4
25
189
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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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Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2015-06-02
2022-10-17
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
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Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
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19
70185 A/W/Cdr. D.W. Donaldson, RAFVR.
192 Squadron,
R.A.F. Station,
Foulsham,
Nr. Dereham,
Norfolk.
To:- Officer Commanding, R.A.F. Station,
Foulsham, Nr. Dereham, Norfolk.
Date:- 31st March, 1945.
Subject:- [underlined] APPLICATION FOR A TEMPORARY RELEASE. [/underlined]
Sir,
I have the honour to apply for a temporary release from the R.A.F. for a period of from six to nine months. This is to enable me to work and sit for the Solicitor's Final Examination.
When mobilised at the outbreak of war in September 1939, I was a Solicitor's Articled Clerk. I had completed my articles and was working for and was about to take the Final examination in November of that year.
This release would only commence on the completion of my third and present tour of operations, and subject to my then not being required by the R.A.F. for the above period of six to nine months.
Attached are details of my service career since September 1939. My demobilisation Group is No.22.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your Obedient Servant,
D.W.D
Wing Commander,
[underlined] Commanding 192 Squadron. [/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
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Application for temporary release
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from David Donaldson to station commander at RAF Foulsham requesting temporary release for a period of six to nine months in order to study and sit solicitor's, final examinations. Enclosed document listing his service since September 1939 which includes target towing, training, operational tours on 149, 57, 156 and 192 Squadrons, tours at 3 and 100 Group and Atlantic ferrying.
Creator
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D Donaldson
Date
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1945-03-31
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EDonaldsonDWOCRAFFoulsham450331
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Civilian
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Norfolk
Scotland--Ross and Cromarty
England--Oxfordshire
England--Berkshire
England--Suffolk
England--Hertfordshire
England--Lincoln
England--Lincolnshire
Temporal Coverage
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1945-03-31
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
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.
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IBCC Digital Archive
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One-page typewritten letter and one page typewritten document
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Frances Grundy
100 Group
149 Squadron
156 Squadron
192 Squadron
3 Group
57 Squadron
Halifax
Halifax Mk 3
Halifax Mk 5
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hudson
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Evanton
RAF Faldingworth
RAF Feltwell
RAF Foulsham
RAF Hampstead Norris
RAF Harwell
RAF Lindholme
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Warboys
RAF West Raynham
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/15106/LDonaldsonDW70185v1.1.pdf
1a7c7740b88e474aee2629a899eb7201
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cutting from the Times that was attached to the page with the entry for October 23rd 1940
THE TIMES WEDENESDAY DECEMBER 30 1953
[Photograph of a stone archway] The gatehouse entrance to St. Osyth’s Priory.
SALE OF ST. OSYTH’S PRIORY ESTATE
NEW OWNER’S PLANS
St. Osyth’s Priory estate, on the Colne estuary, near Colchester, Essex, has been bought by Mr Somerset de Chair. He intends to preserve the priory, which is in excellent architectural condition and includes a flint and ashlar gatehouse erected in 1475.
This historic place was bought in 1949 by the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds Friendly Society from Brigadier-General K. J. Kincaid-Smith for £30,000. It was then planned to build a war memorial in the grounds and to restore the thirteenth-century chapel.
St. Osyth’s Priory derives its name from Osyth, granddaughter of Penda, King of Mercia. When the Danes sacked the property, they killed the nuns and beheaded the Prioress Osyth. The priory was founded by Richard de Balmeis, Bishop of London, in 1118, on the site of a nunnery, but the earliest surviving building is the small chapel, with its fine groined arches supported on slender pillars.
Mr. de Chair informed The Times yesterday that he hoped to work the priory farm, and might convert the gatehouse into a pied-à-terre.
Lofts and Warner. Of London, and Percival and Co., of Sudbury, have acted as agents for the vendors in the sale of the estate.
[Page break]
Newspaper cutting that was attached to the summary page for April 1943
THE COURSE OF NATURE
THE “MIRACLE OF SPRING”
FROM A CORRESPONDENT
The fine weather since Easter has brought things on. There is again the miracle of Spring. It is perhaps a minor miracle compared with April 1943, when by St. George’s Day the trees were leafy as in June, and the hedges heavy with the scent of hawthorn, so that many, seeing and smelling the billowing masses of white blossom, were content that this was out, and, not waiting for the following month’s exit to give permission, too hurriedly cast their clouts.
