Diary of John's journey to South Africa
A description of travelling in convoy on the Highland Princess with 1,700 other Royal Air Force and British Army personnel. Including details of the onboard conditions, weather, a stopover, gun duty, attending lectures and wildlife sightings. Includes sketches, lists of aircraft identification numbers and notes of expenditure. Covering the period 13 April 1942 to 20 May 1942.
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1942-04
1942-05
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Handwritten pages from a notebook
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YSaundersJWG1324708v1
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Transcript of My life in the RAF
Transcript of F Dunn's memoir describing life before and after joining the RAF. Includes induction and starting off in the RAF in England and then sea voyage to South Africa and then initial training in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
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Twenty-three page printed document
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SDunnFT1319229v10002-Transcript
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My life in the RAF - chapter 1,2 and 3
Autographical account of life at the beginning of the war including service in ARP in Swindon. Reasons for volunteering for the RAF. Registered for military service in February 1941. Waiting for call-up. Induction at St John's Wood London and sight-seeing in London. Journey to Stratford and description of initial training at 9 ITW. Describes wartime journey for leave. Continues with move to West Kirby camp. Goes on to describe another period of leave. Moved to camp for under training aircrew at Heaton Park, Manchester. Moved to Liverpool to embark for voyage overseas. Goes on to describe voyage in November 1941. Stopped at Freetown Sierra Leone but not allowed ashore. Continues voyage to South Africa. Continues to describe activities on the voyage including sports with Army personnel on board.
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Thirty-six page handwritten document
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SDunnFT1319229v10002-0001
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Hastie DFC: The Life and Times of a Wartime Pilot
A biography of Roy Hastie.
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2003-10
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142 printed sheets
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BLovattPHastieRv2
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Hastie DFC: The Life and Times of a Wartime Pilot
An incomplete biography of Roy Hastie. Only pages 1 to 46, 104 to 106, 128 to 133 and 34 additional unnumbered pages are included.
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88 printed sheets
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BLovattPHastieRv1
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Travels with Dove
Top left - view from aircraft cockpit of coastline with sea to 'right . Captioned 'Flying along the Gold Coast. Oct 47'.
Top right - rear quarter view of a Dove with a group of men looking down at objects behind the starboard wing. Captioned 'Inspecting samples at Bathurst'.
Centre - view of clouded sky over a town. Captioned 'Tropical storm Lagos'.
Bottom right - the rear part of a Dove parked. Captioned 'At Lisbon'.
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1947-10
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Four b/w photographs mounted n an album page
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PDoxseyJA18010058
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Biography of Reg Miles
A detailed Biography of Reg' service and post service life.
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109 printed sheets
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BMilesRJMilesRJv1
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Greetings from Africa postcard
A postcard of Africa with a native child sitting. On the reverse there is a reference to Freetown being their first port of call.
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1941-03
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One postcard
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PSearleROJ17030029,
PSearleROJ17030030
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Freetown, Sierra Leone
Album page with four small photographs, first captioned 'Entering Freetown Harbour, Sierra Leone'.
Second 'Water boat Freetown'.
Third 'Natives diving for 'Glasgow Tanners' Freetown'.
Fourth 'Bartering with the natives of Freetown'.
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Four small b/w photographs
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PPaineGH16010049
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Map of Geoff Paine's journey from South Africa
Sketch map of Geoff's journey from Gwello in Southern Rhodesia to Liverpool between 6 and 26 October 1945.
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1945-10
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Sketch map with annotations
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PPaineGH16010052
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Just Another Tailend Charlie
A memoir written by Cliff Watson divided into 20 chapters.
The Earliest Years.
Born in Barnoldswick, then in Yorkshire, now in Lancashire in 1922. His father ran a wireless business until 1926. He describes his years at schools and a move to Norwich. The family then moved to London where he started an apprenticeship as an accountant.
Joining Up.
Cliff left the accountants to work in his father's radio business. Initially he was rejected by the RAF because he wore spectacles. He reapplied and passed various written, oral and medical examinations. Initial training was at Torquay then Newquay. Once training was complete he sailed from Greenock to South Africa.
