. He just could not get particular bits of his course and he was quite distraught about it, and another couple. So those people went back to the UK really. And they asked the rest of us, knew that we would shortly be going back but the first thing you did was, we were given the time for parade which was a good big parade of all the people on your particular course, and we were called out simply by names. Alphabetically as I remember it because I know I was always down at the end of it and it stayed that way with T. And you were called out and marched out and given a wing. A navigator’s wing which it now was. And congratulated and then passed on to whatever was going to happen. As far as you were concerned you just didn’t know but it wasn’t very long before we were advised we were going to be posted after that back to UK. And we obviously had a few days. Possibly a week maybe when you really weren’t doing very much you were floating about. And there wasn’t a great amount you could do out in Rivers. It wasn’t a big place in itself other than it was a huge farming area. So it was just a relaxing period prior to going back to the UK to start learning what navigation really was like. All we’d done up ‘til this stage was our own manual mental navigation without the help of outside things other than a compass or an airspeed indicator and that type of information. So we got the wings and waited a few days before the journey back to the UK and all the people on this course were from the UK so returned. Returned back. I believe some of the pilots split off in to different things for other reasons and went to different places. But that was separate. Ours all stayed together and went back to UK like that.
CB: What was the rank of the person?
GT: No. Nothing to do with the rank.
CB: No. Who gave you the brevet? [pause] The reviewing officer?
GT: Sorry?
CB: The reviewing officer.
GT: Well I don’t know whether if it was a wing commander or higher. I can’t remember whether it was a wing commander or a flight lieutenant but it would have been the senior man of The Central Navigation School. Because they had then to treat all these others as, not necessarily officers. It wasn’t to do with the rank whether you got the wings or anything to do anything else. It was purely the learning you learned in exactly the same way as those who later got promoted through their aptitude or because they showed aptitude that would make a good officer as far as they were concerned. The actual promotions were not done in Winnipeg.
CB: Right.
GT: Or in Rivers rather.
CB: What rank were you in training?
GT: Sergeant. I was then, after you got your wings you immediately were promoted to a sergeant.
CB: Right. Ok.
GT: And that was so until you got reviewed back in UK. Either after passing more courses or you showed that —
[Recording passed]
GT: Everything else. It was just we went there —
CB: So re-capping. Earlier you spoke about coming back from Nova Scotia on the Empress of Scotland.
GT: Yes.
CB: So where did you go from there?
GT: We arrived [pause] — yes, we went more or less directly I suppose but in a convoy more or less this time so it was a slightly different thing. But we ended up in Glasgow. At [pause] no I do beg your pardon. Sorry. Stupid me. I’m sorry, we didn’t go to Glasgow. That was going outwards. I ended up in Liverpool, I’m sorry. We docked at Liverpool and another train journey followed to Harrogate. Back to the same holding area as we were beforehand. And I can’t recall how long we were there. It wouldn’t have been very long. Sort of something like a week or so to maybe a bit more before we were all posted out to various stations which was the next line in training. And they were called OTUs which was Operational Training Units and I went to Abingdon as my OTU and that had a sub unit. An airfield about five, four or five miles away called Stanton Harcourt where we did most of the flying from. The head office part of it. And certain of the training was done at Abingdon but the vast majority at Stanton Harcourt and are now flying on Wellingtons which to us was a much bigger aeroplane. An operational type aeroplane and the first time we had become involved with an actual operational aeroplane.
CB: So when you got to Abingdon then you were individuals when you got there.
GT: Yes.
CB: So how did you crew up?
GT: Well we were all, yes, in expectation. We still were mostly with our friends from the course. But during this time the first part of it was, a few days to crew up with six other people to form a crew. And that basically was a system of the pilots were all, they knew they were pilots and they were really to get a crew together. And it was really done by either somebody’s individual qualifications making them stand out or, for some reason but obviously there weren’t very many of that, of those people because we were all just ordinary, ordinary bodies being trained. And so the group of gunners were one group which was treated separately. Engineers, pilots, wireless operators and navigator. And basically what it was — I think they had gatherings of different groups of people. They put, shall we say a lot of air gunners in which was quite easy to match up air gunners because they had no qualifications to know who or what but you can click with somebody. Which was good enough if the pilot wanted it to be and they built up their crew like that. The closest person to the pilot I suppose is the navigator from an operational point of view. But in operating the aircraft point of view was the engineer. So if you got on very well with somebody, you liked them, you immediately said, ‘Would you like to join my crew?’ Which, that was it. Either they’d say, ‘I’ve already got somebody,’ or, ‘No thank you.’ And gradually we, we got together with the crews. And I think I’d already met the wireless operator who I liked and we were chattering and finding we definitely liked each other which was good and the two gunners. One we had met and already met somebody so those two went together and had no other reason not to join us. So that was as haphazard as that. We all seemed to get on alright. The captain, or rather the pilot turned out to be a bit of a shock because he was a squadron leader and it was a squadron leader who was a full time air force. He was RAF permanent. That was it. And quite a lot older at the ripe old age, I expect, of about thirty, thirty five. I think he was. And an RAF man is all one can say. A serviceman properly. So he might and so might all the other ones who were permanent have thought what a rabble rousing lot these young people are because we’d be ten years younger than they were and certainly not instilled with the discipline that they had. But he seemed alright and he asked me if I, what he had obviously watched, I do remember him being there when we had done some test about aircraft recognition and I was fastest in the whole thing in identifying. That may have been the reason he thought, ‘Oh he seems to be reasonably sharp.’ But he asked me anyway and I said yes. I’d like to join. He was quite a bit more formal than the others. And it was rather strange in a way whereas the others would all mooch off together he would probably go back to the officer’s mess as he would normally do as his normal life in the air force. And he had, I don’t know where he did it but he joined up with somebody he liked as his flight engineer. Another officer. An Irishman.
[Doorbell rings]
GT: Shall I stop?
CB: Keep going. Keep going.
GT: So the [pause] so, sorry out of this what sounds like a muddle which in some ways it was because it was generally letting people get together and finding their own way which was a good basis for starting with seven people who have got to stay together for the rest of the war. So our seven people were picked that way. And we had, he was full time as I say. RAF officer. The Irishman engineer. Two gunners who, one was from just outside Newcastle, the other was from Leicester. The wireless operator was from London and quite a cockney voice. And that was it. Seven of us.
CB: The bomb aimer. The bomb aimer.
GT: The bomb aimer. Oh sorry. Bomb aimer. Cockney bomb aimer and he, I have to say it was wondering around with the navigators really. They were the closest in training side to what the navigator learned and so we were quite close in that part of the knowledge. They went into the bombing side of it more deeply obviously. And so that’s how the seven crew formed. And I’m not quite sure how long we were in Abingdon. But not too long we moved over to Stanton Harcourt to finally get to grips with an aeroplane. We now had the Wellingtons there so we were getting ready to be trained on that. Which again split us up a bit because pilots took their specialist training on it as did all the others. And the navigators were, the training would have been the same whether it was a Wellington or a Lancaster or whatever it might have been. But the individual learning for individual aircraft was obviously more important for the pilot and the engineer. The others would have got used to any aircraft and flown any. So that was the stage of our real training to start off towards operational flying. And we, I don’t recall the total length of time we were at Stanton Harcourt but say it was about six months but that’s an approximation. And the next step would have been the, what was called the HCU which was the Heavy Conversion Unit. There was only one thing I can remember that was really quite funny, or in a nasty way it was funny. At Stanton Harcourt we were doing an exercise once one day. And the bomb aimer had been practicing dropping a bomb over the ranges and was down in the nose of the Wellington and he had to climb or crawl underneath the captain and the flight engineer to get back into his position for landing, which he did. And then the flight engineer, what had happened, the door came open. The front hatch came open where the bomb aimer had been or was. And after landing, as they were taxiing in, I think, the flight engineer said to the skipper, ‘I think the bomb aimer has fallen out,’ and they seriously thought that the bomb aimer has fallen out. And he said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me that before landing?’ And he said, ‘Well I didn’t want to worry you.’ [laughs] But the full time air force mess, probably the full time pilot but it was a while before they realised he’d done this crawling underneath and they hadn’t noticed in the busyness of getting ready on the, to get to land. So it was quite funny at the time yet it wasn’t. And his sextant had fallen out and some other book that belonged to the air force and he was charged with losing RAF property. And it was on, that lasted with him for months afterwards it came through They were still after either these to be returned. I don’t recall whether he had to pay eventually or not but certainly he was quoted as being responsible for their loss. Because he’d left the, obviously didn’t locked the hatch properly in the time he was there. Or whoever was there rather didn’t lock it. So it was a semi-funny but it could have been a tragedy.
CB: Yeah.
GT: If it had happened.
CB: The sanctions were there as a way of —
GT: Sorry.
CB: The sanctions were there as a way of making a point weren’t they? Rather than it being important to pay.
GT: That’s right. Yeah.
CB: I think I’m right in saying that the engineer joined you at the HCU.
GT: Sorry?
CB: The engineer would have joined you at the HCU.
GT: Yes.
CB: So where was the HCU?
GT: The HCU was at indholme. We’d moved.
CB: And how did they, how did the captain, the pilot, select. Yeah. Go on.
GT: I’ll have to stop here.
CB: Yeah. I’ll stop for a mo.
GT: Yes.
[recording paused]
CB: We’re just, we’re just going to do a recap now. Yeah Go on.
GT: Yeah. Sorry about this. A sorting centre.
CB: Yeah.
GT: Went there. Wasn’t there very long before I and my great friend, as a navigator paralleled me and we were both posted to Ouston, near Newcastle. It’s O U S T O N.
CB: Yeah.
GT: I can’t remember the name of the unit but it was training or going to be trained for flying on Mosquitoes which was a great delight to us. It was what we had wanted to do. And it was an introduction really to the, purely to the work that would be required. Not for learning how to be a navigator or anything but learning how to operate, or operate the work that the Mosquito was doing. And it was the very early days of the night interception radar. Which as far as a navigator was concerned it consisted of two fairly small screens to look at. And to cut it short basically I was not quick enough in identifying the blip of an aircraft coming sharply towards us from the side. I couldn’t identify it from the grass on the screen quickly enough so it got too close to us. It could have shot us down which was the last thing we wanted. Why I don’t know but I just wasn’t, it was a case of seconds really but that would have been enough time for a fighter to get too close to us. And so I failed that part of it and although I was ok on the other sorts of it, it meant I couldn’t follow on the final posting off to a squadron which he did get and it was operating as a night interception Mosquito. So I was given a posting temporarily to Wigtown in Scotland which was another training. But it was a flying training station and I did some flying navigator training, navigational training rather. Flying from Wigtown around various exercises up and down the Irish Sea and over parts of the UK. Which was very different to anything I’d done before. But it was a temporary solution and we knew this that we were there for only a while. The biggest thing of interest was I think really it was terrible weather one night when masses of the aircraft returned to a foggy UK. And they had to divert from the east coast up to places like Wigtown on the west coast of Scotland. And in the morning we got up and went to breakfast and saw all these aircraft parked there and they were the various Halifaxes and Lancs, possibly Stirlings. I don’t remember that but we went to one aircraft, a Halifax, and half the tail was shot off and it really shook us up. You know they’d really had a tough time. And this was the first operational damage that we saw. So it was quite an eye opener. But that was part of that happening. That wasn’t our training. But that lasted for a few months before we got back again to Harrogate enroute down to the Operational Training Unit at Abingdon and Stanton Harcourt.
CB: What were you flying at Wigtown?
GT: It was, again it was Ansons, back to Ansons. I’m not sure whether I did one flight — no I didn’t. I don’t think so. It was all Ansons. A different mark of Anson. But it was nevertheless the same old aircraft.
CB: Good. I think we’ll stop there and reconvene another time.
GT: Sorry it was —
CB: Thank you very much.
Dublin Core
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Identifier
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ATaylorGH160831
PTaylorGH1601
Title
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Interview with Gerald Taylor
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Type
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Sound
Language
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eng
Format
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01:33:24 audio recording
Creator
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Chris Brockbank
Date
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2016-08-31
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Gerald (Gerry) was part of the Air Training Corps and Officers’ Training Corps before the war. He volunteered for aircrew in 1942, was interviewed in Oxford and was put on deferred service. Gerry was accepted as an air observer. He was called up in early 1943 and went to the Air Crew Reception Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground. He was sent to an Initial Training Wing in Scarborough, before being posted to Harrogate and Ludlow while waiting for further training overseas.</p>
<p>Gerry sailed to New York and then on to Nova Scotia and Rivers in Canada where he spent six months training to be a navigator at the Number One Central Navigation School. Gerry describes how two or three navigators trained in the back of an Anson with a navigation table. He lists the different subjects they studied, the equipment they required and how they would plot a chart.</p>
<p>On his return to the UK, Gerry was sent to Harrogate and then posted to an Operational Training Unit at RAF Abingdon and its satellite RAF Stanton Harcourt. He was flying on Wellingtons. Gerry explains how they crewed up there. He then went to a Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Lindholme.</p>
<p>Gerry discusses his posting to RAF Ouston for training on Mosquitos, however he failed the night interception radar part. He was posted temporarily to RAF Wigtown for some navigational training before returning to RAF Abingdon.</p>
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Oxfordshire
England--Lincolshire
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Canada
Manitoba
Manitoba--Rivers
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
Contributor
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Julie Williams
Sally Coulter
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
crewing up
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
navigator
observer
Operational Training Unit
RAF Abingdon
RAF Stanton Harcourt
RAF Wigtown
recruitment
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1190/11763/AWebsterJK161004.2.mp3
f9224f5c0c2f75e44c5edc90e00ebe87
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Webster, Jack
Jack K Webster
J K Webster
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Jack Webster (Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a wireless operator with 514 and 138 Squadrons.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-10-04
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Webster, JK
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
DK: Right. It’s David Kavanagh on the, I think it’s the 4th of October 2016, interviewing Jack Webster at his home. If I just put that there we’ll try and ignore it. If I keep looking down I’m just making sure it’s still going.
JW: That’s right.
DK: I’m not being rude. That’s looks ok. Ok. Could I just sort of ask first of all what you were doing immediately before the war?
JW: I was working in the Public Analyst’s Office.
DK: Right.
JW: Clerical more than anything. And it was a reserved, or it got known as a Reserved Occupation and did I want to join up or not and of course, I said no. Anyway, suddenly, when I was eighteen I suddenly changed my mind.
DK: So, what year would that have been? You were eighteen?
JW: ’25. ’42.
DK: 1942.
JW: December ’42.
DK: So, was it the immediate choice to join the Air Force then? Or —
JW: Oh yes. Yeah. I suddenly decided. The idea of flying suddenly appealed to me.
DK: Right. So, what, what did you, where did you start your training then at with the RAF?
JW: Well, I went to a selection board first.
DK: Right.
JW: At Cardington, and they offered me wireless operator air gunner. They said they’d got too many pilots. And, and they sent me to sort of deferred. Sent me back home and told me to hang on. And then in June ’43 I finally joined up.
DK: So that was a letter through the post was it that you got?
JW: Yes.
DK: From the joining office.
JW: And went to Viceroy Court, in St John’s Wood. Was there about three weeks I suppose and that was the start of the career so to speak. But I mean from there I went to ITW, Initial Training Wing at Bridlington and I can’t remember how long we were there but —
DK: What would you have been doing at the ITW?
JW: It was drill mostly. Drill and admin lessons. And then from there went on to Number 4 Radio School at RAF Madley in Herefordshire where it was more or less all day long Morse more than anything because they suddenly had done away with the air gunnery part because the Lancaster didn’t need the, they had the separate gunners so they just had a straight signaller or wireless op.
DK: Yeah.
JW: And any road I don’t know how long I was at the Radio School but I finally managed to pass out at eighteen words per minute Morse.
DK: Did you enjoy Morse code? Was it something you could do easily?
JW: I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it or it wasn’t easy. We got fed up with it in the end. I mean, I think some of them almost went crazy with it. I mean all day long the instructor would set up a creed machine and he’d sit back and read his paper while we sort of sent messages and things to each other. But anyway, I finally passed out there and got the brevet S and then I was sent to Dumfries Advanced Radio School, Advanced Flying Unit and we, that was on Ansons. They were just the pilot, navigator and the bomb, and the wireless op.
DK: Was that, would that have been the first time you had flown then?
JW: Oh no. I did flew, we flew at Radio School.
DK: Right. Ok.
JW: In, first of all in the old Dominie and I was sick the first time. And then after that we went on to Proctors. They were just the pilot and the wireless op and we had the pilots who were on, had sort of completed their tour. They were on rest period really but they were just flying I suppose and they were fed up with flying anyway. And of course, we had the trailing aerial which used to allow, there was a case of one of them tried to shoot up a plane in the led weights that went through the windows of the trains. They had a strict instruction. No shooting up the planes. But anyway, going back to, I went to Dumfries and, on Ansons and it was the wireless ops job there to reel the undercarriage up which —
DK: Oh right.
JW: By hand which was quite a job. And we flew up and down sort of the Irish Sea, over the Isle of Man and all this sort of thing. More or less more for the navigator than the wireless op because the wireless op was the same as what we were doing all the time really.
DK: Yeah.
JW: And, and then from the, we went to OTU at Chipping Warden.
DK: Can you remember which OTU it was? The number?
JW: I can’t. I don’t know if I’ve got it down in here.
DK: I can check later.
JW: I can’t think where I would have it. Oh, yeah. I have it.
[pause]
DK: That’s ok.
JW: Number 12 OTU.
DK: Number 12 OTU. Ok.
JW: At Chipping Warden. That’s it. And then from there —
DK: What type of aircraft were at the OTUs?
JW: Wellingtons. And that’s where we crewed up and I finished up with a, at the time all the rest of them were all Canadians.
DK: Right.
JW: Until we got to Heavy Conversion Unit when we picked up the pilot engineer.
DK: So how was the crewing done at the OTU? How did you meet your pilot?