If in the woods there is as yet no density of green above, nor bridal white of wild cherry blossom, there is no lack of green and white below, for the bluebells, soon to bloom, have raised a thousand gleaming dark green spears, in contrast to which there are the dainty pale green shamrock leaves of wood sorrel, graced by pendant silver bells, most delicately veined. Pendant, too, on a dull or cloudy day, but raise and opening wide to the sun, are the white wood anemones, which now make a starry heaven underneath the trees. There are other stars, the glossy bright gold stars of the celandines, and, in ever-widening constellations, the “milky way” of primroses. In woodland, too, as well as in meadows, one finds the “lady-smocks all silver white” (though more usually the palest shade of mauve) as well as “violets blue,” which may be pale wood violets if the spur is darker than the petals or dark wood violets if the spur is paler, and it is often a creamy white. Such is the absurdity of some English names. Add to these the quaintly attractive green flowers of the moschatel, the small white flowers of the barren strawberry, and, where the ground drops to the merest trickle of a woodland stream, the pale gold of the golden saxifrage, and one has, indeed, a few short weeks from ice and snow, “the miracle of Spring.”
[Page break]
THE TIMES
THE REGISTER [Crest]
DEBATE: THE HUTTON REPORT page 80 ▪ COURT & SOCIAL: MANOR OF DULWICH page 82
OBITUARIES
WING COMMANDER DAVID DONALDSON
Pilot who bombed Hitler’s invasion barges in Calais harbour and flew with the Pathfinders
[Photograph of a pilot leaning against the wing of an aircraft] Donaldson with a Wellington of 149 Squadron: the type was the mainstay of Bomber Command earlier in the war
IN WHAT was, given the cruel statistics of wartime flying, a remarkably long career on bombing operations, David Donaldson flew his first raids during the Battle of Britain in September 1940, when Bomber Command’s techniques were in their infancy, and he was still there at the end. He participated in Pathfinder ops in 1941, by which time the whole strategic air offensive had taken on a much more scientific cast and was beginning to achieve results. And he was still airborne over enemy territory on electronic countermeasures missions in the last months of the war, by which time the RAF, and the US Army Air Forces were masters of the skies over Western Europe.
In four tours of operations, Donaldson flew 86 sorties, a figure which put him well above the average survival chances. During Bomber Command’s worst days in 1941 and 1942 (if one discounts the virtual suicide missions against heavily defended German naval bases in December 1939), the average life in the command was as low as eight sorties.
David William Donaldson was born in 1915 at Southampton, a son of the managing director of the Thorneycroft shipyard. He was educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a keen rower. Taking a boat over to Germany with the First Trinity Boat Club in the mid-1930s, he enjoyed the hospitality of boat clubs in the Rhineland – and at the same time became sharply aware of the culture of aggression that was taking over the German psyche with the advent of Hitler.
In 1934 he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve as a weekend pilot, and did much of his flying training at Hamble. After graduating at Cambridge he had joined a firm of solicitors in London. But his articles were interrupted in September 1939 when he was called up.
After basic training he did operational training on Wellington bombers and on September 20 was sent to 149 (Wellington) Squadron at Mildenhall, Suffolk. No 149 had already been involved in some desperate missions: the forlorn-hope attack on German shipping at Wilhelmshaven on December 18, 1939; the equally hopeless attempt to stem the German advance in the Low Countries in May 1940; and a brave but futile transalpine lunge at Genoa in June after Italy had opportunistically entered the war on the German side. Now it was ordered to attack invasion barges which had been collected in Channel ports, and Donaldson’s first sortie was a daytime raid on Calais harbours.
With the end of the Battle of Britain, No 149 was redirected to strategic bombing. This was soon to be revealed as far too dangerous against flak and fighter defences by day, and was therefore conducted by night, which (frequent) bad weather made locating targets extremely difficult in the state of development of navigational aids at the time.
During the winter of 1940-41 the main effort was against targets in the relatively close Ruhr, but there was a much longer sortie, to Berlin, in vile weather, in October. This ended with Donaldson’s Wellington becoming completely lost on the return trip. At length, with fuel running perilously low, he achieved a casualty free forced manding at St. Osyth, near Clacton.