Southern Rhodesia.
After acclimatisation in South Africa, Cliff and his colleagues were put on a sleeper train to Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Training commenced on Tiger Moths but he was 'scrubbed' or rejected. He was reselected as an air gunner and completed a course in Moffat, also in South Rhodesia. Hospitality in Rhodesia and South Africa was described as generous and excellent.
Postscript.
Cliff describes a run-in with a training corporal who took a dislike to him. Despite faked evidence he proved his points and emerged with a clean record and passed his exams.
Operational Training.
In August 1942 he sailed back to the UK. He was sent to Bournemouth for assessment, then on to RAF Finningley for training then RAF Bircotes for operations. Next was a move to RAF Hixon and its satellite airfield at Seighford. He married Hilda on 1st March 1943 during a week's leave.
Second Time to Africa.
He was then sent to West Kirby, Liverpool to join a ship sailing to Algiers, for further training. Their destination became Blida where they started operations on Tunis and Monserrato airfield. They then moved to a desert strip to the east by 250 kms. From there they continued operations into Italy. Later they moved to Kairouan and continued operations into Italy, mainly Sardinia and Sicily. Each operation is described in great detail.
He has included a letter in Arabic with instructions to take the bearer to British soldiers for a reward. At the end of his tour they sailed back to Greenock.
Screened.
After some leave Cliff's next posting was at Operational Training Unit Desborough where he helped train new gunners. Due to an argument with an officer he was sent to RAF Norton for correctional training. On his return his case was reviewed and the severe reprimand was removed from his record.
Scampton.
Scampton was Cliff's next operational base then Winthorpe for its Heavy Conversion Unit on Stirlings, followed by Syerston on Lancasters then Bardney.
227 Squadron.
Cliff joined 227 squadron at Bardney. Again he covers in detail each operation. His flight was later transferred to Balderton. During this period he was awarded the DFC.
Final Leg.
His squadron was transferred to Gravely at the end of the war. He did a photography course and was transferred to Handforth. There was little work, some unpleasantness and eventually a period of extended leave, a spell at Poynton looking after prisoners then demob.
Back to Civvy Street.
Cliff returned to Whitehaven to revitalise a radio company. He gives great detail about the improvements made. Later he set up a similar enterprise at Maryport. Wired radio services were set to become less popular and financially worthwhile so seeing the writing on the wall he decided to emigrate.
Kenya.
Cliff and family flew to Nairobi, then bus to Kitale where his father was.
Hoteli King George.
Dissatisfied with life on his father's farm, Cliff took a job as a prison officer. He and his family moved to Nairobi. He relates several stories about prisoners and their better qualities but in the end he gets restless and leaves.
Civil Aviation.
Cliff joined the East African Directorate of Civil Aviation in April 1951 as a radio officer. He and his family were relocated to Mbeya, 900 miles from Nairobi. His skills as a radio engineer were well used in this remote location. After 2.5 years the family returned to UK on leave. On his return he was posted to Mwanza, also in Tanganyika. He describes in great detail a royal visit. They left on leave in June 1957 and collected a VW Beetle for transport to Kenya. Their next move was to Entebbe. This was not a happy posting and led to a transfer to Kisumu in Kenya. After three years they transferred to Nairobi to spend more time with their children, who were at boarding school there.
D.C.A. Headquarters.
His role here was Telecomms superintendent. He describes in detail the operations of his section. This was an unsettled period in Kenya with many Europeans returning home.
Dec' 61 on Leave.
Leave was spent at their house in Wales then in May 1962 Cliff returned alone to Nairobi. His family did return later. By this time his father had abandoned his farm and was building radios.
On Leave June 1964.
He bought another house in Wales and spent his leave restoring it. His wife's mother moved in. In November 1964 Cliff returned alone to Nairobi. he left within a year due to the worsening situation.
Job Hunting.
Several electronics firms were approached offering Cliff's services. He attended an interview with Pye who quickly offered him employment.
At Pye Telecommunications.