JW: We just sort of walked around and I think somebody came up to me and said, ‘Have you got a crew?’ I said, ‘No.’ That was the pilot and he said, ‘Well, you know do, do you fancy joining me?’ So, I mean one was as good as another as far as I was concerned. That turned out he’d already had the two gunners, the navigator and bomb aimer. All Canadian. So, he said, ‘If you don’t mind Canadians.’ So, no. I didn’t. That didn’t worry me.
DK: Can you remember his name? Your pilot’s name.
JW: Yeah. Flight Lieutenant Elwood. Keith Elwood.
DK: And he was Canadian.
JW: Canadian. Yeah.
DK: So what did you think of the Canadians then? As you met them there.
JW: Oh, I got on alright with them there. Yeah. We always went around as a crew. Yeah. Yeah. We picked up the engineer at Heavy Conversion Unit.
DK: Right. Can you remember where the Heavy Conversion Unit was?
JW: 1668 at Bottesford. Between Grantham and Nottingham. Yeah. And —
DK: He was English, was he? The flight engineer.
JW: Yeah. He was English.
DK: So you were the two English and the rest —
JW: Two English.
DK: Were Canadian.
JW: Five were Canadians. Yeah. And, and then, and then from there we were posted to Feltwell. Yeah. RAF Feltwell which was the 514 Squadron at Cambridge.
DK: 514.
JW: And we were, we were only there for one operation and then we got posted to Tuddenham with 138 Squadron.
DK: So where, where was your first operation to with 514?
JW: That was to a synthetic oil works in the Ruhr at a place, I don’t know how you pronounce Hüls and I always remember that some of the plane, it was bombed up and had a four thousand pound cookie and fifteen five hundred pounders and it was a disappointment really. It was a GH bombing through cloud and where the pilot sort of, you fly in a rough formation and the pilot had the equipment or that, the leader had the equipment to determine when to drop that and when he opened his bomb doors you all opened yours. When he dropped his bombs you dropped yours. It was all very well until we nearly over the target then all the planes suddenly made contrails and it was like flying through cloud and after a touch you couldn’t see a thing. The navigator, I said, ‘I think they must have dropped them by now.’ So the pilot went up above the contrails and you could see and they were there. They’d turned off. So we circled around and the navigator, he said, ‘Well, we’re roughly over the target.’ So he just let them all go.
DK: So you never bombed with a GH leader then.
JW: No.
DK: You just —
JW: No. It was —
DK: And this was in daylight presumably.
JW: This was in daylight.
DK: Yeah.
JW: How I don’t know what. When we got back obviously they got interrogated. They didn’t interrogate the wireless op because there’s nothing we could see anyway, really. But what happened with them I don’t know what they, whether they said anything. Whether that was why we suddenly got posted I don’t know [laughs] but 138 Squadron had then converted from special duties. They were at Tempsford. They’d converted the special duties on to heavy bombing.
DK: So just going back a bit presumably it was at the Heavy Conversion Unit that you saw, first flew on the Lancaster was it?
JW: That was when we first flew it. Yes.
DK: So, what were your feelings about flying on that compared to the Wellington and —
JW: Well, that was, that was quite an upgrading so to speak. I mean that was a heavy bomber compared to the Wellington. And you know, everything. It seemed more spacious and yeah —
DK: So, then you’ve got on to 138 Squadron. That’s Lancasters again presumably.
JW: That was Lancasters again. Yes.
DK: And where were they based? 138.
JW: At Tuddenham. Just, we were settled at Mildenhall. In fact, I think we did have one pilot that came back with a bomb load and landed at Mildenhall by mistake instead of Tuddenham. In the night time I suppose that was easy because the two dromes, the drem lighting you know it sort of entwined one another.
DK: So when you were flying out on an operation then what, what’s your role as the wireless operator? What? What do you do when you’re —
JW: Well, the main thing is you just listen. The main thing was you had to listen in every half an hour to base and if they hadn’t got any message they would transmit a number and you had to record that number to prove that you’d heard the —
DK: Transmission.
JW: The transmission. But apart from that it was possibly the navigator might need a loop aerial bearing. Or the Group might transmit a wind, a different wind speed and if there was any recall or cancellation they would, that would come through them.
DK: So, once you got a message you would immediately tell both the pilot and navigator.
JW: If there was, yes.
DK: Yeah.
JW: Yeah. It, it was very rare to get a message. Obviously, there was no verbal messages. They were —
DK: What about your Morse Code training? Did that come in useful when you were once on operations?
JW: I didn’t really use it a lot. It’s funny that all these things you learn, you are taught, they don’t come in to use. I mean, I suppose had we got in to trouble Morse would have been handy then.
DK: What would have been your role as wireless operator then if the aircraft was in trouble?
JW: Well, to send any emergency position that we were at.
DK: Right.
JW: Or if we were coming down in the sea. But other than that there was not much you had to do.
DK: So how many operations did you fly?
JW: I only did five.
DK: Five. So, one with 514 and three with —
JW: Four with —
DK: Four with. So, five altogether.
JW: Yeah.
DK: Yeah.
JW: But the, I suppose the, the one I remember most is a daylight on Bremen. The allies were waiting. We were going to go in to Bremen and we were supposed to go and soften them up and they routed us over Wilhelmshaven. And the Met man said before, and when we took off, before we took off he said, ‘There will be ten tenths cloud so you should be alright.’ Of course, when we got over there it was clear. It was. And we were then sort of getting near the target and the rear gunner suddenly, the light came on on the intercom and the rear gunner came on. He said, ‘Oh skipper, the kite behind has been hit.’ So, I got a bit, in the astrodome to have a look just in time to see two of them baling out. I thought well this is, this is getting too close. And we’d hardly got clear of them and suddenly we got hit. Not a, it was just a thump more than anything and the pilot called up he said, ‘Everybody alright?’ Everyone was alright. He said, ‘Can anybody see anything?’ And nobody could see anything. No damage and it wasn’t until we landed that we saw the, there was a hole in the fuselage just near the elsan and the trimmer tab on the rear elevator had been got. It was gone. Of course, he knew there was something wrong because it didn’t fly quite right and there were holes under the, in the wings. Under the wings. But apart from that just after that the master bomber cancelled the operation anyway because the target was obscured with smoke and cloud so —
DK: So you never bombed then.
JW: We bombed.
DK: Oh, you had.
JW: We had bombed.
DK: Oh right. Right.
JW: Yeah. But they stopped it after. I got a, I got a report on the one there somewhere [pause – pages turning] Yeah. The raid [pause] Yeah, the raid was hampered by cloud and by smoke and dust from bombing as the raid progressed. The master bomber ordered the raid to stop after a hundred and ninety five Lancasters had bombed. The whole of numbers 1 and 4 Groups returned home without attacking. So, I found out. I got the result off the internet. That was the, oh we went to Kiel. That’s when we capsized the Admiral Scheer and the Admiral Hipper and the Emden were badly damaged.
DK: Did you manage to see the battleships down there? Or —
JW: No. It was dark. It was night.
DK: It was dark.
JW: Night. There was five hundred and ninety one Lancasters and eight Mosquitoes. There was only three Lancasters lost. And at Bremen there were six hundred and fifty one Lancasters, a hundred Halifaxes, seven hundred and sixty seven aircraft altogether.
DK: Have you got the dates of those? Can I —
JW: Yeah.
DK: So, it’s the 9th 10th of April 1945 was Kiel. And then 14th 15th of April Cuxhaven.
JW: No. That was —
DK: Oh, Potsdam. Sorry.
JW: Potsdam. Yeah.
DK: So, 14th 15th of April 1945 Potsdam.
JW: Yeah.
DK: And then 22nd April 1945 Bremen where your aircraft was damaged.
JW: Yeah.
DK: Do you remember the Potsdam raid at all?
JW: That was night time. That was very [pause] We expected it to be a lot worse than it was. But —
DK: Just outside Berlin isn’t it? Potsdam.
JW: That’s a, that’s the suburb of Berlin.
DK: Yeah. Yeah.
JW: That said that was, that was the first time Bomber Command four engine aircraft had entered the Berlin defence since March 1944. But there was only one Lancaster shot got down by a night fighter.
DK: Were you ever attacked by any —
JW: No.
DK: Aircraft.
JW: No.
DK: So just that one incident of damage. Yeah.
JW: One damage. That was the only time we, yeah.
DK: So, moving on then. Presumably you were then involved in Operation Manna.
JW: Manna. Yes.
DK: And how many operations?
JW: I only did, we only did one Manna drop because it was a job to get on. Everybody wanted to do it and some of them were lucky. Some did quite a few. But we only got the one.
DK: Can you remember whereabouts in the Netherlands you dropped the food?
JW: The Hague.
DK: It was at the Hague.
JW: At the Hague. But I think it was probably the race track. They had a big cross out on the ground. And I can always remember as we got there I sort of looked out and you could see a German soldier standing there with a rifle and people were waving sheets and things. The words of my navigator, ‘Gosh,’ he said, ‘Look at those poor bastards.’ Yeah.
DK: So how did that make you feel dropping the food to the —
JW: Oh, that was, that was good. And I mean after that we, I only did the one but in 1983 there was, in the little booklet we used to get every sort of I can’t think what it was called now. I’ve got loads of them. Oh, “Intercom.” That’s right.
DK: Right.
JW: That’s, we used to get that every so often and there was a piece in there about anybody who took part in Operation Manna, if they were interested in having a reunion to contact this chap. So, I thought, I said to my wife, ‘Oh I don’t know. I’m not going to bother.’ ‘Go on. She said, ‘You don’t, you never know.’ So anyway, I contacted him and we had a smashing time in Holland for the weekend. I got a huge piece. I know I typed it all out and on the way back we decided we would meet the following year at Droitwich and we had quite a good weekend there. And then we got invited back to Holland by the Dutch people and we went back there in ’85. Sorry, in ’83. ’85. ’89 and 2000 and gosh they wouldn’t let you pay for anything.
DK: They, they were pleased to see you were they?
JW: Oh, they were. And the first time when we went there we went in to the sort of hotel they’d booked for us and the room was full of sort of chocolates and sweets, drinks and a little thing you know, ‘Thank you for what you did.’ I mean we got more thanks from the Dutch people than we ever did from Bomber Command. It was, yeah and they had one, they actually had a reunion last year but unfortunately I wasn’t in, couldn’t go anyway. But I don’t think there were many of them left.
DK: So, were, were you involved in Exodus as well then?
JW: Yes.
DK: The picking up of the POWs.
JW: The POWs. Yeah.
DK: So, what, can you remember where you landed to pick them up?
JW: Yes. At Juvencourt. There was, we did six I think. Five or six. And brought them back twenty four at a time. And it was there that one of them from 514 Squadron crashed on take-off and they, they lost the whole lot.
DK: Oh dear.
JW: They never did know what happened. They wondered whether the prisoners moved about and upset the balance of the aircraft. They don’t know.
DK: Did you actually see the aircraft crash?
JW: No. No.
DK: Ok. Just —
JW: No.
DK: So, what was the, what was the prisoner’s reaction when they saw you and they were, you were flying them home?
JW: Oh, they were quite pleased to see, I mean it’s funny we, we had, we had to hand them out five cigarettes, a little packet of boiled sweets and a sick bag. And we, we didn’t have any parachutes then. They said it would look bad to have parachutes on when the prisoners didn’t have so we flew without parachutes.
DK: And were they mostly Army POWs?
JW: They were Army POWs. Yeah.
DK: Yeah.
JW: And some of the them were, I can remember one chap when, as we saw the cliffs at you know, the white cliffs come in to sight tears came in to his eyes. He was, he’d been away quite a while I think. But oh, they all had trophies. Helmets and bayonets and things. But —
DK: So, what, after the war is finished then what, what —
JW: The war was over. Yeah.
DK: So, what were you. What did you do immediately after that? Did you stay in the RAF for very long?
JW: Oh, they kept us on because they kept us on for what they called the Tiger Force for Japan. And it wasn’t until, well then after that we then did what they called Operation Review which was flying over different parts of the country, and different flying up and down taking photographs. It was as boring as anything. I mean, I think one of them was nine hours we had.
DK: What, what was the point of that then? Just —
JW: They were make, forming new maps I think.
DK: Oh, for map reading.
JW: I think it was. We never did really know why but that’s all we could assume. That they were making some new, new maps.
DK: So that was Operation Review.
JW: Review. Yeah.
DK: The only reason I asked you that is just literally yesterday somebody was asking me what Operation Revue was and nobody knew.
JW: Oh.
DK: You’ve answered the question.
JW: Yeah.
DK: Thank you. So you never really found out what it was for.
JW: Not what it was for. No. We saw a lot —
DK: Were all the squadrons doing this or just yourselves?
JW: No. I don’t, I honestly couldn’t say.
DK: Yeah. So, you were just flying up and down the country taking photos.
JW: Yeah. I mean it was hard on the navigator. He had to work out exactly when to turn and of course they all had to, the photographs all had to overlap.
DK: Right. I’d better tell. I’m going to tell them now what it is. Oh right. Thanks. So, so when did you actually leave the RAF then?
JW: 1947.
DK: Right. If I could just go back a stage you said that you were earmarked for Tiger Force.
JW: Yes.
DK: Going off to the Far East.
JW: Yeah.
DK: What was your feelings when the war, the war suddenly ended?
JW: Well, I suppose we, you know I think we knew. Or you could see it was going to end I think. But they wouldn’t let us go until I don’t know when. That must have been [pause] No. I can’t think. I mean, suddenly they just said, oh you’re redundant and they posted us. They posted. I got posted to [pause] God, I can never remember numbers. My memory for names now. It was RAF Molesworth. That’s it. And there was only, there was nobody in charge there. A, I think a flight sergeant. The bar was open all night. You know. It was, the Americans had left a radiogram there with one record and this one record was, “Off We Go in to The Bright Blue Yonder.” Gosh. And, and that record went and in the end somebody smashed it. But I was, I don’t know what. I was put in charge or asked to look after the cycle store. And that was a huge Nissen hut full of bicycles. And nobody wanted a bike anyway so I [laughs] —
DK: So really the, the war has ended and they really didn’t know what to do with you.
JW: They didn’t know what to do with us.
DK: So, after you’ve left the RAF what did you do then? What was your career?
JW: I went back to the Public Analyst for a very short time. I mean, the thing that, I think when I finished in the Air Force I was earning fifteen and thruppence a day which was pocket money because clothes and food was all found. And when I went back to the work I was earning five pound a week which was nothing really. But —
DK: Was your job left open for you then?
JW: Oh, yes.
DK: So, they —
JW: Yeah
DK: They had to take you back.
JW: They didn’t have to. No.
DK: Right.
JW: Because I left on my own.
DK: Oh ok.
JW: But I wasn’t there that long when I then got a job with the Norwich City Council as a rent collector. And from a rent collector I got to a housing inspector and that’s when I finished.
DK: So, looking back now, seventy odd years later how do you feel about your time in the RAF?
JW: Well. I must say I enjoyed it but when I, it’s funny at the time you don’t think about it but when I look back and I think of the times we took off. Look, every time we had a Cookie on board and a load of bombs and a full load of petrol and you then realise if anything had gone wrong on take-off that would have been the end anyway and —
DK: Did, did you think about those dangers at the time then?
JW: No. That’s what I’m saying. I didn’t.
DK: Yeah.
JW: At the time.
DK: It was full of petrol and high explosives.
JW: Yeah. I didn’t think about it at the time.
DK: Yeah.
JW: But it’s looking back now and —
DK: Do you think that’s because you obviously were a lot younger then? And —
JW: This is it. It was. Yes. Definitely.
DK: Don’t feel the dangers.
JW: And it’s the same I suppose over the target. You think it isn’t going to happen to us you know.
DK: It’s always going to happen to somebody else.
JW: Somebody else. Yeah.
DK: So how, did you stay in touch with your crew then afterwards?
JW: Well, it’s funny. I tried. I tried to contact them and I couldn’t and I, it all happened. I got, this is a long story really but I got an email from a girl whose father was at Waterbeach.
DK: Yeah.
JW: Oh, I said Feltwell. I meant Waterbeach.
DK: Ok.
JW: And she came over here with her mother. Her father had died. She came over here with her mother. Oh no. Her father hadn’t died then. She came over with her father and her mother to visit old places where he’d been and while they were here, her mother they were waiting for a train and her mother had a heart attack and died. And anyway, she then told me that she’d been in touch with several people at Waterbeach and as she heard that we’d been there did I remember her dad who had since died? But I said no. I pointed out that we were only there a short time. And anyway, she suddenly contacted me and said she had heard from a chap who was stationed at Waterbeach and he was trying to contact me. And she gave me his email address and I, I got in touch with him and he had moved from Canada to New Zealand. He’d married and moved over to New Zealand and he gave me an address, email address of someone. A museum in Canada where I might be able to contact the rest of the crew. So, I went on to this email and I couldn’t. There were pages and pages of people wanting to contact. And so I left a message. You know, “Anybody in Flight Lieutenant Elwood’s crew of 138 Squadron —” And I forgot all about it and suddenly I got an email, “I’m Flight Lieutenant Elwood’s son. Unfortunately, my dad has died.”
DK: Oh.
JW: And so —
DK: Do, do you know when he passed away? Your pilot.
JW: I don’t. No.
DK: No. No.
JW: No.
DK: Right.
JW: And at first, the pilot. The engineer had also died. I don’t know how I got in touch with his wife but no, I tried no end of times to try and get in. Even when I met Canadians over in Holland. So I left messages with them to, they were going to try and contact.
DK: You never got in contact with any of the crew then.
JW: No.
DK: No. That’s a shame.
JW: Only the navigator who —
DK: Oh right.
JW: He then, he couldn’t remember a thing about what we’d done.
DK: Oh right.
JW: He’d, he’d shut everything out.
DK: Can you remember the navigator’s name?
JW: Yes. Keith Evans.
DK: And was it Keith Evans who had gone to New Zealand then?