There were further attacks on northern Italian industrial cities, one of which, an attack on the Fiat works at Turin, Donaldson was asked by the BBC to describe a radio broadcast in December 1940. Instead of dwelling on the difficulties of such a mission, he eloquently described the majesty of the snow covered Alps for his audience.
Donaldson won his DFC for a highly successful raid on Merignac aerodrome, near Bordeaux, which he bombed from a height of 1,500ft, destroying its large hangars. Further publicity for these early efforts by Bomber Command came from his featuring in a series of propaganda photographs taken by Cecil Beaton, entitled A Day in the Life of a Bomber Pilot. Once of these, which features the aircrew of a 149 Squadron Wellington at Mildenhall, adorns the cover of a recently published video of the 1941 propaganda film Target for Tonight.
Donaldson was “rested” after completion of his tour in March 1941. But there was still plenty of flying to be done. He was seconded to the Air Ministry to help buy aircraft in the US. This turned out to involve hazardous ferry flying across the Atlantic of American aircraft that had been purchased, notably the invaluable Hudson long-range patrol bomber for Coastal Command.
In September Donaldson returned to operations with 57 Squadron, another Wellington unit. Bomber Command was faring no better than it had been earlier in terms of results, and an improvement in German air defences was increasing the rate of losses among aircrew, with corresponding effects on RAF morale. No 57 was roughly handled. In a raid over Düsseldorf in October, Donaldson’s aircraft was badly shot up and limped home without hydraulics. The undercarriage could not be lowered and the sortie ended with a crash landing at Marham. After several more raids Donaldson succumbed to the strain and at the end of the year was admitted to hospital.
After a period of sick leave he was posted as group tactical officer to 3 Group, but in July 1942 the air beckoned again when he was posted to No 15 Operational Training Unit for six months as a flight commander. Though this was not supposed to be a frontline unit, he did get in one operational trip, to Düsseldorf, during this period.
Then, in January 1943, he was appointed a flight commander to 156 Squadron, one of the original units of the Pathfinder Force, which had been making strides in the improvement of bombing through its marking techniques since its formation under the Australian Don Bennett six months previously. The four-engined Lancaster was now the mainstay of Bomber Command and both the weight and accuracy of the air offensive began to assume a different dimension. With No 156 Donaldson carried out 23 raids, and was awarded the DSO and promoted to wing commander at the end of his tour. Bennett himself said of Donaldson, “He has provided an example of determination and devotion to duty which it would be difficult to equal.”
Rested again in June 1943, Donaldson commanded a conversion unit and then went as a staff officer to No 100 (Special Duties) Group. The air war had changed out of all recognition and the need to be able to jam and confuse the enemy’s radars and radio direction beacons was well recognised.
In June 1944, just after D-Day, Donaldson was back in the air again in command of 192 (SD) Squadron. Flying a mixture of Wellingtons, Halifaxes and Mosquitoes, over the remaining months of the war No 192 sought out and jammed the enemy’s radio and communication systems using methods ranging from the well-tried “window” – dropping steel foil strips – to more sophisticated electronic deception techniques.
Leading the Squadron in a Halifax III, Donaldson flew 25 more sorties, some of them in daytime. On one daylight operation he was attacked by two Bf109s. Rather than trying to shoot it out against the cannon armed fighters with the Halifax’s 303in machineguns, Donaldson chose to evade the foe by violent and skilful evasive action, and brought his aircraft and crew safely home. He was awarded his second DSO in July 1945.
Donaldson had no ambition to further a career in the RAF and on demobilisation he resumed his law articles and qualified as a solicitor. After four years in the City firm Parker Garrett he joined National Employers Mutual Insurance, where he was at first company secretary and later a director. He left NEM to become chairman of an industrial tribunal, which he greatly enjoyed, presiding over some notable cases. He finally retired in 1987.
His wife Joyce, whom he married when she was a WAAF officer during the war, died in 1996. He is survived by a daughter and two sons.
Wing Commander David Donaldson, DSO and Bar, DFC, wartime bomber pilot and solicitor, was born on January 31, 1915. He died on January 15, 2004, aged 88.