He found his colleagues unhelpful. A great deal of time was spent on a Turkish quotation that had been in progress for 10 years. A quotation to the Iranian Directorate of Civil Aviation contained complications leading to Cliff revising the quotation. Later there was a complicated installation job at the London Stock Exchange. Eventually Pye pulled out from the bid but a rival company won it, only to be taken over by Pye. At first the system was troubled but after a simple modification it worked perfectly.
Dresden 13-14 February 1945.
A one page description of the bombing of Dresden.
Curriculum Vitae.
Cliff Watson's CV, dated 1976.
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1989-06
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192 typewritten sheets and photographs
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SWatsonC188489v1
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SS Strathmore at Sierra Leone harbour
A short story about the SS Strathmore in Sierra Leone harbour during a transit to South Africa. Fishermen were diving for silver coins and one was singing a crude version of 'Bless em all'.
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One typewritten sheet
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BNealeETHNealeETHv09
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Interview with Eddy Smythe. Two
Eddy Smyth’s father was John Smythe. John left Sierra Leone to join the RAF during the Second World War. He was shot down over Germany and spent two years as a prisoner of war. After the war he trained as a barrister and returned to Sierra Leone where he established a law firm. At a function at the British Embassy he conversed with the German Ambassador and to the shock of both of them they realised that it may have been the German Ambassador who had shot him down. They hugged each other and went for a drink to celebrate the event and talk more. Audio Track from video interview
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2017-08-02
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00:03:55 audio recording
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ASmytheE170802-02-AV, PSmytheE1701
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Interview with George Royall
George volunteered to be a pilot but settled for Air Observer. He talks about his selection and training in London and then in Stratford-upon-Avon, where enjoyed the theatre and how, at Brighton, illness separated him from the rest of the course. So, while they went to Canada for their flying training, he went to South Africa.
George sailed from Liverpool to Freetown, where he enjoyed seeing sailors and WAAFs in their whites, the green landscape and the locals selling their wares. He had some free time in Durban and received great hospitality from expats but felt embarrassed by apartheid. He began flying at No. 48 Air School and here his trade changed from air observer to air bomber, so he describes the navigational support role played by air bombers. He received his brevet and while 20 of his course were sent to North Africa, he and four others returned to England. George says he went to an OCU in North Wales and then describes crewing up, going onto Lancasters and being posted to 166 Squadron at RAF Kirmington.
While at Kirmington George married and his wife would come to visit, staying with a local family and making life-long friends.
George describes two memorable operations: Kiel, where he saw a Lancaster hit by falling bombs and Nuremberg, where his aircraft was coned by searchlights. He recalls how, on returning to Kirmington, the sight of the village church and a field of poppies was a beautiful welcome home and that he used to climb a hill near his billet to relax and look at the view.
At the end of the war George flew several trips on Op. DODGE and says that they flew at 2,000 feet because the passengers had no parachutes and so the aircrew did not carry them either. He also describes a visit to East Kirkby, where he was made to feel very welcome. He was asked what it was like to fly in the Lancaster and how it stood up to corkscrewing.
Sadly, George's lasting emotion of his service is of how quickly the closely-bonded crews were split up and sent back to their home countries at the war's end, often without time to exchange addresses or even say goodbye.
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2015-07-20
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01:02:46 audio recording
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ARoyallG150720, PRoyallG1501
Freetown [place]
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Interview with Eddy Smythe. Two
Eddy Smythe reminisces about his father, John Henry Smythe, who was from Sierra Leone and served in Bomber Command during the Second World War. John flew as a navigator until his aircraft was shot down in November 1943. He became a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 1 until 1945. After his release John went to London and trained as a barrister. Upon completion of his professional training, he returned to Freetown, Sierra Leone and set up a legal practice. He rose to be Sierra Leone’s Attorney General. One evening, he met the German Ambassador at a reception. They realised they were aircrew on opposing sides, and the Ambassador shot down an aircraft on the same date and time and in the same location that John’s aircraft had been shot down. This prompted the two men to hug each other and to note that the conditions of war meant that such aggressive acts were not personal. Eddy adds final remarks on the value of remembrance and reconciliation.
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2017-08-02
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00:04:04 video recording
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PSmytheE1701
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