JW: Yes.
DK: Oh, right. Ok.
DK: Yes.
JW: And then he, it was Keith Evans who got you in touch with the Canadians.
JW: No, not Keith. Johnnie. John Evans.
DK: John Evans. So, it was John Evans who went to New Zealand.
JW: Yeah.
DK: He was the navigator.
JW: He was the navigator.
DK: It was he who put you in touch with the Canadian Museum.
JW: Yes.
DK: Yeah.
DK: Yeah.
JW: So, did he, is he still alive or —
JW: No. He’s dead.
DK: Right.
JW: He died of cancer.
DK: Right. And, and he totally blocked out everything.
JW: He blocked out everything.
DK: So you never actually met him then.
JW: No.
DK: Just emailed communications.
JW: Emailed. He couldn’t remember. He couldn’t even remember us getting hit. He’d shut out, he said right from the start he had, he was seeing a psychiatrist or something. He’d shut everything out. All he could think of was the people he might have killed.
DK: Right.
JW: And he shut everything. In fact, he said, ‘Can you tell me about the hit? When we got hit.’ So I tried to tell him on an email as best I could but he couldn’t remember anything.
DK: Did you hear from him again after that? Once you two had —
JW: Oh, we corresponded.
DK: Right.
JW: Backwards, and you know quite regularly.
DK: And did any of it come back to him do you know?
JW: No. No. It’s funny. Operation Manna did.
DK: Right.
JW: He remembered that.
DK: But the, but the actual operations over Germany he’d blocked out.
JW: He couldn’t. No. Or he didn’t know. Whether he didn’t want to I don’t but —
DK: But you say he’s since passed away.
JW: He’s, he’s since died. Yeah.
DK: Ok. I think that’s probably enough. If I stop this now. Well, thanks for that anyway.
JW: Yeah.
DK: That’s really interesting. Thanks for your time.
[recording paused]
DK: So, your crew then. Left to right. So that’s you.
JW: That’s me. He, we called him Sealevel he was so short. He was Clark. L Clark.
DK: Al Clark. Yeah. So what, what he was then?
JW: He was the bomb aimer.
DK: Bomb aimer, so and —
JW: Curly Watson. He was the engineer.
DK: So, he was the other English.
JW: Pilot. The other English chap. Yeah.
DK: Yeah. So you’ve got sergeant.
JW: The first names I don’t. Bulward. his name was Bulward, definitely.
DK: Bill Ward.
JW: Bul, Bulward.
DK: Bulward. Right.
JW: They called him Bull, I think.
DK: Right. Bulward.
JW: That’s Keith Elwood.
DK: That’s, that’s the pilot.
JW: Pilot.
DK: Yeah. And then —
JW: That’s John Evans, the navigator.
DK: Yeah.
JW: And there’s Dave Richardson the rear gunner.
DK: Right. Ok. I notice on here. You mentioned a couple of the Cook’s Tours.
JW: Oh, yes. Yes.
DK: So, what did they involve then?
JW: That was, that’s funny. I had a, I don’t know whether I’ve still got the letter. I had a letter from, oh here it is, from a woman at Downham Market. It was in the book. Have you seen the book, “Yours.” There was a letter in there from this woman that when she was in the WAAFs she flew on a, what they called a Cook’s Tour. She said, “But nobody will believe me.” So I wrote back. Wrote and told her and said that was quite right and and I got a letter to thank me.
DK: So, did you do a number of the Cook’s Tour’s?
JW: Only two.
DK: And did, was there WAAFs on board yours?
JW: No. I can’t. In fact, one of them, one of them had ATC boys.
DK: Oh right. So, and can you remember whereabouts in Germany you went to see the damage?
JW: Oh, we went to Cologne. I can’t really remember now. Actually, it didn’t sort of —
DK: Right.
JW: I I can’t remember other than Cologne. Obviously, we went. What I can remember is coming back we flew, we circled around the Eiffel tower. I said, ‘Well that’s something nobody else had done.’
DK: So, what was people, what was the, the people on board, what was the reaction when you saw the damage on the cities down there?
JW: Well, I honestly, I can’t say what they because I suppose most of them were in the, they weren’t where I was because I was sitting at the, at my place and there’s no room for anybody else there but, so they were either in the cockpit standing where the pilot, behind the pilot or in the bomb bay or even some of them had a ride in the upper turret.
DK: And were they mostly ground crew then on the Cook’s Tours?
JW: Most of them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I can’t remember any WAAFs.
DK: Right. But you were able to confirm this WAAF that written it in. She’d written a letter then.
JW: Yes.
DK: Yeah.
JW: I’ve got the, if I can find it here. That’s such a —
DK: Right.
JW: Picture. [pause] Oh you never, I don’t think you’d ever read it now. Oh, I must have thrown it away, I think. She put, “Dear Mr Webster, thank you for writing to the editors of, “Yours,” regarding the Cook’s Tours. I’ve received thirty letters from people who either went on one on the trip or verified they did take place. It brought back a lot of memories. One lady wrote to me from — ” I can’t see what it is, it’s gone. And told me there is a table in the Crown Hotel there with names of crews carved on it. I’d love to go back. I wish I had written down the names of the crew I flew with and the WAAF corporal. She passed out going over the Channel. It was quite [pause] especially when —”
[pause]
DK: Right.
JW: “When the pilot dived down at a ship. I’ve often wondered what the message was in code. I could see flashing. I also remember seeing Cologne Cathedral and Essex.”
DK: Essen.
JW: Essen. Oh yeah. Essen. I thought it was Essex. Essen. “I was posted to Bletchley Park after the trip and I was demobbed on the 11th of April ’46. I said I would never volunteer for anything again.” [laughs] Oh it goes on. It’s torn out.
DK: Does it have her name there? The lady’s name.
JW: Yours sincerely, Mrs K Dorrington.
DK: Dorrington.
JW: Queens Road, twenty. That’s from Epping in Essex.
DK: And what’s the date of the letter?
JW: 9.9.’95.
DK: Right. So, a while ago.
JW: Yeah. She was probably in a worst state than this letter you know.
DK: So you mention here Operation [Sun Bombs]. A trip to Castel Benito.
JW: Oh yes. I think that was to give us a holiday more than anything. We were there about three days. All we did was sit around the swimming pool and, well, and went swimming. And it’s funny there was a Flight Lieutenant Banbury who was in 138 Squadron and I’ll always remember he stood on the diving board and he did a dead man, you know where they [pause] I’d never seen it done before. But the funny thing is after I was demobbed I happened to see in one of the local papers that a Flight Lieutenant Banbury had been killed at Watton flying an Anson with some ground staff on board and he hit the caravan coming in to land.
DK: Oh right.
JW: To think he’d flown a Lanc and all that and got crashed off in an Anson.
DK: There’s two more operations here. You’ve got Operation Sinkum.
JW: Oh yeah. That that was just flying out over the Wash dropping a lot of the spare bombs. Old bombs.
DK: And then Operation Spasm.
JW: Yeah. That was a trip to Berlin.
DK: Oh right.
JW: The first ones that went they were lucky. They took cigarettes and bought them for marks and they came back and they could change as many marks as they liked. When we went we could only change back to marks what we’d changed. Took out.
DK: Right.
JW: Yeah.
DK: Can you remember where you landed in Berlin?
JW: Yeah. What was the name of it?
DK: Was it Templehof, was it?
JW: Temple. I think it was.
DK: Yeah.
JW: Yeah. That’s the only one I can —
DK: So, you flew to Templehof and landed.
JW: Landed.
DK: In a Lancaster.
JW: In Lancs. Yeah.
DK: Oh right. And so what, what did you think of Berlin now the war’s ended and you’ve landed there in the centre of the city?
JW: I can’t remember much. We saw the Reichstag. We went to the Olympic Stadium. But apart from that I, I know I went in somebody’s bedroom. The chap, I was after stockings and he took me in to this, his wife was still in bed and he fished under the pillow and came out with these nylons for cigarettes. But —
DK: Was Berlin damaged? Was it?
JW: Well, it was what we saw of it. Yeah.
DK: And you didn’t see any Russians there or anyone or anybody else.
JW: No.
DK: So you were just in the British Sector.
JW: Just in the British Sector. Yeah.
DK: And was there many Lancasters on this trip to Berlin then to land there or, can you remember?
JW: Well, not from my squadron there wasn’t.
DK: No.
JW: I don’t know whether. I suppose other people, I don’t know if other people went there.
DK: Ok. Well, I’ll stop that. Thanks again. I’ll stop and turn it off.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Jack Webster
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Kavanagh
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-10-04
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
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AWebsterJK161004
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
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00:48:28 audio recording
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Jack Webster applied to join the RAF in December 1942 and attended a selection board at RAF Cardington, and was eventually called up in June 1943. After initial training he went to 4 Radio School at RAF Madley passing out from there with eighteen words per minute on Morse Code. From RAF Dumfries Advanced Flying Unit flying in Dominies and Proctors he was posted to 12 OTU Chipping Warden where he crewed up with a Canadian crew, his pilot Flt Lt. Keith Elwood. After completing their heavy conversion on to Lancasters at RAF Bottesford, they were posted to 514 Sqn at RAF Feltwell where they completed one sortie to a synthetic oil installation at Huls. He and his crew were then posted to 138 Squadron at RAF Tuddenham and carried out a further four sorties with them. He and his crew also took part in Operation Manna and Operation Exodus. He left the RAF in 1947.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-12
1944
1945
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
England--Herefordshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Northamptonshire
England--Suffolk
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
12 OTU
138 Squadron
1668 HCU
514 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
bombing
Cook’s tour
Dominie
Heavy Conversion Unit
Initial Training Wing
Lancaster
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
Operational Training Unit
Proctor
RAF Bottesford
RAF Chipping Warden
RAF Dumfries
RAF Feltwell
RAF Madley
RAF Tuddenham
training
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1357/22526/PCoxOV2003.1.jpg
f2d424dc12443a0fabcf5e8d5925df2f
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1357/22526/ACoxOV200131.1.mp3
c718a8bae9d15f63bb0f7d5b1f9da95d
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
Cox, Owen
Owen Valentine Cox
O V Cox
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Owen Cox, who served in Italy and ditched near Sicily.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-01-31
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
Cox, OV
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
RP: This interview is being conducted on behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln. The interviewer is Rod Pickles. The interviewee is Owen Cox. Also present is the niece of Owen Cox, Mrs Wendy Wood. The interview is taking place on the 31st of January 2020 at Mr Cox’s home in Honiton, Devon. Good afternoon, Ian.
OC: Hello.
RP: Ian? Owen.
OC: It’s nice to meet you.
RP: Thank you for inviting me in, in to your home. If you could start.
OC: Yeah.
RP: Perhaps you could tell us where you were born, and when you were born and your early life and how you came, what prompted you to join the RAF. But —
OC: I wanted to join the RAF when I was at school.
RP: And where were you at school?
OC: I was in the Kings School at Ottery St Mary. The Grammar School. And my parents wouldn’t let me join the RAF, and by various means I passed them all. I was only seventeen when war broke out and I joined the LDD. It’s even worse than Dad’s Army. And when I was eighteen I joined the Home Guard. The only difference was I had a different arm band. And when I was eighteen I went in the Recruiting Office in Exeter on my way to, during my lunch hours and the first thing that happened was the flight sergeant came along. He said, ‘Hello sonny, what do you want?’ That rather put me off. Eighteen, you know. A teenager being called Sonny. And so I said, ‘I want to join the RAF.’ ‘Oh yes? What would you like to be?’ So I said, ‘Aircrew.’ So he said, ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘Well, you nip home and get your birth certificate.’ So I said, ‘Well, I’m eighteen.’ He said, ‘You’ve still got to get your birth certificate.’ Then I was in trouble. Trying to get a birth certificate. How could I do it without my parents knowing why? So I’d just been on the Devon County staff for just over six months and I was put on the permanent staff after six months probationary period. So I went home and I said, ‘Mum, I want my birth certificate. I’ve been put on the permanent staff and they want my birth certificate.’ ‘Oh yes,’ you know, with a joys, got a job in those days because were hard to come by. And so I got this birth certificate and went in. Then I was offered, he said, ‘What do you want to be?’ The same flight sergeant. So I said, ‘Well, the same as last time. Aircrew.’ So he said, ‘There aren’t any vacancies.’ He said, ‘You can be a clerk g.d. or a driver.’ So I said, ‘Well, I’m a clerk already just up the road. I don’t like the sound of g.d,’ which is general duties I found out afterwards, ‘And I don’t want to be driving all over the country. So if you give me back my birth certificate I’ll nip somewhere where they will accept it.’ And then he came back and in the end he agreed that I could join the RAF. And so I went home that night and I said to my mother [pause] if I wanted to say anything controversial I used to wait until she was busy, you know, getting father’s meal or in the evening. And when she was in middle of that I said, ‘I’ve joined the RAF today, mum.’ She said, ‘Oh yes,’ and went on busy, you know. And that went on and it wasn’t until, oh when we first of all the Devon County Council if you more or less volunteered you had to get committee approval so that the job was vacant when you came back. It was a very good job that I did because I was a wreck when I came home. But if you were a conscientious objector you got the sack. Yes. It was like that. And eventually in November I got a letter. When I came home mother said, ‘There’s a letter from the RAF for you.’ So I said, ‘Oh, I expect that’s my calling up papers.’ ‘What do you mean calling up papers?’ I said, ‘Well, don’t you remember, you know.’ ‘No,’ she said, ‘Well, you’re always saying stupid things,’ you know, ‘And if you say anything like that we don’t take any notice of it, you know.’ So I said ‘Well,’ I said, ‘I was quite honest. I told you what it was.’ I told a lie about my birth certificate but that was all [laughs] And when father came home she said, mother, ‘What do you think he’s done?’ Father was rather exasperated, ‘Whatever has he done now?’ You know. She said, ‘He’s joined the RAF.’ My father said, ‘He can’t. He’s not old enough.’ So I said, ‘Yes, I volunteered, father.’ ‘Oh.’ He said ‘That’s it, and you can’t say anything about it,’ I said, ‘In the First World War you volunteered when you were seventeen.’ He said, ‘But I didn’t go.’ I said, ‘No. The only difference between you and me, I passed my medical and you didn’t.’ So, I won the argument, didn’t I? And in the January —
RP: What year is this then? The January of — ?
OC: The war broke out in ‘39.
RP: Yeah.
OC: ’40.
RP: January ’40. Oh right.
OC: January ’40, I got my calling up papers to go up to Blackpool and there were two Devon County Council members on the station with me. They were a lot older than me and they were called up, you know. And so we travelled up there and that was, that was quite an experience. It’s all in my book you know.
RP: So, was that just to, just to get you the uniform and everything? And then you got on to training from there, did you?
OC: Yeah. There we had to do square bashing first. And then six months afterwards I went to Yatesbury near Calne, near Swindon. And we had to get wireless up to eighteen words a minute, and I could. I took to Morse and I could do twenty quite easily. Send and receive. And I was posted to Plymouth.
RP: Right.
OC: And I was down there fourteen months and —
RP: Doing what? What were you doing there?
OC: Oh. Ground wireless operator waiting to go on the gunnery course.
RP: Oh right.
OC: They said, it’s very funny really, you know they said there weren’t any vacancies at the Gunnery Schools. That was, I thought to myself, my God what have I done now? You see, it wasn’t, they couldn’t keep up with gunners that had been wiped out, you know.
RP: Right.
OC: Not being very helpful.
RP: So where were you based in Plymouth for this then?
OC: Mount Wise.
RP: Mount Wise.
OC: Mount Wise.
RP: So the telecommunications side.
OC: In the end, after being put on a charge for being one day late from leave I went out into billets at Crownhill.
RP: Oh yeah. Yeah.
OC: And we were underground at Eggbuckland underground station. And, while I was undressing that’s how I got my name Inky. When I was on this charge I was wild. To think it’s my own fault, you know. I’d got the last day’s leave was this day and instead of that it was the day before.
RP: Oh right.
OC: So I was a day late and oh, I was in quite a bit of trouble there. I thought arrive at a station and before you say hello you’re in trouble. And out there I was very very good [ unclear] and oh when I was on, doing the, emptying my kit bag in this great block all to myself. A room all to myself in a block that was empty I emptied my kit bag out and there was a bottle of marking ink that burst all over my —
RP: Oh dear.
OC: Left shoulder. But when we went to the wireless cabin one of the WAAFs there, one of the wireless operator WAAFs was getting tea for the underground and everybody had taken their coats off, you see. So I took off my coat. Got this, the only clean shirt I had.
RP: Oh right.
OC: So she said, ‘You’re the new boy aren’t you?’ So I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘My name’s Griffiths. Always known as Griff. What are you called?’ She said, ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ll call you Inky.’ That’s how I got that name.
RP: And that’s, that’s what you became.
OC: Yeah.
RP: So were you in Plymouth during the blitz then?
OC: No. Just after.
RP: Just after. Right.
OC: Yeah. I [pause] about, oh three weeks, a month after.
RP: Oh right.
OC: Yeah.
RP: So from Plymouth then when did you finally get to your gunnery course then?
OC: Fourteen months later.
RP: Gosh.
OC: I was down there, oh the other thing was that if you were a good wireless operator they tried to hang on to you.
RP: Of course. Yeah.
OC: And that’s why I was there fourteen months.
RP: You knew your Morse too well obviously.
OC: I loved Morse.
RP: So where did you go for the gunnery course then?
OC: First of all we went to air training for wireless sending and that was at Madley. We weren’t there very long. A horrible place. Then we went to Castle Kennedy near Stranraer.
RP: Oh my goodness.
OC: That was —
RP: Way up north.
OC: Yes. That would be December. December ’40. ’41.
RP: Yes.
OC: Or ’42. I can’t remember which and it would be in the book, but the accommodation there was rather luxurious. We used to have a Nissen hut that was, held about twelve people. Twelve or fourteen, I forget which. And it had one bulb one end and one bulb the other. Forty watt.
