Browse Items (1323 total)

  • Temporal Coverage is exactly "1944"

AWilsonJ161231.mp3
Joseph Wilson was training to be a pharmacist when he volunteered for the Air Force. He trained to as a bomb aimer and completed 47 operations with several squadrons. He recalls flying a Tiger Moth early on in training and discusses mine laying and…

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PFearnsH1701.jpg
Harry Fearns was born and lived in Barnsley South Yorkshire. He left school at 16 and joined the Prudential Insurance Company as a door to door premiums collector before joining the Royal Air Force in 1944 as a flight engineer. Following initial…

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AGreenWG150911.mp3
William Green was born in Kings Lynn in Norfolk and joined the Royal Air Force when he was 17 and a half at the outbreak of war, becoming a rear gunner on Lancasters and, eventually, rising to the rank of squadron leader.He tells about going on to…

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AHarrisHST150909.mp3
Harry ‘Sam’ Harris grew up in Scotland and volunteered for the Air Force. He trained as a navigator in South Africa. On the penultimate day of his training he flew over a multitude of lifeboats bearing the survivors of a torpedoed ship. The next…

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ALeithJM170112.mp3
James McKenzie Leith was a swimming instructor before he joined the RAF. He trained as a gunner and was posted to 429 Squadron at RAF Leeming. On their first operation their aeroplane was damaged and they attempted an emergency landing but this was…

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PNeilsonNS1604.jpg
Norman Neilson was an apprentice engineer at St Rollox Locomotive Works when he volunteered. He had originally wanted to join the Navy but joined the RAF because the only way he could be released from his position was to volunteer for aircrew. His…

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PCuthillMSFH1801.jpg
Margaret Cuthill volunteered for the WAAF in Edinburgh. She went for her basic training at Wilmslow before completing her training as a teleprinter operator at RAF Cranwell. She was then posted initially to 14 Maintenance Unit. After the war she…

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PThorpJF1601.jpg
John Thorp was born and raised in Manchester where he attended North Manchester Grammar School. At seventeen he joined the Home Guard. When he was eighteen he volunteered for the RAF with dreams of becoming a pilot. While waiting at Heaton Park to…

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PMortensenJC1803.jpg
Born on 27 December 1924 in Aigburth Liverpool, James was 15 when war broke out in Europe. He intended to join as a pilot, navigator, bomber aimer in 1943 but due to shorter waiting list and training time he trained to become a wireless operator at…

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Ken Rudkin relates the story of his friend Alf “Digger” Dawson of 630 Squadron. Alf, from Cumbria was working as a fireman for the railways when he and his friend answered the call for volunteers for aircrew. Alf trained as a wireless operator.…

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PBurnsDR2206.jpg
Bob Burns trained as a navigator and was posted to 106 Squadron at RAF Metheringham. His aircraft came under attack from a night fighter and the centrifugal force pinned the crew down and making an escape impossible.
Suddenly the aircraft broke in…

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MCruickshankG629128-150428-270001.jpg
BBC 78 RPM vinyl disk Gordon Cruickshank recorded in August 1944.

Gordon joined the RAF in 1938 and Bomber Command in 1941 as an air gunner. Started operations in 1942 and completed first tour of 31 trips at end of November 1942. He says his…

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PThomasWH1501.jpg
Bill had joined the Air Defence Cadet Corps and Air Training Corps. He volunteered as a pilot in the Royal Air Force and flew Tiger Moths at RAF Sywell but was re-mustered as a navigator. Bill went to Canada as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme,…

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AForsythR160214.mp3
Robert was in the Air Training Corps (Sea Cadets). From the Operational Training Unit at RAF Warboys where he did pathfinder navigational training, Robert joined 156 Squadron at RAF Upwood. They did around 13 pathfinding operations, usually over…

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PJonesF1511.jpg
Bomb aimer Frank Jones wrote notes decades ago regarding his service in Bomber Command with 158 Squadron. His son, Derek reads his father’s story, which includes his early life, enlisting into the RAF and training in navigation at No. 43 Air…

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ABerrieD161031.mp3
David Berrie joined the RAF and served as a wireless operator. He flew six operations with 576 Squadron from RAF Elsham Wolds. Shares his experience about living on the station with Polish crews. Remembers crashing twice in twenty-four hours and on…

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ISRPT, C.b.b.21 Fondo Risaliti INS. 4, 132-1.jpg
Bruna Meoni claims she helped some Allied servicemen, from 30 August 1944, in Forcana, Belvedere, and Lavacchioni areas, near Pistoia. She gave them food and pocket money. She encloses statements of Elia Zini and Dina Torracchi backing her statement.

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ISRECP, C.b.b.21 Fondo Risaliti INS. 4, 010-1.jpg
While living as an evacuee in Settimo Spampani’s house near Pistoia, Bruno Parenti helped Royal Air Force sergeant David Pord, who escaped from the Laterina camp in the vicinity of Arezzo. From November 1943 to September 1944, Settimo and Bruno…

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EFackrellHodel441225-020001.jpg
Art work with Taj Mahal surrounded by monkeys, elephant, tiger and peoples head. Text Christmas Greetings, handwritten annotation 'with love from Chris, Royal Artillery Depot, India Command, 1944'.

MCrompton[Ser#-DoB]-150605-09-0001.jpg
Artwork showing Taj Mahal and scenes from India. Text Christmas and New Year. Annotated 'with love from Chris'.

EvanRielCvanRielCv1.pdf
Begins in May 1940 in the Netherlands and relates experiences of start of war, invasion, air raids, casualties, air attack on Rotterdam, surrender of the Netherlands. Continues with account of events and life during occupation including regulations,…

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Flt Sgt J T Jones Story.pdf
Edited transcripts and notes about J T Jones's letters to his wife during training and on operations 1942 - 1945.

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PRichardsHJ1807.jpg
Harold Richards from Lincoln was working in the health industry before he volunteered for the RAF. After trying to be a pilot he trained as an observer. He was posted to 297 Squadron at Stoney Cross where he and his crew dropped supplies to the…

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PWilkinsNE1704.jpg
Norman Wilkins was born in West Norwood. At the age of 14 he joined the Air Training Corps and became a member of Brighton and Hove Air Cadets 176 Squadron. He then joined the University Air Squadron at Oxford, with fees being paid by the Royal Air…

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ADerringtonAP150715-01.mp3
Dr Arnold Pearce Derrington grew up in Cornwall and joined the University Air Squadron at Exeter. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 and completed training at RAF Ansty, South Africa, RAF West Freugh and RAF Moreton in the Marsh, where he trained…

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