[Page break]
DAVID AND THE RAF
My brother David’s very distinguished wartime career with the RAF – two DSOs and a DFC, and promotion to Wing Commander at 28 – warrants a separate appendix to these family notes. He has kindly helped me to compile it by giving me the run of his log books, and I have supplemented them from a number of other sources.
He became interested in flying in he early 1930s. I recall him taking his small brother of 9 or 10 to an air show at Eastleigh and abandoning him while he went up as a passenger in a Tiger Moth doing aerobatics. That may well have given him the incentive to join the RAF Volunteer Reserve in 1934 as a weekend pilot. He did much of his training at Hamble on the Solent. When war broke out in September 1939 he was called up immediately and had to abandon his legal training. He spent the “phoney war” towing target drogues at a bombing and gunnery school at Evanton in Scotland. His log books show him rated as an “average” pilot.
At the end of April 1940, just before the Germans attacked in the West, he went to Brize Norton for immediate training (earning an “above-average” rating) and then to Harwell for operational training on Wellingtons, the main twin-engined heavy bomber of the early war years. On 20th September, just as the Battle of Britain was ending, he was posted to his first operational squadron, No 149, part of No 3 Group, at the big pre-war station at Mildenhall. His first operational sortie was over Calais towards the end of September, no doubt to attack the invasion barges.
Over the following five months he took part in some 31 night raids. The German defence at this time was relatively feeble by comparison with what was to follow, and so the tour was correspondingly tolerable; however bitter experience had shown that day bombing was much too costly, and the night bombing techniques were very inaccurate. His first raid on Berlin, at the end of October, was particularly eventful; they got hopelessly lost on their return, came in over Bristol, and ended up over Clacton as dawn was breaking with very little fuel left. There both the Army and the Navy opened up on them, and even the Home Guard succeeded in putting a bullet through the wing. They eventually made a forced crash landing at St. Osyth. The Home Guard commander, a retired general, entertained him generously and he finally got back to Mildenhall where his Group Captain forgave him for the damaged aircraft and advised him to go out and get drunk. He took the advice, and in the pub he met a WAAF whom he married eight months later (maybe that is why he remembers that particular day so well.)
The gauntlet of Friendly Fire seems to have been a not uncommon hazard to be faced. On another occasion, when he had to make three circuits returning to Mildenhall, the airfield machine gunners opened fire on him from ground level; he thought they were higher up and judged his height accordingly, and narrowly missed the radio masts which were not, as he thought, below him.
The longest raids on this tour were trips of over ten hours to Italy: to Venice, which they overflew at low level, and to the Fiat works at Turin. He described the latter raid, and the spectacular views of the Alps it afforded, in a BBC broadcast in December 1940. The commonest targets were the Ruhr and other German cities, and some raids were made at lower level on shipping in French ports. The raid which won him the DFC was on 22nd November, on Merignac aerodrome near Bordeaux, which “difficult target he attacked from a height of 1,500 feet and successfully bombed hangars, causing large fires and explosions. As a result of his efforts the task of following aircraft was made easier … He has at all times displayed conspicuous determination and devotion to duty.”
It was at Mildenhall that he featured in a series of propaganda photos by Cecil Beaton,
[Page break]
= 2 =
“A Day in the Life of a Bomber Pilot”; they were given a good deal of publicity and in fact David appears in one of them on the cover of a recently published video of the 1941 propaganda film “Target for Tonight”, also made with the help of 149 Squadron – though he did not take part in the film. Beaton describes the occasion at some length in his published diaries, though he has thoroughly scrambled the names and personalities, and he “demoted David from captain to co-pilot in his scenario.
On completion of this tour, early in March 1941, David was detached on secondment to the Air Ministry to assist with buying aircraft in North America, and later to ferry aircraft within North America and across the Atlantic – he flew the Atlantic at least twice in Hudsons, taking 12 hours or more.