RP: Gosh.
OC: We’d got a tortoise stove in the middle and the supply of coal was half a sack a week. And if you didn’t pick it up pretty quickly somebody else did so you had none.
RP: Oh right.
OC: And we used to get wood. We were in the middle of a wood and we used to get any dead wood we can, and if it wasn’t desperate you used to get, break down something and get it.
RP: Yeah.
OC: And the railway went just by. We used to go out there and wave to the engine driver and the stoker of the train used to throw out huge lumps of steam coal.
RP: Oh right.
OC: And they used to do that. And when we were flying around we —
RP: So what were you training on? What aircraft were you on?
OC: The first time I was, was ever airborne was a De Havilland Dominie which is a De Havilland Rapide.
RP: Oh yes, I know.
OC: Civilian aircraft. Lovely aircraft. Twin.
RP: Twin wings. Yeah.
OC: Yeah. And then I was on Magisters for [pause] or in Magisters for the air training, and then we went up to Castle Kennedy and we were on Beauforts which was deadly and [pause] Now, now I’ve stopped.
RP: No. Don’t worry. We can, we can pause it there. Don’t worry.
[recording paused]
OC: I was posted to 13 OTU. As I walked in through the door, I’d been there two days and a fella from Honiton was walking out and we met. And the people that I was with said, ‘Oh, do you know him, Inky?’ So Derek said, ‘Who’s Inky?’ I said, ‘I’m Inky.’ And after the war we were at the Golf Club and everything, he always called me Inky. Never went back.
RP: Right.
OC: He died a few years ago.
RP: Yeah.
OC: A couple of years ago.
RP: Ok. So, anyway, you get to Bicester. You’re at the OTU. What aircraft are you now using there then?
OC: I was in Blenheims. And —
RP: What was a Blenheim like as an aircraft then?
OC: Horrible.
RP: Was it?
OC: Well, not horrible but it’s very difficult to explain really. For a wireless operator it was very difficult. You had like motorbike handles.
RP: Oh right.
OC: When you pressed them down like that your seat went down, your guns went up.
RP: Oh, I see.
OC: Then you could use your set.
RP: Got you. Oh, so the guns moved out the way so you can —
OC: Yeah.
RP: Got you. Got you. Yeah.
OC: Yeah. There’s a post comes down. There’s two cannisters of ammunition. One for each gun. And in behind there’s two little cases of coils. One was used for trailing aerial and one was to use for ordinary sending station, you know. If you used a trailing aerial that was for getting bearings. But you had to change. These were in two little boxes. They had wing nuts and you had to undo the wing nuts. Luckily they were attached.
RP: Yeah.
OC: To the case. Take out the coil, take out the one that you were using. Hold it in your lap, put the one that you picked out and put up. That one you put back in the bottom in case it —
RP: And all the time the aircraft’s —
OC: Oh, it was going. Then you, if anything happened well you had to drop the lot and curl up under. So while I was there I went under friendly fire the first time. We were just finishing our being crewed up. I was with a fella from Trinidad and one from Liverpool. They were both officers, pilot officers, and in the Blenheims there was only three in the crew and we were going out over the, before you left OTU they used to send you out over the coast after a big bomber raid in to see if there was any of any of our airmen had come down in the sea, you know. In the North Sea. We used to do a square search and come back. And we were just crossing the, I’d got permission to cross the coast and I thought well let’s get some exercise in with sending, you know back to base.
RP: Yeah.
OC: I did this, and all of a sudden the aircraft was being thrown all over. So I said, ‘Dave, what the devil are you doing? I’m trying to send Morse.’ He said, ‘If you looked out — ’ And there were puffs of bomb curling around the [pause] So I said, ‘Oh God.’ He said, ‘Did you get permission?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ So we belted out to the North Sea as fast as we could, did our section and coming back and I fired the letter of the day. It was yellow. I always remember [laughs] And peace reigned once again. So we went out and I said to Dave on that, ‘You’re coming in the same place as where we went out. They fired at us on the way out. What do you think they’re going to do when we come back?’ I said, ‘I’ve loaded the pistol again.’ And, but we came back alright. We reported it. I don’t know what happened to the ground crew but —
RP: You’d think they’d recognise a Blenheim.
OC: Yeah. Oh, we were supposed to be something like a JU88 I think it was.
RP: Ok.
OC: But they had swastikas all over them. We had roundels all over us. Top and bottom. You know.
RP: You wonder.
OC: You wonder. And well I wouldn’t be here if they’d had the things that they fired at you.
RP: If you’d been hit. Yes.
OC: Yeah.
RP: So at the Gunnery School. How long were you at the Gunnery School then on the Blenheims?
OC: Oh, the Gunnery School. I was only there about six weeks. Two months. Something like that.
RP: Then you were posted to a squadron?
OC: Then I was posted to OTU.
RP: Oh right.
OC: And I was there, oh and then we changed over to Bostons. That was a lovely aircraft. The De Havilland. Not the De Havilland. The Boston.
RP: Douglas.
OC: Douglas. That’s right. Douglas 3A. And we got a fourth member of the crew who was an under gunner who fired through the floor. That’s important because a bit later on and [pause] he used to lift up the flap on the door and he was attached by his monkey, what we called the monkey strap which was fixed to the aircraft and then he used to clip it on to his parachute harness and so he, if he got a bit excited he didn’t fall out, you know. I could never see why it happened because I mean it wasn’t that big. I suppose the length of that.
RP: Oh right.
OC: Not quite as long as that and they used to go back, clipped back and used to fire a Vickers gas operated gun through the floor but I mean by the time the enemy did that thing he was gone up past you so you wouldn’t have had time to switch it. I never saw that. I never saw him shoot his gun. And —
RP: So, you’re on, you’re on the Douglas. So how long were you at the OTU then?
OC: About four months.
RP: Oh. And that’s familiarisation is it?
OC: That’s moving from Blenheims on to Bostons. And then we went to Finmere, kitted up for overseas and we went down to Portreath in Cornwall.
RP: Oh yes.
OC: We had extra fuel tanks on them. On the aircraft. The guns were stowed, and all our kit was on the flap. So Jack, our gunner, under gunner was sitting on all our kit. And down in the, he saw nothing. I was up the top. And when you were in the Boston it’s a, it was a lovely aircraft. When you were firing your guns your feet were going that way, your guns were there. You had a swivel seat. You could swivel round and there was your wireless set.
RP: Oh right.
OC: And the Morse key, everything. And we went to Finmere. We were there about a fortnight getting used to this aircraft and one day they said to me, because of the new wireless set, ‘We’ll show you how it works.’ I said, ‘Oh yes,’ because we were to do our last what we called cross country and we went right down to Cornwall. Get permission to cross the coast up to the Irish Sea. Get permission to get back in to England and then back to base. And when I got down to Cornwall I couldn’t find the Morse key. Going this way and the Morse sets were here, and TR9 and I said, ‘I can’t find the Morse key. It was here this morning.’ Say it like everybody else you know. Couldn’t find it. I said, ‘Jack, come up and have a look. So he came. So, Dave the pilot said, ‘Well?’ I said, ‘I can’t. We can’t cross the coast,’ I said, ‘I can’t find my Morse key.’ So [laughs] Then he said, ‘Right. Abort.’ And we went back to base. Coming in I swung round all my wireless stuff was up there like everybody else, and I was just looking around and the aircraft came down like this, and in this came in [pause] six inches I suppose, nine inches and underneath this was a little square box with a button about the size of my thumb and I thought I’d never seen that before. I wonder what that is. Pressed the button. That was my Morse key. So I thought however could you send Morse on a button which was only coming up about this, above base. You had to go like this and every time of course the aircraft went down your hand went down with it, so you didn’t do it —
RP: Yes. You’re mixing it up, aren’t you?
OC: You couldn’t, you couldn’t send Morse on it. And so I said, ‘I found my Morse key.’ And when we they got back they laughed. And we used to have a board in the mess that said, “The sign of the irremovable finger,” which is Chad looking over the wall. Do you know it?
RP: Oh yeah. I know what you mean.
OC: And his hand was like this. And at the end this finger stuck up with [unclear] “Awarded this week to Sergeant Cox who couldn’t find his Morse key.”
RP: Oh dear, embarrassment.
OC: Yes. They used to say, ‘Have you got your Morse key this morning?’ Every time we went up near there. Yes. And also the Boston, the pilot, the w/op a.g. had a set of controls at the back. He had rudders but they were right up you know, you were up like this.
RP: Oh right.
OC: You couldn’t, couldn’t use it. Dave said, ‘Don’t bother about them. Just fly using everything else you’ve got there.’ I had a speedo and what height you were. Well, we were tipping, the trouble was you see oh that was done so that the pilot, if you were in trouble the wireless operator took the joystick as they called them from the side, jammed it in and you fly the aircraft. And very often Dave said, ‘Have some driving practice.’ You know. So, ‘Alright.’ Used to quite enjoy that. But of course the same thing, I was like this this and of course when you go like this this one goes that way doesn’t it? So you’re flying like this along. We were going down through the Bay of Biscay and went to, to give me some practice at that. So he said, ‘And we want to fly straight and level. We don’t want to be at an angle.’ I said, ‘Alright.’ Gradually of course I turned over and if I went that way it was even worse because it was just, it was harder to look out that window. And then we had a loop aerial that used to tune in to any station. You could get bearings on it and you knew what stations you were tuned in, you know. Music stations and all that. So I did that. Gave it to the observer. My readings. He said, ‘That’s an interesting, Owen.’ he said. Oh, they always called me Owen except the pilot who called me Cockles. And, and so I said, ‘Everything all right?’ He said, ‘Yes. We’re either in Germany or the middle of the Irish Sea which do you want?’ The [unclear] was on the Irish Sea.
RP: Oh, I see. Right.
OC: So I said, well I couldn’t be like that. Just couldn’t. And when we landed at Gib. Gibraltar. They found out that the loop, the loop aerial up there was turned. It was giving a, of course whatever instead of being nought there it would be, nought would be over here.
RP: Oh yes. Not aligned properly.
OC: Yeah. Not aligned. And I was angry at this.
RP: Because that puts all the readings out.
OC: Yeah. Oh, and another thing you have to do when you’re coming in to land you’ve got to have the aldis lamp, and send the letter of the day. Well, if you’re going this way, and you’re right or left handed whatever light you see you’re like this and then you stand up and see Europa Point, which is this point and if, if you’re not aligned on it all they see is a white light. So I undid my monkey strap, and was right outside almost, and I nearly fell out.
RP: Oh gosh.
OC: Yeah. And I just kept firing, pointed after that and when we got down —
RP: Hoped for the best.
OC: Jack said to me, ‘What do you think the ground crew are laughing at?’ I said, ‘Well, Jack we’re in shorts.’ Lillywhites you know, and, ‘Look at your knees and look at theirs.’ I said, ‘They’re just Lillywhites.’ But I was wrong. The runway at Gibraltar goes about six hundred yards out into the sea.
RP: I’ve seen it. Yeah.
OC: Yeah. And Dave brought it in as low as he could and as slow as he could to make sure because we were heavily loaded with all our stuff and everything and when the crew came up, as I jumped out they said, ‘Do you think you’ve lost anything?’ And my trailing aerial. I’d come in without winding it in.
RP: Oh dear.
OC: It had wrapped itself around a Naval boat that was passing, or anchored I don’t know which. Brought down that aerial, snapped off mine, and then I was so angry thinking that you know a trained man had done that. If I’d done it at OTU.
RP: Yeah.
OC: Yes. That would have been alright. I was still learning. But to be trained and that was went down wrong. I grabbed my parachute, pulled it out, but I caught hold of the rip cord. That one opened. So —
RP: Not a good trip.
OC: No. No, I didn’t enjoy that.
RP: So, from, from where had you gone from the OTU then, where were you now?
OC: From OTU we went to, we went to Portree.
RP: Portree. Then from Portree.
OC: Portree to Gibraltar.
RP: Oh right. And you were stationed in Gibraltar then?
OC: No. No.
RP: Just staging through.
OC: Yes. On our way to Sicily.
RP: Oh right. Right.
OC: And then we went down to Spanish Morocco. A place called Fez. And we stayed there. How the fellows lived there I don’t know. Sandstorms. And food used to go green from morning to night.
RP: Gosh.
OC: You know. And then we went across North Africa and landed at Tunis and that was an American station. And they’d rigged up hot showers. I mean not cold showers. Hot showers or cold. Whichever you liked.
RP: Gosh.
OC: And oh, they had and I always remember they said, ‘What would you like for a sweet?’ They’d given us some, I’ve forgotten what we had from the menu but I always remember peaches and cream.
RP: Gosh.
OC: I mean we couldn’t get —
RP: That’s a luxury.
OC: We couldn’t get that in England so that was fine.
RP: So was this leading up to the invasion of Sicily then?
OC: No.
RP: Not really taking part.
OC: They’d taken. That had finished.
RP: Oh right.
OC: That had finished about two or three weeks. We landed. And we slept under trees, on the ground. And then we went up to Gerbini Three which is on the Catania Plain and from there we started ops. And there was a, it was at the beach head at Salerno was it?
RP: Yeah. Salerno. Yeah.
OC: Salerno. And the Germans were coming down, bringing down Panzer divisions. And we were after three bridges the night we went out. Oh. Now, in our hut, you know, hut [laughs] tent there was Jack and myself, a gunner and a wireless operator, and in, and the same with another crew. And our pilot and observers were together in another crew.
RP: Oh right.
OC: Funnily enough. And Jack, our, both our gunners, the under gunners were called Jack and he was in hospital with dysentery so our Jack and myself used to take it in turns to fly with the other crew.
RP: Oh, I see.
OC: And I was flying as an under-gunner, not a wireless operator and we went on this raid and we hadn’t got, we were told it was going to be probably running mist or a bit of rain but it was the worst static storm I’ve ever seen even on trying to fly through it and we [sound of knocking] I don’t think it’s us. I think its next door. And they [pause] where was I?
RP: So you were on the raid in the static storm.
OC: Oh yes, and we climbed over it. Of course Jack and I were, well we all were cold, and we were frozen in the back.
RP: Yeah.
OC: Open top and bottom. And we came down the other side and we had three bridges. A road, rail and river and we went for the river bridge, and we got, as far as we could see two direct hits on it. First aircraft out. 5.15 we’d left. And so we thought there was another seventeen aircraft. They should be able to put paid to the other two. And coming back Mac said, he’s the pilot, he said, ‘We shall have to, if we run into that storm again we shall have to fly through it because,’ he said, ‘There’s no way have we got enough fuel to climb up above it and get back to base.’ And we started to fly through it and we got struck by lightning. All the intercom went out. Everything. The wireless went. Everything you’d think. Jack and I were alright at the back because we could talk to each other but the important people were of course the observer and the pilot. The observer was right in the front. Steel plating. Then the pilot’s got all his controls, steel plating behind him. Then you come to the bomb bay and the wireless equipment. Then you come to us. And we lost our way. And the pilot said, ‘Well,’ he said, ‘We’ve got a choice. We either bale out or ditch.’ So I was, seeing as it wasn’t my crew I was what you would normally call spare, and I said, ‘Well, there’s four of us in this aircraft, and if you get two or more you don’t know what to do. So —’ I said, ‘I vote —' Vote. ‘But I’ll agree to anything that you say.’ Well, they all three voted to ditch. I said, ‘Fine.’ So I closed the door and stowed my gun and I thought to myself [pause] as I picked up all the verey cartridges, stuffed them inside my [unclear] and then, and the verey pistol, so I thought a few pyrotechnics. If they don’t get too wet somebody might see us. Well, we came down, and of course ditching is rather dangerous at the best of times but when you’ve got fifteen foot square high waves going along you don’t know whether you’re at fifteen feet or —
RP: And this was at night time.
OC: Yes.
RP: Yeah.
OC: Yes. It would be after 9 o’clock at night and I don’t know anything else. I can remember having a clout on the head, but I don’t remember anything else until I was in the sea. And I suddenly became conscious again and I heard voices. I tried to blow my whistle but I couldn’t. I didn’t have any breath. And I tried to shout. That wasn’t very loud. But suddenly I had hands grip me, and I thought I was being, coming in the dinghy and I thought, cor this is hard. I never realised the dinghy was as hard as this. Well, I had twenty one ribs broken or fractured, three fractures of the spine, severe compressed fracture of the spine, severe concussion and I lost my little finger. And as I went in I lost consciousness and I don’t know anything more until I came to in the hospital.
RP: And that was in Sicily? The hospital.
OC: In Sicily. In, yes Sicily, at Patti.
RP: Yeah.
OC: And these, these brothers that I got in they’d, it was a fishing boat not the dinghy that they pulled me up. The observer was right in the front. Well, he would have been smashed to pieces. And of course no one ever said anything but he was buried. His body was washed ashore ten days later. So I was told after this. And he was buried in Catania War Cemetery. And they never found Jock or Mac. The pilot or the w/op a.g. because they’d been strapped in and the aircraft was broken all in pieces and they would have been strapped.
RP: They’d gone down with the aircraft.
OC: They’d gone down with the aircraft. It was only because I didn’t strap myself in on the end of the monkey chain. I’d undone that. I said that’s, no, I don’t want to be dangling on the end of a piece of a cord.
RP: So this was off the west coast of Sicily then. Yeah?
OC: Yes.
RP: So, looking back then do you think the better option would have been to bale out?
OC: No.
RP: No.
OC: No.
RP: You don’t think so.
OC: Well, it might have been.
RP: Because of the rough sea.
OC: Rough sea. Yeah.
RP: Yeah.
OC: I mean my pilot that night, Mac had been right through the Battle of Britain. He was on Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain. When that was over he was given the choice of night fighters or medium bombers. He said, ‘I’m not stooging around at night looking for nothing. Then turn on the light and —’ He said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘I’ll go on bombing.’ He did.
RP: Was that your first sortie out of Sicily then?
OC: Pardon?
RP: Was that your first sortie?
OC: No.
RP: No. You’d done —
OC: I think it was my sixth.
RP: Oh right.
OC: Before this, before this raid we were thinking of doing a daylight raid. Well, no way could you do a daylight raid going out one at a time. You’d just be picked off like flies, you know. And so we went out in a box of six. And we were never flown in formation except from Comiso up to Gerbini Three. That’s the only formation flying. So they said, ‘Well, we’d better get some practice in.’ So we did. The pilot, the first there, we were in number two, three, four, five, six, and the first time we went off our nose wheel burst and the pilot upended the undercarriage and slewed into another aircraft.
RP: Oh dear.
OC: And so they said, ‘You hadn’t better fly tomorrow. We’ll have a rest.’ So we went out the day after that and then [pause] so we went up again. As we, we got back to base the leading aircraft slewed down, came up, hit our wing and about two feet of wing just crumpled down. Their wing fell off and they crashed and they all got killed. And that was the aircraft that we took out to Sicily. A brand new aircraft, you know. Didn’t —
RP: Oh dear. So you’ve been recovered. You’re in hospital. How long were you in hospital for?
OC: I was in hospital. This all happened within six days. I had three accidents on landing err take-off, a mid-air, and the ditching.
RP: All come in threes.
OC: Yes.
RP: Oh dear. That was bad luck wasn’t it?
OC: Yeah.
RP: Gosh.
OC: And, oh what was the question you asked me?
RP: How long were you in hospital for?
OC: That must be the 1st of October 1943. I got back —
RP: That was the ditching, yeah?
OC: That’s, yes, well, I was in hospital that night but I was unconscious.
RP: Yeah.
OC: And I went in. Then they transferred me from that hospital to number 1 Advanced Field Dressing Army Hospital and I was still unconscious. And about ten days after that I began to get conscious. Then I was, when I began to come to a bit, I couldn’t see. I was blind. So I said, ‘Shall I ever see again?’ I thought, oh crumbs, you know. Get over something and you’ve got something else. They said, ‘Oh, yes. We’ll do that. Don’t worry. He says, ‘It’s only a matter of days now that you’re conscious that it’ll come back.’ I didn’t know how it was going to happen but it did and then I realised I was paralysed from the waist down.
RP: Oh dear.
OC: And so I said, ‘Shall I ever walk again?’ They said, ‘Yes. Yes. We’ll get you alright.’ So then my sight came back so I thought well theyll get me walking again, you know. I had complete faith and they were wonderful. Wonderful staff. And one day the medical officer was coming around to do the, the chief medical officer of the hospital going around and he said, ‘If we can keep this fellow alive until midnight we should be able to pull him through. We’ve got every chance of pulling him through.’ So I thought, oh bad luck fella because the next place to me there’s a fella with his, this absolutely just two little slits for his eyes.
RP: Oh right.
OC: And one for his mouth. A primus stove had blown up in his face.
RP: Gosh.
OC: And I thought crumbs, you know. I felt sorry for him. Then the next thing I heard was, ‘Oh, and this afternoon we shall be removing the bandages from this fellows head.’ So they’d been talking about me and they said they should be able to keep me alive.
RP: Right.
OC: Pull me through.
RP: So when did you come back? When did you return to England then after that?
OC: A week before December.
RP: So you got, got back for Christmas.
OC: Before Christmas. Right.
RP: Yeah.
OC: I went on the, from landed at Portreath. I went to Plymouth Royal Hospital. I got up to Wrougton Hospital near Swindon and they said they were going to amputate my little finger but my own doctor saw that, did it. And in Tunis was one of the places I landed. I was there for over a month. I’ve never been treated so badly in all my life. And I didn’t have any clothes. I came back to England in a pair of gym shoes. I, when we went to Wroughton they didn’t have a pair of size eight shoes there so I came back to Honiton in a pair of gym shoes and then I put my own shoes on.
RP: So did you arrive back in Honiton for Christmas?
OC: Yes.
RP: Oh, ok.
OC: Yeah.
RP: And what did you parents have to say?
OC: I shocked them. And when the lads, I used to go to church every Sunday with the organist, and his young brother used to answer. Well, I used to go up every Sunday. Walk up to the house, it was a big white house up here behind the park and just tap on the door and walk in. I thought, well they don’t know that I’m coming so I’ll wait outside and tap. Young Edward opened the door, looked at me, slammed the door and went in. So I didn’t know what to do. The next thing I knew all the family came out to the back door. They said, ‘Edward said he thought he’d seen a ghost,’ and [pause] because I was just a bag of bones, you know.
RP: So did you stay in the RAF or were you discharged?
OC: Discharged. I, oh, so then I went from Wroughton. I wasn’t there that long. I was in a convalescent home in Loughborough for four and a half months and then I went to the Central Medical Board in London, and I went through five doctors there. And they told me to report to wing commander so and so at lunchtime, after lunch. So I said, ‘Alright.’ So I went down and we had a little chat and he said, ‘What were you doing before you came in the Services?’ I said. ‘Oh, I was a clerk with the Devon County Council.’ So he looked up. He said, ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I think you’d better go back to the Devon County Council. Be a clerk again back at the Devon County Council. You’re no further use to the RAF.’
RP: Oh dear.
OC: That’s how it ended [unclear]
RP: So how long was it before you got back to your normal good health as it were after all that?
OC: Years.
RP: It must have been a while.
OC: Yeah. I was sitting with my back to the wall and a bag of nerves now. Yeah.
RP: So did, did you get your job back with Devon County Council?
OC: Oh yes. Yes.
RP: Yeah.
OC: That was terrible. I couldn’t last a day. I used to go down on the fire watchers bed down in one of the committee rooms and lay on my back and very often I used to fall asleep. They used to come down and wake me up to go back to work again, you know.
RP: And yet for all that —
OC: Pardon?
RP: And yet for all that your ninety eighth birthday is coming up.
OC: Yes.
RP: It’s amazing and I mean that’s it’s an amazing story. I’m really, I’m privileged to hear you talk and I think that’s probably a good point to end on but I have to say thank you very much. It’s been amazing.
OC: My pleasure.
RP: Absolutely amazing. Thank you.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Owen Cox
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rod Pickles
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-01-31
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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ACoxOV200131
PCoxOV2003
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Format
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00:54:08 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Owen Cox went to a grammar school in York and joined the Home Guard when the war started. At 18 he joined the Royal Air Force, although his parents were not keen. His initial trade was ground wireless operator (Morse), waiting to attend a gunnery school. He describes service life at RAF Castle Kennedy, living in a Nissen hut. Owen flew in Manchesters, Blenheims, and Bostons. He was then posted to Gibraltar, Sicily, then Morocco, and eventually Tunis, at a USAAF airfield. He recollects operations to the Salerno beach heads. In October 1943 his aircraft was struck by lightning: following electrical issues, they ditched at night-time. Badly injured, he was rescued by a fishing boat, then taken to hospital in Sicily. He had serious health consequences, including deteriorated eyesight. Owen was eventually repatriated and then discharged on medical grounds.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Graham Emmet
Julie Williams
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Gibraltar
Morocco
Tunisia
Tunisia--Tunis
Italy
Italy--Sicily
Italy--Salerno
North Africa
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-09
1943-10-01
Language
A language of the resource
eng
13 OTU
air gunner
aircrew
Blenheim
bombing
Boston
civil defence
crash
ditching
ground personnel
Home Guard
Manchester
military living conditions
Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy
Nissen hut
Operational Training Unit
RAF Bicester
RAF Castle Kennedy
training
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/667/38121/MAlgarHKM1801102-211028-05.2.jpg
5a100aa4e042b896dd10e65bb78c4080
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
Algar, Harry
Harold Keith Mael Algar
H K M Algar
Description
An account of the resource
Thirteen items. An oral history interview with Flight Lieutenant Harry Algar (1924 - 2022, 1801102 Royal Air Force) and his log books and documents.
He flew a tour of operations as a bomb aimer with 463 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Greg Algar 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
2017-05-20
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Algar, H
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
Invitation to a ball
Description
An account of the resource
Made out to Mrs H K M Algar for a ball at RAF West Freugh.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1959-02-13
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
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
Civilian
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 side printed card
Identifier
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MAlgarHKM1801102-211028-05
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
entertainment
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/667/38119/MAlgarHKM1801102-211028-03.2.jpg
c02ae65f078a2ce2b2796eb66a6c3fab
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
Algar, Harry
Harold Keith Mael Algar
H K M Algar
Description
An account of the resource
Thirteen items. An oral history interview with Flight Lieutenant Harry Algar (1924 - 2022, 1801102 Royal Air Force) and his log books and documents.
He flew a tour of operations as a bomb aimer with 463 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Greg Algar 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
2017-05-20
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
Algar, H
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
Invitation to cocktail party
Description
An account of the resource
Made out for Mrs H K M Algar.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1958-12-19
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
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
Civilian
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 side printed card
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MAlgarHKM1801102-211028-03
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/1825/33689/LBrennanJ1210913v1.2.pdf
d9ceb76ab3940a4bb6a504400f303a68
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
Brennan, Jack
John Brennan
J Brennan
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
2017-04-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Brennan, J
Description
An account of the resource
Twenty-four items.
The collection concerns Sergeant John Brennan DFM (1210913 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book as well as documents including a Goldfish Club certificate, notes from station and squadron operational record book with details of activities and operations, memoirs, newspaper cuttings and correspondence. In addition, contains operation order and other details for 617 Squadron's attack of German dams on 16/17 May 1943.
He flew operations as a wireless operator with 102 and 35 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by T Noble 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
J Brennan's observer's and air gunner's flying log book
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LBrennanJ1210913v1
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
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943-05-23
1943-05-24
1943-05-25
1943-05-26
1943-05-27
1943-05-28
1943-06-12
1943-06-13
1943-06-19
1943-06-20
1943-06-21
1943-06-22
1943-07-29
1943-07-30
1943-08-02
1943-08-03
1943-08-10
1943-08-11
1943-08-12
1943-08-13
1943-08-16
1943-08-17
1943-08-23
1943-08-24
1943-08-27
1943-08-28
1943-08-30
1943-08-31
1943-09-01
1944-05-08
1944-05-09
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
1944-05-28
1944-05-29
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1945
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Belgium--Haine-Saint-Pierre
Belgium--Hasselt
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Leicestershire
England--Worcestershire
England--Yorkshire
France--Dunkerque
France--Le Creusot
France--Paris Region
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Bochum
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Mönchengladbach
Germany--Nuremberg
Italy--Turin
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Description
An account of the resource
Observer's and Air Gunner's Flying log book for J Brennan, wireless operator / air gunner covering the period from 13 November 1942 to 16 November 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown, instructing and transport duties. He was stationed at RAF Honeybourne, RAF Rufforth, RAF Graveley, RAF Castle Donington and RAF Wymeswold. Aircraft flown in were Anson, Whitley, Halifax, Wellington and Dakota. He flew a total of 20 night time operations with 102 Squadron (surviving a ditching) and 35 Squadron. Targets were Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Essen, Bochum, Le Creusot, Kreffeld, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Turin, Berlin, Mönchengladbach, Haine St Pierre, Lens, Hasselt, Mardyck and Trappes. His pilots on operations were Flight Lieutenant Honey and Wing Commander Cribb.
102 Squadron
1663 HCU
24 OTU
28 OTU
35 Squadron
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
C-47
ditching
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Operational Training Unit
RAF Castle Donington
RAF Graveley
RAF Honeybourne
RAF Rufforth
RAF Wymeswold
training
Wellington
Whitley
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2324/45256/LBanksJF1578295v1.2.pdf
8a9519e5298c51d95489441454014056
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
Camlin, Alan Edwin
Description
An account of the resource
7 items. The collection concerns Alan Edwin Camlin DFM (196717 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, correspondence, documents, and objects. He flew operations as an air gunner with 7 Squadron.
The collection also contains John Francis Bank's log book and other papers. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 192 Squadron.
The collection was donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Janet Camlin and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-20
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
Camlin, AE
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
John Francis Bank's observer's and air gunner's flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
The observer's and air gunner's flying log book for Flight Lieutenant John Francis Banks, born I July 1922, (1578295 Royal Air Force) from 28 March 1943 to 9 April 1946. Detailing his training and operations flown. Served at 41 Air School South Africa, Advanced Flying Unit RAF Wigtown, 84 Operational Training Unit RAF Desborough, 192 Squadron RAF Foulsham, 221 Group and 47 Squadron South East Asia Air Force. Aircraft flown were Oxford, Anson, Wellington, Tiger Moth, Dakota, Expeditor and Mosquito. He carried out 40 operations, 32 night time and 8 day time as bomb aimer. All operations were flown in Wellington aircraft with Flying Officer Clarkson as pilot. The operations were to the coasts of Belgium, Denmark, France Germany and Netherlands, the Bay of Biscay and Western Approaches, Channel Islands, Brest, Calais, Cherbourg and the Frisian Islands.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-04-21
1944-03-22
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-02
1944-06-02
1944-06-03
1944-06-04
1944-06-05
1944-06-09
1944-06-10
1944-06-11
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-17
1944-06-18
1944-06-19
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-07-07
1944-07-08
1944-07-10
1944-07-11
1944-07-14
1944-07-15
1944-07-16
1944-07-17
1944-07-18
1944-07-19
1944-07-20
1944-07-21
1944-07-23
1944-07-24
1944-07-26
1944-07-27
1944-07-28
1944-07-29
1944-08-06
1944-08-08
1944-08-10
1944-08-12
1944-08-13
1944-08-25
1944-08-26
1944-08-27
1944-08-29
1944-08-30
1944-09-01
1944-09-05
1944-09-06
1944-09-09
1944-09-11
1944-09-13
1944-09-14
1944-09-15
1944-09-16
1944-09-17
1944-09-21
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Bangladesh
Bangladesh--Comilla
Belgium
Burma
Burma--Moʻ pī
Burma--Magwe
Burma--Meiktila
Burma--Rangoon
Burma--Toungoo
Europe--Frisian Islands
France
France--Brest
France--Calais
France--Cherbourg
Germany
Germany--Helgoland
Great Britain
England--Leicestershire
England--Norfolk
England--Northamptonshire
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Channel Islands
Malaysia
Malaysia--Butterworth (Pulau Pinang)
Netherlands
Singapore
South Africa
South Africa--East London
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LBanksJF1578295v1
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
Lynn Corrigan
192 Squadron
47 Squadron
84 OTU
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Anson
bomb aimer
C-47
Mosquito
navigator
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
RAF Desborough
RAF Foulsham
RAF Wigtown
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2254/41947/LHaileyKJ1449497v1.1.pdf
d84f6b06132cd9ce39cdd3cfb9662dd7
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
Hailey, Keith John
Description
An account of the resource
Six items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Keith John Hailey (b. 1921, 1449497Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator / air gunner with 433 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Sheila Mathison and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-08-30
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.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Hailey, KJ
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
Keith Hailey's Royal Air Force navigator’s, air bombers and air gunner’s flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
K J Hailey’s Wireless Operator’s Flying Log Book covering the period 6 May 1943 to 9 May 1945. Detailing his flying training and operations flown as Wireless Operator. He was stationed at RAF Yatesbury (2 Radio School), RAF Manby (Empire Air Armament School), RAF West Freugh (4 OAFU), RAF Honeybourne (24 OTU), RAF Topcliffe (1659 HCU), RAF Skipton-on-Swale (433 RCAF Squadron), RAF Warboys (PNTU), RAF Downham Market (635 Squadron) and RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Elgin (20 OTU). Aircraft flown in were Dominie, Anson, Whitley, Halifax, Lancaster and Wellington. He flew 32 night operations (two early returns) with 433 Squadron and 7 night and 7 day operations with 635 Squadron, a total of 46 (two early return). Targets were Berlin, mining, Stuttgart, Schweinfurt, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Essen, Nuremburg, Aulnoye, unspecified French targets, Ruhr unspecified, Dortmund, Boulogne, Dessau, Kassel, Wuppertal, Zwiebrucken, Nurnberg, Bremen,Bottrop, Osnabruck, Kiel, Potsdam and Berchtesgarten. His pilot on operations were Pilot Officer Smith, Flying Officer Eyolfson, Pilot Officer Watson and Squadron Leader Ashworth.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01-24
1944-02-03
1944-02-15
1944-02-20
1944-02-23
1944-03-13
1944-03-22
1944-03-24
1944-03-26
1944-03-30
1944-04-11
1944-04-20
1944-04-22
1944-04-24
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-05-01
1944-05-03
1944-05-08
1944-05-15
1944-05-20
1944-05-21
1944-05-31
1944-06-02
1944-06-03
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-09
1944-06-12
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-18
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Great Britain
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Huntingdonshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Wiltshire
England--Worcestershire
England--Yorkshire
France--Aulnoye-Aymeries
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Germany--Berchtesgaden
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Bottrop
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Dessau (Dessau)
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Potsdam
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Wuppertal
Germany--Zweibrücken
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Scotland--Moray
Germany
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LHaileyKJ1449497v1
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
Terry Hancock
Trevor Hardcastle
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
1659 HCU
20 OTU
24 OTU
433 Squadron
635 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
bombing
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944)
Dominie
Halifax
Halifax Mk 3
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
mine laying
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
Proctor
RAF Downham Market
RAF Honeybourne
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Manby
RAF Skipton on Swale
RAF Topcliffe
RAF Warboys
RAF West Freugh
RAF Yatesbury
training
Wellington
Whitley
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1564/43462/LCurtisA1579599v1.2.pdf
c5064b0ec6a041bfe12c4be8fcc84cff
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
Curtis, A
Curtis, Len
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-11-30
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
Curtis, A
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. The collection concerns "Len" Curtis (1579599 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and a manuscript. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 106, 630 and 617 Squadrons.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Cary Curtis and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
Len Curtis' Flying Log Book
Description
An account of the resource
Len Curtis' Flying Log Book as Air Bomber from July 1942 until 5 August 1944 when he was reported as missing in action. Started at 15 EFTS then 10 AFU. 29 OTU, 1660 CU. Posted to 106, 630 and 617 Squadrons for operations.
Served at RAF Dumfries, RAF North Luffenham, RAF Swinderby, RAF Syerston, RAF East Kirkby, RAF Woodhall Spa. Aircraft flown were Tiger Moth, Anson, Botha, Wellington, Lancaster. Carried out a total of 39 operations. One night propaganda leaflet drop with 29 OTU, 11 night operations with 106 Squadron, 11 night operations with 630 Squadron, 9 day and 7 night operations with 617 Squadron. Targets included Paris, Berlin, Nuremberg, München Gladbach, Munich, Kassel, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hannover, Dusseldorf, Toulouse, Saumur Tunnel, Le Havre, Boulogne, Watten, St Omer, Wizernes, Rilly la Montagne, Siracourt, Etaples, Brest. His pilot on operations was Flying Officer Cheney.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Rutland
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Mönchengladbach
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Stuttgart
France
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Brest
France--Etaples
France--Le Havre
France--Marne
France--Paris
France--Saumur
France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)
France--Siracourt
France--Toulouse
France--Watten
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
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
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
LCurtisA1579599v1
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-07-01
1943-07-02
1943-08-23
1943-08-24
1943-08-27
1943-08-28
1943-08-30
1943-08-31
1943-09-03
1943-09-04
1943-09-06
1943-09-07
1943-10-03
1943-10-04
1943-10-05
1943-10-07
1943-10-08
1943-10-18
1943-10-19
1943-10-22
1943-10-23
1943-11-04
1943-11-05
1943-11-23
1943-11-24
1943-11-26
1943-11-27
1943-12-02
1943-12-03
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-20
1943-12-21
1943-12-24
1943-12-25
1943-12-29
1943-12-30
1944-01-01
1944-01-02
1944-01-03
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-28
1944-01-29
1944-04-05
1944-04-06
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-19
1944-06-22
1944-06-24
1944-07-17
1944-07-20
1944-07-21
1944-07-25
1944-07-31
1944-08-01
1944-08-04
1944-08-05
1944-08-06
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Nick Cornwell-Smith
106 Squadron
1660 HCU
29 OTU
617 Squadron
630 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Anson
bomb aimer
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
bombing of the Watten V-2 site (19 June 1944)
bombing of the Wizernes V-2 site (20, 22, 24 June 1944)
bombing of Toulouse (5/6 April 1944)
Botha
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Manchester
missing in action
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Normandy deception operations (5/6 June 1944)
Operational Training Unit
RAF Dumfries
RAF East Kirkby
RAF North Luffenham
RAF Swinderby
RAF Syerston
RAF Woodhall Spa
Tallboy
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/109/2425/LGreenLC1318527v.1.pdf
b5e686d98ddbb0320085b55c6d541553
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
Green, Leonard
Len Green
L C Green
Description
An account of the resource
Twelve items. The collection relates to the service of Warrant Officer Leonard C Green (1318527 Royal Air Force) and consists of his log book, correspondence, a newspaper cuttings, four photographs and a foreign languages phrase book. Leonard Green flew Lancasters with 50 and 61 Squadrons from RAF Skellingthorpe and completed 19 daylight and night time operations.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mark Boother and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-06-01
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Green, LC
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
Leonard Green’s navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
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
LGreenLC1318527v1
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Description
An account of the resource
Navigator's air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book for Flight Sergeant Leonard Green, wireless operator, covering the period from 15 December 1942 to 20 January 1946. He was stationed at RAF Manby, RAF Wigtown, RAF Bitteswell, RAF Bruntingthorpe, RAF Swinderby, RAF Syerston, RAF Skellingthorpe and RAF Coningsby. Aircraft flown in were, Dominie, Proctor, Anson, Wellington, Manchester and Lancaster. He flew a total of 23 operations, 13 night with 50 Squadron and 3 day and 7 night with 61 Squadron. He also flew operations Exodus with 61 Squadron and Dodge to Bari, Italy with 83 Squadron. Targets were, Hannover, Dusseldorf, Modane, Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Bohlen, Gravenhorst, Dortmund-Emms Canal, Lutzkendorf, Wurzburg, Bremen, Wesel, Nordhausen and Molbis. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Lundy and Flight Lieutenant Phillips. The log book also contains many newspaper clippings relating to the targets attacked, aircraft flown in and events of the war and post war. It also contains pictures of the crew positions of Navigator, Bomb Aimer and Wireless Operator.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Scotland
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
France--Modane
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Würzburg
Italy--Bari
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Germany--Böhlen
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia)
France
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1943-10-18
1943-11-03
1943-11-10
1943-11-11
1943-11-18
1943-11-19
1943-11-22
1943-11-26
1943-11-27
1943-12-02
1943-12-03
1943-12-20
1943-12-21
1943-12-29
1943-12-30
1944-01-02
1944-01-03
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1945-02-19
1945-02-20
1945-02-21
1945-02-24
1945-03-14
1945-03-15
1945-03-16
1945-03-17
1945-03-22
1945-03-23
1945-04-04
1945-04-05
1945-04-06
1945-04-08
1945-04-09
1945-04-26
1945-05-06
1945-05-12
1945-05-14
1945-07-17
1945-09-09
1945-10-16
1945-10-20
1945-12-14
1945-12-20
1660 HCU
29 OTU
50 Squadron
61 Squadron
83 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Anson
bombing
bombing up
Cook’s tour
Dominie
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
Manchester
military service conditions
Operation Dodge (1945)
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operational Training Unit
perception of bombing war
Proctor
RAF Bitteswell
RAF Bruntingthorpe
RAF Coningsby
RAF Manby
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Swinderby
RAF Syerston
RAF Wigtown
training
Wellington
wireless operator
-
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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
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The [one indecipherable word] Holiday (or [one indecipherable word] [underlined] Camp [/underlined]
[underlined] Sunday 20 [/underlined]
Dear All.
Leave for next Sat confirmed but its only a glorified weekend as I have to leave again on Thursday morning to be back here for Friday. It looks as if we’ll be going straight to O.T.U. – possibly on the Friday night. Rather disappointed about this leave as I was hoping that we’d be passed out here, sent on indefinite leave & then posted from here to O.T.U. This is what we were given to understand & I was going to give you such a surprise by turning up as a Sergeant with tapes & brevy[?] up. However it wasn’t so bad for me as for some of the others as I hadn’t got tapes & brevy[?] stitched on my best blue or greatcoat. I bought them
[page break]
yesterday tho.[sic] & you should have seen us comparing brevys[?] & tapes last night!! It was going to be so grand coming home for indefinite leave (& all my kit) as a Sergeant but the RAF always seems to dash our fancies. I ought to be grateful for 4 days (+ 2 travelling). I am but I don’t fancy the idea of returning to The Freugh[?]. Hope we’ll not be here long & hope O.T.U. is nearer home. Most of them are in Scotland or S. England around London & thereabouts tho’ there’s one not so far from Grantham.
Let Dave know if you see him, that if he sees me it’ll still be as a humble L.A.C. as I’d informed him of the great secret that I’d be
[page break]
Sergeant Akrill [deleted one or two letters] on my next leave & was planning a surprise for you. So have my civvies aired, please, as I’m determined not to be seen with props any more!!! All very exciting this passing out & as we’re as good as & all but Sgts. It’s annoying we can’t appear as one on leave! Exams this week, but we’re so fed up we just refuse to do anything else!
I did a drawing of the officer [deleted] two indecipherable words [/deleted] in charge of our Course & the other instructors are getting it photographed & reprinted – one for each of us & others to distribute round the camp. It’s no too complimentary so I hope he doesn’t see it till I’ve gone!
[page break]
Think I [underlined] may [/underlined] be sending my bike home this week as I may not have time to send it to O.T.U. before posting. I’ll see.
See you on Sat – 12.30 I expect, may be a bit earlier.
Be very hungry[?].
Love Bill
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to family
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes about his forthcoming leave (shorter than he hoped) and how he will have to return to Scotland before being posted to the Operational Training Unit. Was hoping to arrive home with his Sergeant's stripes and brevets on his greatcoat and uniform (as a surprise) but that hasn't been possible. Hoping that the next posting is nearer home. Mentions a drawing he made of the officer in charge of their course which is being copied - hopes the officer doesn't see it before Bill leaves.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Fam]XXXX20
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military service conditions
Operational Training Unit
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20,
No 4. A.O.S,
West Freugh,
Stranraer
Scotland
Sat 24.5.42.
Dear Auntie,
Very many thanks for writing. Your letter got to Eastbourne just after I had left and was sent on here.
I had fully expected being sent to Canada or Rhodesia but with the summer coming on training in this country has started again and I was rather disappointed at not being able to see the world. However its satisfying to know that mum will be more pleased and home training is far superior to any other.
I had grown to like Eastbourne – it was such a happy, friendly town that has stood up so bravely to the drastic circumstances brought
[page break]
about by the war-time loss of its life and trade. It has also stood boldly at the front facing the spiteful attacks of the Nazis. I made grand friends and aquaintances [sic] in the town.
West Freugh is a vast change and I’m now experiencing real service life. It’s a longish camp in a rather desolate spot near the coast at the head of Luce Bay. Stranraer, our nearest link with the outside world is 7 miles away, a small, seemingly hostile little town on Loch Ryan. But I shall like it well enough for I’ll be busy most of my time
I’m now on the hardest & most interesting training – really learning to be a navigator. So far it’s not been as exciting flying in large bombers as “passenger” as it was piloting a tiny training plane but once I get down to the difficult work it will be exciting enough finding my way about! We fly over difficult country, hills, lakes, seas, islands, & the wild
[page break]
looking mountains. I shall be here for a good many months.
Pleased to hear about Nellie’s young fellow. Our Mickey’s doing fine. I do hope you’ll see him soon. I’m going to miss a lot not being able to see him again for months. He’ll have grown beyond recognition I’m thinking.
Yes Irene’s a grand lass, I’m glad you like her. She’s got a simple, unspoiled nature that takes a lot of finding. We’re the very best of pals.
I hope you’ll still be able to get to Potter Hill this year. The dear old place must look perfect at this time of the year. I wish I had a chance of getting there soon!
All the best regards to the Ts
Billy
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his aunt
Description
An account of the resource
Bill mentions that he was disappointed not to go overseas for training but that his mother would be pleased he is staying for home training. Writes of enjoying Eastbourne but is now at new completely different type of location at West Freugh. Mentions navigator training and catches up with news of family and friends.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-05-24
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420524
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20. A.T.W.,
R.A.F. Station,
W. Freugh
Stranraer.
Scotland.
Sat. 8.8.42.
Dear Auntie,
I’m afraid you’ll be thinking that I’ve more or less disappeared from the civilized world! I [underlined] am [/underlined] pretty far out and I don’t seem to get many letters written other than to home and David, who is now in the Navy. But be sure I’m often thinking about you and mother keeps me in touch with news of you all.
You must forgive me for not having been over during my not very frequent leaves but I feel that I simply [underlined] can’t [/underlined] leave dear old Potter Hill for a minute longer than neccessary. [sic] However, one of these days you’ll be having me turn up. Now [underlined] you [/underlined] should
[page break]
have gone over to Potter Hill for a fortnight or so & then I might have seen you.
I did enjoy my last leave, though it was over very quickly and such a lot of it was taken up with rushing to see people who lived near enough to expect a visit – or more! They were all very very [sic] good but next time I think I’ll put a notice in the paper when I shall be giving interviews [underlined] at home [/underlined]!
Everything was going on much as usual at home and yet it’s so obvious even there that there is still a war on. The aerodrome has crept nearer and monster bombers are for ever roaring over head. How I hate to think of them being there and its my dearest wish that the entire bag of tricks disappears to give way to farms and fields and woods again after this war. However I wasn’t alone having a flip in one of them whilst on leave. It
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
wasn't much of a change from work but it was interesting to have a look down at familiar places. Harry’s getting better very slowly. Its been a rotten time for the old lad. Ros has been having her teeth out and I think he’ll be better when he can get his out. The youngest member of the family, however is doing fine. Never has there been such a sturdy brown boy. He’s as good as gold but full of life.
The garden was looking splendid. Mary has certainly put some work into it. I’d some very good feeds of [deleted] straw [/deleted] raspberries and cream and other things from it. I did enjoy eating at home. I miss the good food I’ve always been used to more than anything. But they [underlined] were [/underlined] good at home – obviously been [deleted] scaping [/deleted] scheming and saving for weeks to get something simply delicious for every meal. It made me feel like weeping sometimes when I looked at the good things they’d got ready for me. Camp food has
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
improved during the last week but at one time I was living on enough to keep a mouse alive. Mum sends me a parcel once a fortnight or oftener and mighty welcome it is!
Mary said that you know or have known our new minister. I’m looking forward to meeting him though I’m afraid my general attitude will be that he can never take the place of his predecessor. Mr. Goodridge has been the finest, most understanding friend. It’s to him I owe the fact that I am a Christian and a member of our church. It’s an enormous disappointment to all of us that he’s going. He is to be super in the Gainsboro’ Circuit so he’ll not be so very far away. So I shall be very interested to meet our new minister.
Life goes on here without much change Classroom work alternating with practical application in the air. I’ve now
[page break]
well over a hundred flying hours in. We have some interesting trips all over the Northerly parts of England, Wales & Ireland as well as Scotland. We are now taking the Bombing course and I’m finding it very interesting. We have still a good time to go before training is finished I hope to be having another week’s leave following the 18th September
On August 24th our Sunday evening service is taking the form of a community singing and is being broadcast at 7.30. p.m.
We are holding a “rehearsal” next Sunday So listen in if you can! I expect it will be on the Force’s programme.
Please give my best regards to all next door. I hope to see you [underlined] one [/underlined] of these days
[underlined] Billy [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his aunt
Description
An account of the resource
Catches up with news and apologises for not visiting while on leave.
Bill says he enjoyed his last leave, although he mentions that the nearby aerodrome is expanding and aircraft going overhead. He did, however, managed to get a trip in an aircraft over his local area. He continues with more home news, especially commenting on the way his family clearly worked hard to give him the best possible things to eat when he was on leave. Writes that camp food has improved in the last week, but his mother's food parcels are very welcome.
Discusses a new church minister at home, who Bill is yet to meet. Remarks that previous minister was very influential in Bill's christian conversion and church membership. Catches up with course progress and describes some trips briefly. Notes that the church at the station is having a community singing evening and it will be broadcast on the radio.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-08
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420808
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
1942-08
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
faith
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Swinderby
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The Dear old Freugh
(for the last time)
[underlined] Monday [/underlined]
Dear Mum,
Thought id drop you a line before leaving here then you’ll have some idea what’s happening. We got to Stranraer Harbour at about 5 this am. & waited in the usual rain for the first bus at 7.40
Learned that we were being posted tonight & we had a choice of stations and duties – near Leighton Buzzard as Navigator or to near Oxford as either Bomb Aimer or Navigator. I wanted Nav-B. Aimer combined but of the 2 I chose Navigator at Upper Heyford just south of Oxford. [deleted] All [/deleted] Most of my best pals are going there either as B.A.s or Navs.
[page break]
Sorry I shan’t have the long waited for pleasure of dropping bombs but I’d made up my mind to do the harder job of Nav if possible.
So it looks as if I’ll be on heavy stuff – Lancasters and the like. May be taking the roofs off Collingham soon! Of course [underlined] this is not supposed to be public knowledge [/underlined] – I’m just a Sgt. Observer somewhere near Oxford.
All having a terrible job packing. Passing out this afternoon. Got letter O.K. but Pyjamas have not turned up! As a final farewell it’s just pouring with rain. Scots mist & all that and the food is terrible — good old West Freugh!!
[page break]
[underlined] Later [/underlined]
Now passed out. Sergeant Observer . Chaos everywhere at the moment. Trying to get this off but have no stamp. Write as soon as I get to Upper Heyford. 160-TO
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Last letter before leaving West Freugh. Writes about potential choice next courses as navigator or bomb aimer. Chooses navigator course at Upper Heyford. Considered navigator as harder job. Catches up with news and writes in pencil at the end that he has now passed out as sergeant observer.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo][Date]-06
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jan Morgan
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
bomb aimer
military living conditions
navigator
observer
RAF Upper Heyford
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. AKRILL
Hut 20. A.T.W.,
R.A.F. Station,
[deleted] Tue [/deleted] West Freugh,
AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY STRANRAER
MONDAY 1942 Scotland.
Dear Mum,
No end pleased to get your letter on Sat. Thought you seemed so worried over my bit of a sting I’d better let you know that it’s quite O.K. Forgot to mention it when I wrote last. All that’s left is a scar where the blister formed. I thought the other hand was going to follow suit when a thundering great bot-fly bit it & it swelled for a day. I think my blood must be turning sour to let such little things affect me!
Hope your [sic] not having too terrible a time with Mrs. H. going frantic & with the Terrible Infant. I suppose you wouldn’t mind having him alone.
Expect Mary will be camping this week. Is Nip with her as well? Hope the weather’s more settled though
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
I have my doubts. Hope you can get the 16 acre alright anyway.
Some very good news about [underlined] food [underlined]. As from yesterday morning the cadets get a mess of their own - a part of the Corporal’s Mess in fact. Afraid it may do something towards creating ill-feeling among the Ground Staff, but Air Crew does [sic] need a special diet. Yesterday for the first time here I had 3 [underlined] good [/underlined] meals. Breakfast - cornflakes, scrambled eggs (real) & beautifully cooked bacon, bread & butter, plenty of marmalade & buiscuits. [sic]. [deleted] The [/deleted] Dinner - Roast beef. New potatoes done beautifully in mint & some delicious green peas. Sultana roll & sauce. Those potatoes & peas were a treat. Tea - salad, - with tomatoe [sic] radishes & onions, cake b & b & jam. Well I ask for nothing better than that. Today breakfast was more on the old standards but dinner & tea were fine. Whats more the place is
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
kept quite clean, with white oilcloth table cloths, sweet bread, & little pots of jam. The Waafs are clean too. I still can’t believe it’s true & [underlined] can’t [/underlined] believe it will last. I’ve even sat down to eat with an appetite & got up feeling full & satisfied. Up to yesterday I’d eaten about enough to keep a mouse alive since getting back.
We had an interesting trip the other day up to a lovely wee town among the pine forests of the Highlands not far from Aberdeen. We passed close by Glasgow, Edinboro’ & Dundee & had a magnificent view of the Tay & Forth Bridges. We are night flying tonight - worse luck.
Must tell you this. Listen in a fortnight next Sunday night 24 [underlined] th [/underlined] August. Our weekly service in the Scotch Hut is being broadcast. I don’t know quite what time it will
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
be. We normally hold it at 8 o’clock but I suppose it will have to fall in with B.B.C. programmes. I think the Padre will be very good. The [inserted] Camp [/inserted] Male Voice Choir & some Waafs will sit in the front to do the singing but I hope to be there as usual unless flying or lectures keep me back. So look out for announcement for a “Service from an Air Force Camp somewhere in Scotland” Possibly it’s the usual “ Sunday Half Hour” on the force’s at 7.30. every Sunday when they have community Hymn Singing. I was late for the Service last night & didn’t quite get all the gen.
Well there’s not much to tell you. Be seeing you 6 weeks on Saturday. Not long really for there’s tons of work to be done & it will soon pass - for me anyway. Think David was home last week end. Hope Ros’s teeth are not bothering her. Love [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of insect bite and catches up with family news.
Excited that cadets now have own mess and, although not popular with the ground crew, aircrew need a special diet. Food is now much better and describes meals. Writes of flight up to near Aberdeen and about their weekly service in the 'Scotch Hut' which was to be broadcast on the BBC.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christain
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill{Mo}4208XX
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
faith
ground personnel
mess
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill
Hut 14,
No 4. A.O.S., R.A.F
West Freugh,
Stranraer,
Wigtownshire,
Scotland.
Friday 15.5.42
Dear Mum,
Well, I’m afraid you’ve seen the last of me for some time. I’ve not gone overseas but I think I’ve found the most desolate spot in these Islands! I’ve not seen much of the camp yet. It seems to be situated in the middle of bare bogs & moors – with no other sign of habitation. Stranraer, which seems to be a bit bigger than Collingham is the nearest link with civilisation & is about a dozen miles away. Nobody can give us the slightest idea about how long we’ll
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
be here – months anyway - & no leave!! Gosh the mere sight of a civillian [sic] will be a treat! What a difference there is between this & all my previous stations – posh hotels, fashionable seaside resorts, country mansions – and now dumped in a wooden hut with the barest essentials in the middle of a swamp!! Ah well I’ve had the smooth & I guess I can take the rough. Food doesn’t seem too bad anyway – its not good & thinks [sic] ain’t very clean, but there’ll be no going out and getting the good feeds I was used to do when food got bad at Eastb. Its pouring with rain at the moment so things look even worse! I think we fly in Blackburn Bothas and Ansons but there are Defiants, Lysanders & a few others too. Most of our flying will be over the Irish Sea.
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined].
We had a rather tiring journey – left Eastb at 5.30 p.m. got to Vic, changed to Euston, left there at 9.30. for Glascow. [sic] Got into Glascow [sic] at 7.20, left again at 9.30 & got to Stranraer, Changed to a Raf bus & finally got into camp just before 1 o’clock. It seems crazy having to go right up to Glascow [sic] & then come South again.
Had a few spare mins. in London so walked through Russel Sq. to the YMCA canteen. Had a pleasant surprise coming back & bumped into an old aquaintance [sic] of the Clevedon Hotel – Mary Newborne & her sister. It was grand seeing her again – she still lives there – but I had to hurry to catch train – nearly made 2 others late as it was.
I never expected a home posting. Of course the weather’s getting better now so there will be more training
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
done in this country. I was [deleted] hoping [/deleted] looking forward to overseas though the training in Canada is very insufficient & if you go to Rhodesia you stay in the East for O.T.U. and Ops. A pity Denny isn’t with me. He was one in a million & wants to stay in this country.
Thank you for your letters & Ros too. The £1 won’t be much use now! Have some money to send home out of the way. Hope Harry’s alright after his accident. What luck he’s having. Tell him to go steady or he’ll be [underlined] all [/underlined] bandage. Glad to hear Mickey’s still doing fine.
Will write more later – feel like some sleep.
All the best of love
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[inserted] P.S. Joyce Blow has to come to Stranraer to get home. It’s the Irish Embkn. Post these days. [/inserted]
[inserted] P.P.S. Left Eastb. with farewell visit from Jerry. Crashing naval guns &c. Quite a Hell’s Corner! No war here anyway. [/inserted]
[page break]
PS. I want to get my bike up here if I can so do you think you could see if you can find a lock & chain for it. Perhaps Brewster or Bales would have one. Its not safe to have it here without one. Pity its no light either. If you can get hold of a chain & lock it would be very useful if you could send it to Stranraer station, though it’s a long journey. Let me know if you have any ideas about it. A bike’s about the only way of getting out of camp & a ride round the moors now & then would be a change & keep me from going completely mad. I could [deleted] then [/deleted] get into Stranraer as well then.
Love
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill describes his new location in Scotland as a desolate place, comparing it unfavourably with his previous stations: 'posh hotels, fashionable seaside resorts, country mansions'. Stranraer is about 12 miles away. Mentions that there are Ansons, Blackburn Bothas, Defiants and Lysanders present and that most of the flying will be over the Irish Sea.
Describes journey to Scotland and few spare minutes in London. Bill remains disappointed at not going overseas. Catches up with home news and asks in a PS if they can get a lock for his bike, which he wants to get to West Freugh as it will be the only way to get about and into Stranraer.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-05-15
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420515
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Atlantic Ocean--Irish Sea
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
Anson
Botha
Defiant
Lysander
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20,
No 4 A.O.S.,
West Freugh,
Stranraer,
Wigtownshire,
Scotland.
Thursday 21.5.42.
Dear Mum,
I was ever so glad to get your letter just now. I thought I’d wait until I got one before I wrote again.
This place doesn’t seem so bad. I shall get used to it & be as happy here as I have been anywhere else – the work should be interesting enough anyway As you say there’s the summer before me. No there’s [underlined] no [/underlined] chance of any more than 7 days at some distant date [deleted] w [/deleted] I’ve been doing too well before – wooden huts will be good for me. Yes I managed to grab my kit. You can try sending eats anyway. Don’t see that it will be more dangerous over the sea than the land. The hills are most dangerous. Yes the pilots are really good and have to be steady.
Be glad if you could get my bike here, it would make all the difference. I think I shall risk it if you can get a chain & lock. There seem to be some good rides around here. The countryside’s rather interesting when you get out of the bog. Slightly hilly with occasional white farmhouses.
[page break]
big herds of Ayrshire cattle & hill sheep. Crops principally acres of late potatoes. Some fine Clydesdale horses.
I’ve been into Stranraer. Dismal sort of place where we could get nothing at all to eat. Still it’s a change. We shall be all the more pleased to get home.
I’ve been up but can’t say I enjoyed it as I used to do as pilot of a Tiger Moth. Bothas are biggish converted bombers and its not very exciting as a passenger but it will be better when we get on to navigating. We’re map-reading at the moment. Later we bomb small islands in Luce Bay. At the moment we’re concentrating on the Gunnery Couse. Spent this morning in gunturrets with a spotlight trainer. It was very interesting but it seems a bit too much when [deleted] you [/deleted] we have to do the Air Gunners course as well!
Pool old Mary. Hope she’ll soon have finished. Tell her to take half an hour off from gardening somenight [sic] to write. I don’t think I’ve had a letter since I left Theale. Nip hasn’t written lately either. I know you don’t get much time these days.
Wish I could see the garden – lilies and all. Glad you’ve had some warm showers. Guess the chestnuts & trees and birds and Potter Hill in general are fine now. One day – at the end of the course perhaps in September when you’re harvesting, I may fly over to have a look at you. Our longest trip is to Lincoln and Northallerton.
[page break]
You seem to have got Spring cleaning fever. Well, well so you’ve got a new carpet [deleted] at last [/deleted] after all.
Pleased Mickey’ doing so well. I shan’t know him when I see him again.
Got Annie’s letter today – all about Irene & Nellie’s baby. Believe Eastb’s had more raids. Not heard from the folk there yet.
Wish you could have been here last night. Had a whole Scots Band – bagpipes, fifes drums &c playing in the middle of the bogs all night until after I’d gone to bed. Don’t know where they’d come from.
Love to all [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
P.S. Note change of Hut. Now slepping [sic] in bunks! Reminds me of the Caravan. Remember me to Miss Witham
[drawing of men in bunk beds]
Revellie 6.30.
[page break]
[drawing of men at desks]
GUNNERY LECTURES
I’LL BE POPPING OVER TO HAVE A LOOK AT YOU ONE OF THESE DAYS.
[drawing of pilot flying over farmyard]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes that he is happier with location and work will be interesting. Little chance of long leaves. Would like to get his bike up there, so he can go on 'good rides' around the local countryside. Mentions Stranraer as a 'dismal sort of place'. Writes he has flown in Bothas but it is different to past experience in Tiger Moths. Says they are map reading but will bomb later on. Currently concentrating on air gunnery. Catches up with news of family and friends. Mentions whole Scots band playing.
Concludes with three cartoons. First of 'Reveille 6.30', getting out of his bunk bed; second of students at desks entitled 'Gunnery Lectures'. Third cartoon shows farm scenes with people animals and buildings with aircraft flying overhead with figure looking out. Entitled 'I'll be popping over to have a look at you one of these days'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-05-21
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter, including three cartoons
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Artwork
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420521
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
air gunner
aircrew
arts and crafts
bomb aimer
Botha
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
RAF West Freugh
Tiger Moth
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
R.A.F. Station,
W. Freugh.
13.6.42.
Dear Mum,
Ever so many thanks for the parcel just received. Its jolly good of you to send one 2 weeks in succession. I’m just about used to this food now & seem to thrive on it alright. I suppose its just “faddiness” but its really terrible stuff they have the cheek to dish up day after day, week after week. Still you don’t mind it after a time. Please thank Auntie for the cake.
Sorry about Mrs. Bains. Its very hard for poor Miss Bush.
Yes the summer seems to have gone again. It [underlined] was [/underlined] hot while it lasted. May get some more though as there are a lot of anti-cyclones about. The last one just missed us.
Been living like a fox for this last week, out all night & sleeping from dawn to noon. Prefer sleep at night but I suppose I shall have to work principally at night. The other day the pilot let me fly the [deleted] pla [/deleted] kite from Holyhead in Wales to the Mull of Galloway. It wasn’t as exciting as the Tiger Moth!
Must finish this or I’ll miss the bus to Stranraer. I am going to the station
[page break]
to see if my bike has got there. It should have by now.
Poor old Dave seems to be roped in at last! He’ll be glad though.
Love & Happy Birthday
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Thanks her for parcel with food. Complains about food and mentions passing of summer. Mentions doing night flying and sleeping all day and that he was allowed to fly on trip from Holyhead to Mull of Galloway, not as much fun as Tiger Moth. Says he is going to station to see if his bicycle has arrived.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-06-13
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420613
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-06
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
RAF West Freugh
Tiger Moth
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20,
R.A.F. Station,
The Freugh,
nr. Stranraer,
Scotland.
Mon. 15.6.42.
Dear Mum,
Thought I’d best let you know that my good old Lizzie [deleted] g [/deleted] was waiting for me at the station at Stranraer. She’d not suffered at all for all the long journey. Had a lovely ride on Saturday night until it came on wet & I had to pedal hard for base & had to change tunic & pants when I got back. Found the key & chained her firmly in the shed so I think she’ll be O.K. One of the lads had his tyres & inners lifted but I don’t think they’ll get at mine very well. I’ll get a pump &c when I go to Stranraer & borrow in the meantime.
Its quite a good district for biking in
[page break]
I like the country very much & wouldn’t mind living here at all though its never very warm. They go in chiefly for dairying & there really are some beautiful herds of Ayrshires. They’re a treat to see. Wish Daddy could have a look round here. Where the lands good & well farmed it’s a rich ley (I think they work on that system) Of course a lot of the land’s poor & weedy. [deleted] The [/deleted] & corn’s poorish. Nice few spuds. Farm howses, [sic] cottages & buildings [deleted] Base [/deleted] look strongly built – squat & square & whitewashed. Think Mary & Nip should come camping here – prepared for wind cold & rain though.
Just back from a trip over the Western Islands of Scotland. The scenery there’s lovely – just a maze of rugged, wooded islands and lakes. Came back over N. Ireland. It would be [deleted] bo [/deleted] grand to have a boat & spend a camping holiday there.
Yesterday we had a bit of fun with
[page break]
a Lysander (you remember them don’t you mum) We took a gun-turret on to the Sand-dunes and fitted in place of machine guns a cine-camera gun. The Lizzie made diving attacks on us & we took it in turns in the turret to “fire” on it. We each took a film of the result & they will be able to tell when the moving picture is shown on the [deleted] sceen [/deleted] [inserted] screen [/inserted] what sort of an air gunner we are
We have the Air gunnery exams tomorrow.
There is a rumour going round that we are only on an 11 week’s course but we can get nothing official. It may be true as we are rushing flying hours in & have done nearly 30 of the 100 already. Now we’re flying at all times of the day & night & should get through it in no time.
We’ve really got down to work in the air now. Think I just want practise & to grow accustomed to working things out in the air. It has surprised me how reliable my calculations can be.
If the rumour about 11 weeks is true
[page break]
it means no leave in sight for we should go straight to O.T.U. from here.
Well we shall see what happens!
Please thank Ros [deleted] f [/deleted] and Harry for letters.
Love
Bill
P.S. Enclosed 10/-. You’ll want some for carriage on bike, parcels &c.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Writes that his bicycle has arrived and has a good ride and it is now locked it up. Describes in some detail the local countryside and type of farming. Mentions flying to Western Isles and Ireland and had fun with Lysander used as gunnery target. Gunnery exam coming up. Speculates on length of course - may have no leave before going to the Operational Training Unit.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-06-15
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420615
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Scotland--Western Isles
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-06
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
air gunner
aircrew
Lysander
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20,
R.A.F. Station,
West Freugh,
nr. STRANRAER,
Scotland.
Friday. 19.6.42.
Dear Mum,
Found your letter waiting when I got back from N. Ireland & the Isle of Man. (feeling in a bad mood & fed up with the pilot who wouldn’t – or couldn’t – maintain correct courses heights and speeds.) Most of the boys are flying tonight & will have to spend half their day off in bed but luckily I escaped that. I’ve got about 40 hour’s flying in now + 17 more at E.F.T.S. We’re now really “navigating” – when the pilot will play though most are O.K. Next week we do some reconnaisance [sic] flights and have to do some aerial photography. There seems no limit to the jobs we have to do but its
[page break]
all very interesting. Saw the films of the Lysander the other day. No I don’t think it’s very risky letting me fly – I’m surely not as dangerous as all that – I want to be a good pilot as well if I can.
Glad David came to see you before he went. I’ve been looking out very anxiously for a letter but not yet got one. I do hope he likes it & fits into the life alright. I know he’s dead keen but things seem very different when you get into the services & get messed about. Still if I’m O.K. & happy he should [deleted] be O.K. [/deleted] get on alright.
Poor old Bob. I was sorry to hear about him. He was a nice old dog. Wish we had one of Bess’s pups now she’s getting on. I like the snap with mum & her on. Good job Tommy recovered.
Wonder if Annie will be coming back with you tomorrow. Hope you don’t upset Michael dragging him off to Metheringham
[page break]
You’ll be busy with the singling. I’m wanting to find some deserving case & go & do a bit in my spare time when I’m not flying at nights. They’ve started cutting seeds here. Don’t like to think I’m doing nothing for an hour or two when I should enjoy doing a bit. Trouble is I don’t know [deleted] ab [/deleted] anybody.
My bike’s going fine. Had 2 grand spins at nights. The scenery’s really lovely but the hills take some pushing up. Still what goes up must come down! All the streams have steep banks covered with trees & thick with ferns, foxgloves, bluebells & masses of flowers. The wild “rockeries” on the sea shore are a picture at this time of the year. I’d give anything to move one bodily to Potter Hill. The wild plants growing here beat anything cultivated. I got into some desolate parts last night & got home pretty late as well as tired & hungry. Chief trouble with having
[page break]
a bike is people wanting to borrow it. There’s a certain pilot found out about mine & comes in as regular as clockwork just to see if I’m using it. Don’t mind lending it now & then when it’s needed but its usually a case of “Sorry Sarge.” Hope to have a good ride round tomorrow but must get hold of some oil first.
Will get off to the Scotch Hut for cup of tea & couple of buns & get parcel of washing [deleted] off [/deleted] made up. Can’t change vest as you didn’t send clean one back. Believe I said I had enclosed 10/- in last letter but didn’t do it. Now enclosing £4. P’raps you’d look after it or get some certs from Mrs. Taylor. I seem to be giving you all my financial affairs to deal with. As long as they keep right way!
[underlined] Love Bill [/underlined]
P.S. Am sending collars as the laundry here has made them so shrunk they nearly choke me. Don’t suppose you can “unshrink” them!
[page break]
[underlined] Sat P.S. [/underlined] Sending home my watch which konked after its first trip upstairs. Luckily I’ve got an issue watch. Also sending a book I bought so it will be out of the way. Not heard from David. Been wondering about him all the week.
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill describes how his flying hours are going and (they are really 'navigating' most of the time, if the pilot co-operates) how they will be going on to reconnaissance flights and aerial photography next. Reassures his mother that it is safe for him to fly as a pilot.
Describes what the local farmers are working on presently and would really like to help them, but he has not got to know anyone yet. Has managed to do quite a lot of bicycle rides around the area. Also describes the local wild flowers and wild 'rockeries' on the seashore, which he would like to take home with him.
Problem with having a bicycle with him is that everyone wants to borrow it. Doesn't mind this occasionally, but if asked too often can be a bit awkward having to refuse.
Discusses washing and sending money etc home.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-06-19
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five page handwritten letter
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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420619
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-06
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. AKRILL,
HUT 20,
R.A.F. Station,
W. Freugh,
Stranraer,
Scot.
Sat. 27.6.42.
Dear Mum,
Many thanks for parcel & letter. How did you manage to make the rolls? Not much washing this week but its my “clean [underlined] undershirt week” [/underlined] so am sending that.
Had a letter from Dave & one from his mum who was very shocked to hear that he was to be 5 whole weeks at Skeg. without leave & thought somebody had made a mistake. Afraid I had to smile, bless her heart. Dave’s finding things a bit strange but I hope he’ll settle in & find a good pal.
Yes I bet our young ‘un showed the Thompson’s up. Joyce told me in her letter he
[page break]
2
is as brown as a berry & Mrs. Hiffe said Joan was taken up with him. You see I hear about him from all quarters. Hope Mary thanked Joyce & Harry for their letter. I will write back [underlined] some [/underlined] day.
Wonder how you’re getting on with seeds. Think it’s an early season isn’t it, saw some oats in full shaq the other day & plenty of fields of tates up.
Sorry about Mary’s abcess. [sic] Hope its O.K. by now. You must all get better for when I come on leave. Tomorrow begins the 7th week here so with luck I may be coming home 3 wks or a month as last night. Time’s going quickly enough. How is the garden off for lettuce, radishes &c? Go down very nicely with cold rabbit pie & a big glass of milk. And what about a Berry Pie & Custard? Good old Ben Brust knew what was good!
[page break]
3
Once or twice lately as a special concession the aircrews have been allowed milk at supper. (Think they must have had some likely to go bad) It was jolly good too – from the farms near I guess. Dairying’s the big thing here. I passed one of Nestlés factories the other day. My! What a smell of creamy chocolate. Bit of black-market there I bet – it was right in the middle of the country. Wonder where it was going?
Thank you for sending me the flower. Are [deleted] they [/deleted] all the plants alike?
Nothing very exciting happening here. Days & weeks just come & go. We’re getting on to more involved & interesting work now. Had a lovely trip the other day doing a photographic reconnaissance of places in N. & S. Wales. – over the I. o Man, Angelsy, [sic] Holyhead, Caernarvon (that’s lovely I guess) near enough to see Aberystwyth, & down
[page break]
4
to do a reco. & take photos of harbours &c in S. Wales. Yesterday the Sqdn/Ldr went on leave / & they came to our classroom to ask for 2 volunteers to navigate his plane to Hendon (N. London.) Unfortunately I wasn’t sitting on the front row so missed it. I’ll wait until the Group Captain wants to visit his grandmother at Lincoln! As our boys landed at Hendon Sir Archbld. Sinclair was taking off to come to W. Freugh. Saw his plane come but not seen him. Heard some thing about the King & Queen in N. Ireland. Wonder if they left in the old [deleted] bo [/deleted] train-boat from Stranraer. It’s very likely. Didn’t think of looking up the poor lads at The Freugh on the way.
Expect when I [underlined] do [/underlined] come on leave, I’ll get the Carlisle train, change Carlisle, Crewe & then get the Derby train & change for Nottingham & get there at some unearthly
[page break]
hour. There’s another of our boys from Nottingham & one from Mansfield.
Well must go & get a button stitched on my Battle Dress & chase up the pilot as I let him share my bike last night & he’s not yet returned it. He said it was a matter of National importance last night – something to do with the W.L.A. I think!
Love to all,
See you soon
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Got Liz back alright – Don’t think she like Sgt Pilots!
P.S. A course “passed out” last night. You should see them stitching on stripes & brevy’s. Oh for that day!
[drawing]
[page break]
Yes Libya has been a bit of a blow – it will wake us up a bit I hope. We seem to have been forgetting we’d still a war to win & be thinking about treaties, pacts & post war problems while Jerry was thinking about war. Now they’ve staged another mass-raid to bolster up morale & get us into that old feeling of our own strength. Afraid I think all this talk about American production is just plain lies.
Still these raids are terriffic. [sic] I was up that night. It was grand. We took off just after midnight & later when the moon got up it looked perfect shining over the water. I thought something was in the wind when we were given various precautions at briefing. Gee when I looked down on the picture of the moon on the water & the islands I wished it was the coast of German occupied Europe we were heading for – with a good load of bombs. (Started Bombing Course & should be dropping our first bombs before I come 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
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Catches up with news of family and friends. Mentions dairy farming in local area. Describes photo reconnaissance work and other flying activity. Talks of journey home on next leave. Writes of bad news on Libya and good news on RAF bombing operations.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-06-27
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420627
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-06
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
bombing
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill.
Hut. 20. R.A.F. STN:.
W. Freugh.
Wigtownshire.
Wed: 1.7.42.
Dear Mum,
Pay day today so I thought I may as well send it off home as I got it There’s £5. Think I can save a good £2 a week here which is a bit more than I could at S.W. & Co’s.
Nothing at all interesting to tell you. Same old [deleted] daily [/deleted] [inserted] weekly [/inserted] routine. Flights over the same old country. N. W. Scotland, N. Yorkshire, the Lake District, N. Wales & N. Ireland are just like a daily walk round the garden. Wish we could come to the Midlands or N. Scotland for a change. If I do come to Lincoln & have a decent pilot I’ll get him to run down to Potter Hill & shoot you up & also let me take some photos. I can always [deleted] sa [/deleted] enter on my report “Testing Camera” & try to get the
[page break]
Photo Section to let me have them. Our cameras take good photos.
On the Bombing Course we’re now busy in the Bombing Teacher. Have a sort of cinematograph film projected on the smooth floor. It’s [deleted] afrom [/deleted] from p [sic] an aerial photo of a part of Germany & when set in motion moves as if we were flying over it. We sprawl over it with our Bomb Sight. The film can be varied for different heights, speeds & winds. They certainly have some wonderful ideas for training us.
[drawing]
Still no definite gen on leave but we’re all hoping that it will start a fortnight on Friday. Gosh I’m certainly ready for it. The constant strain’s beginning to tell. A week’s rest when I can be sure of a night’s rest & a good meal & be able to do just as I like will work wonders. Last night just as I’d got to sleep at getting on for midnight & feeling dead tired
[page break]
I was wakened up to be informed I had to collect all my materials & instruments ready for getting up to fly at 6 next morning. I was flying the night before & during the day so I’m ready for a good long night tonight! Dearest mum, I’m longing to see you waiting with a great big kiss & a hefty piece of rabbit pie. Ask Ros if she’s finished off that bottle of brambles! You’d think by these letters that all I thought about was eating & all I wanted leave for was to get a good feed but I’ve been used to the two best cooks in the world & miss them.
Heard from David again. He’s been in Sick Quarters with laryngitis, but seems O.K. Sent me a very amusing account of his uniform (which seems [deleted] ver [/deleted] rather complicated) complete with diagrams. His mum & dad are going over to see him on Saturday.
The people from the office sent me a big bundle of magazines last week. You should have seen how the boys pounced on them! Its impossible
[page break]
to get anything like that here.
Well, pop along for a cup of tea & bun & then come back for a wash & bed.
Love to all of you
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
xxx
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill opens with finance matters (it is pay day) and that he is doing the same old routine flying over north-western Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and Wales. Would like to fly nearer Lincoln (home) occasionally. Now on bombing course and busy on the trainer. Bill describes the use of the 'bombing teacher' which projects film of Germany on a floor and enables training in bomb aiming (includes sketch).
He has no definite news on leave but longs to come home where he can eat well and have uninterrupted sleep.
The boys from his former offer have sent him a large bundle of magazines which have been greatly appreciated by the men.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-07-01
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter including sketch.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420701
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-06
1942-07
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
bomb aimer
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
underlined] 1 [/underlined]
The Freugh.
Monday 6. July 42.
Dearest Mum,
Ever so many thanks for nice long interesting letter.
Didn’t send dirty clothes this week as I’d not got the bag. Still they’ll keep.
You seem to be starting the “visiting season”! Fancy Lucy M. turning up. Gee I envy Gordon! Have to admit that nobody has to ask me twice to have a meal when I call on them. Afraid I just go scrounging round like a wolf. Haven’t got to know anybody here though. Hope you survived Avril on Saturday! Wonder if I shall see Mr. Henry when I come home for 7 days. Hope Sis & Nip had a good time at Warsop. Yes I’m longing to see Mary’s garden – & taste lettuces, cucumbers &c. Hope the rasps ain’t [sic] done. Oh! rasps & cream!!!!
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
Had a grand station parade on Thursday. Wish you could have seen us – about 2,000 of us Aircrews in battledress, Ground mechs. &c in overalls, the Waafs & the officers – everyone marching past the hangars to the [deleted] time [/deleted] [inserted] playing [/inserted] of our pipe band – bagpipes, drums & all, with tartan flying in the breeze. We’re now devoting one afternoon a week to Station Defence. The whole station has to take part in the training so after the march past we all got shovels, picks, rifles, stenguns, machine guns &c & marched off to our posts with them. – to have a nice snooze in the sun for most of the afternoon!!
Winnie did come to Stranraer on his return. Think Sir A. Sinclair came to meet him. He also left from here for U.S.A. I saw his flying boat moored in the Loch. We’ve got Americans all over the place here. [deleted] So [/deleted] Can see them on invasion exercises
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
when we go near Lough Neagh in Ireland. Must find out what station Joyce Blow’s at as we sometimes have to land in Ireland. I know its Bally something but so is every other place in Ireland.
Been cold & showery here lately – another depression on the way – Hope its perfect weather for leave – not like my last. And leave is a week on Friday – getting home for dinner on Sat – and will I be hungry. Rabbit pie (or boiled bacon) rhubarb pie & custard & you can have a good excuse for a cup of tea!
Must run to get into the queue for the ENSA concert.
Love to all of you xx
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
P.S. A very good Musical Show. Some lovely music & good singing.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill catches up with domestics, family and friends news. Describes station parade of 2000 men. Now devoting one afternoon a week to station defence. Mentions Winston Churchill and A Sinclair passing through Stanraer. Mentions American in local area and seeing them on invasion exercises when they go near Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland.
Weather is cold and showery and looking forward to leave. About to go into an ENSA concert (adds a note that it was a good musical show). PS bemoaning the fact that he has to put 'props' on his uniform and lots of buttons need sewing on.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-07-06
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420706
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
entertainment
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20.
R.A.F. Station.
West Freugh.
Stranraer.
Scot.
Friday 10.7.42.
Dear Mum,
What a lovely parcel & letter! Oh thanks a lot! I had both the pies with sugar last night. The juice had gone into the crust round the edges but they were a bit of all right. I had the little one first with the rasps, red currant & goosegogs in.
[drawing of man eating pie in the countryside]
I’ve never believed the stories about 5 and 20 blackbirds being baked in a pie but I’m sure all Potter Hill was inside them! They were a real bit
[page break]
of home & I could just believe I was having Saturday dinner round the kitchen table at home. And I hope I will be a week tomorrow! Not quite sure about trains yet but I’ll let you know as soon as I do though as I shan’t be home until [deleted] late [/deleted] dinner time at best I should be able to get right to Collingham or Potter Hill. Hope this small-pox panic doesn’t get any worse. The entire station has had to be vaccinated. I was done barely a year ago but if it looks like holding up our leave I shall have another lot.
I expect there’ll be a lot of hay this year. Must see if I have any energy left to give you a bit of a hand. It’ll do me good! But I want some nice warm weather so have some ordered!
You must have had a shock when Tommy joined you in the garden. I should think that now you’ve finished the daisies & started of [sic] the buttercups there’ll not be much green left on
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
the lawn! Glad there’s a Guineafowl laying!! Keep her going ‘till I come!
There’s a few peas ripening outside our hut door in the feeble bit of garden our instructors try to look after. I’ve got my eye on them. Should be very nice when I come back from flying some night.
You seem to see plenty of the Henrys. Hope the holy terror doesn’t come each time. It was nice of Deadly to write; I’m sure David will be flattered. Hope she doesn’t get to know I’m at home.
I spent most of last night stitching buttons & props on. It was a terrible job & my fingers are sore with stabs from the needle. Afraid you’ll have to take the props off & put them on properly. They do look a mess & will only last home anyway. I stitched the sleeve up first & wondered why I couldn’t get my arm in. What a problem! I was ready for the pies when I’d finished.
[page break]
Nothing much to tell you. Not flown for the last 2 days as my hours seem to be more than some of the others. Had a look at pilots’ reports & the assessments on my logs yesterday. They were quite encouraging. I got an especially good report from the pilot who borrows my bike!!!! Yes I think this was meant to be my job from the first but I used to think it was too far beyond my brain-power.
We had 2 Stirlings on the ‘drome yesterday. What an excitement when the first landed the night before. Half the station rushed out & there was plenty of room for all to get round! Gosh what a beautiful monster it was. Didn’t I feel envious of the crew. I believe the take off was a sight to see. They took off down wind with hardly any take off run.
We were playing at soldiers again yesterday afternoon when there was another Defence Programme on. We spent the afternoon
[page break]
re-enforcing our trench. The officers thought they were being very clever but I wouldn’t like to use it after a bit of weather. It’ll fill up again as soon as the sand is dry. Still it makes a break even if it is a waste of time.
The heather’s coming out on the moors & I’ve been looking for some “Real Scotch White Heather” but haven’t found any yet. Remember getting that from Stapleford?
Well until tomorrow week I’ll say Cheerio, Will let you know when I hope to be getting home. P’raps leaving Notts. on the next train after 10 am.
Love to all
[underlined] Billy [/underlined]
P.S. Heard that the course that passed out just after we arrived hear [sic] have been on Ops already. The fellow who had my bed before me took a successful part in one of the 1000 bomber raids!! Gosh its getting near!!
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill is delighted to receive his mother's parcel and letter, and especially the home-made fruit pies which reminded him strongly of home. He includes a cartoon of him eating one with a house and farm behind him. States that the entire station has been vaccinated against small pox, given the current scare. Bill discusses farming matters and that he is keeping an eye on some peas which are ripening outside his window. He spent last evening sewing on props and badges, which didn't go very well, but will have to last until he gets home on leave in a week's time. Good results from assessments. Noted they had two Stirlings on base and got to look over them. More ground defence activity. Notes that previous course already on operations including 1000 bomber attacks.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-07-10
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five page handwritten letter with sketch
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420710
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
Stirling
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-12-04
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill.
Hut 20. 4. A.O.S.
West Freugh,
Stranraer.
Scot.
Sunday. 26.7.42.
Dear Mum,
I’ve just got my first Air Force meal resting very uncomfortably & insecurely on my stomach & am [deleted] jus [/deleted] wondering what you’ll be having for dinner at this minute. I must get my stomach used to it gradually!!
Thought I’d better get this off as soon as I could to let you know I got back to camp more or less in one piece this morning. We had a pretty awful journey. I met the Nottingham lad at Derby & the others at Crewe. We had to change at Carlisle & I thought we were never going to get to Stranraer. Gosh my behind hurt with sitting squashed there. Eventually got to Stranraer in pouring rain
[page break]
at just gone eleven to find that the 11.15 bus wasn’t running any longer. As nearly all 40 of us were there we got the R.T.O. to ring up the Freugh for transport. We stood in cold & rain, hungry & hardly able to keep awake until nearly one o’clock. My hand was an awful mess & had been most of the journey. Swelling went right up my arm & it felt as if it was going to bust. Eventually a lorry & a bus turned up & we piled in. On the way we in the bus nearly ended upside down in the ditch but at last reached camp (after our passes had expired) raided the cookhouse for a hot pie & a mess-tin full of cocoa, sorted out our sheets & bedding & didn’t get settled down till gone two.
We all overslept this morning & didn’t go on parade & finally trickled into the classroom very late & minus breakfast (though Ted D. did bring me a mess-tin of
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
tea) however we got away with it & with “overstaying leave” What a game!!
[underlined] Night [/underlined] Every body on the train & all the boys were horrified at my fist & I was more or less ordered to see the M.O. today. However it had gone down this morning & I hate reporting sick so I havn’t [sic] bothered. It really was a mess last night – never seen anything like it. I shan’t sniff at a wasp sting again!!! It’s still inflamed & stiff but itches more than anything. I squeezed out a lot of fluid from the spot where he punctured it.
It was great being home and I certainly feel better for it. It didn’t seem very long though. I’d hardly realised I was at home before I had to be off again. Somebody remarked that we should get 7 days leave & 3 weeks travelling allowance!!! That journey’s terrible – especially from Carlisle to Stranraer. Think I could like it as
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
quick – which reminds me I found Lizzie quite O.K in the shed. Well now to make by bed & get some sleeping hours in. I’m ready for it.
Well now its back to some real hard work for a few months & then – dear old home again. What a treat to look forward to!
Love to Ros Harry & Michael who I didn’t see to say goodbye. Please thank Mr. Henry again. He was very good. Tell Sis the sandwiches were super good - & the sausage rolls. Must stop. Writing’s not very good as my hand’s giving me some “hemp”.
Bless you all.
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
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Title
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Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes of the dreadful journey back to West Freugh after leave. Nearly had to report sick due to wasp sting on hand which had swelled up badly. Feels better for leave but seemed to go really quickly and journey back terrible. Catches up on news and is now back to hard work.
Date
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1942-07-26
Contributor
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Tricia Marshall
Format
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Four page handwritten letter
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420726
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
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William Akrill
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
training