The “chop rate” 1 in Bomber Command increased substantially during the first half of 1941. This coupled with increasing doubts about the value of the results obtained led to a serious decline in aircrew morale. During the summer of 1941 the Germans had considerable success with intruders – fighter aircraft attacking the bombers as they took off or landed at their own bases. At the end of September David returned to No 3 Group and joined No 57 Squadron at Feltwell, still with Wellingtons. His third raid, over Dusseldorf on October 13th, was particularly difficult; they were badly shot up and with their hydraulics out of action they crash landed at Marham on their return. After two more raids the strain finally proved too much and he was admitted to hospital just before Christmas 1941; for the next two months he was there or on sick leave. From then until mid-July he was Group Tactical Officer at HQ No 3 Group, and not directly involved in operations. In July 1942 he was posted to No 15 Operational Training Unit, at Harwell and Hampstead Norris, where he spent six months as a flight commander flying Ansons and Wellingtons, though he did participate in one raid on Dusseldorf while he was there.
In spite of the appointment of Harris in early 1942 and the introduction of the Gee radio navigational aid, results were still considered disappointing, particularly over the Ruhr, and serious questions were raised about the future of Bomber Command. To improve matters, in August 1942 the elite Pathfinder Force was set up under Don Bennett, albeit in the face of considerable opposition from most of the group commanders who were reluctant to lose their best crews to it. At least initially, all the crews joining it had to be volunteers, and to be ready to undertake extended tours. Their task was to fly ahead of the Main Force in four waves; the Supporters, mainly less experienced crew carrying HE bombs, who were to saturate the defences and draw the flak; the Illuminators, who lit up the aiming point with flares; and the Primary Markers and Backer Up who marked the aiming point with indicators. Their methods became more and more refined as the war went on. The increased accuracy required of them, and their position at the head of the bomber stream, inevitably exposed them to greater danger and a higher casualty rate than those of the Main Force.
No 156 Squadron was one of the original units in the Force; it operated from the wartime airfield of Warboys with Wellingtons until the end of 1942 and thereafter with 4-engined Lancasters, the very successful heavy bomber which was the mainstay of Bomber Command in the later years. The squadron flew a total of 4,584 sorties with the loss of 143 aircraft – a ratio of 3.12%. David joined it in January 1943, again as a flight commander. In the following four months he carried out a further 23 raids (all but one as a pathfinder) in Lancasters. The log books note occasional problems – “coned 2”, “shot up on way
1 The average sortie life of aircrew in the Command was never higher than 9.2 and at one time was as low as eight, and during the dark days of 1941-1943 the average survival chances of anyone starting a 30-sortie tour was consistently under 40% and sometimes under 30%. In one disastrous raid, on Nuremburg in March 1944, 795 planes set out, 94 were shot down and another 12 crashed in Britain. During the war as a whole, out of some 125,000 aircrew who served with Bomber Command, 55,000 died.
2 “Coned” – caught in a cone of converging searchlights, as experience which says put him off hunting for life.
[Page break]
= 3 =
in”, “slight flak damage”, and so on. Much of the period became known as the Battle of the Ruhr, though other targets were also being attacked. He told me once that the raid he was really proud to have been on was the one where instead of marking the targeted town (I think Dortmund) they marked in error a nearby wood, which the main force behind them duly obliterated; only after the war did the Germans express their admiration for the British Intelligence which had identified the highly secret installation hidden in the wood …
One of the pages in his log book has a cutting from the Times inserted, evidently dated some years later, recalling how in April 1943 the spring came very early and the hedges were billowing with white hawthorn blossom. This puzzled me until I read in a book on 156 Squadron how that blossom had come to have the same significance for them as the Flanders poppies of the 1914-1918 war.
David was promoted to Wing Commander half way through the tour (pathfinders rated one rank above the comparable level elsewhere), and awarded the DSO towards the end of it. The recommendation for this said that he had “at all times pressed home his attacks with the utmost determination and courage in the face of heavy ground defences and fighters. As a pilot he shows powers of leadership and airmanship which have set an outstanding example to the rest of the squadron” – and Bennett himself added, noting that David had just flown four operational sorties in the last five days, “he has provided an example of determination and devotions to duty which it would be difficult to equal.”
On the end of this tour in June 1943, he was sent to command No 1667 Conversion Unit at Lindholme and later Faldingworth. In December 1943 he transferred to a staff appointment at the headquarters of the newly formed 100 (SD) Group at West Raynham and later Bylaugh Hall. At this stage in the war the methods of attack and defence were growing increasingly complex, and this group was formed as a Bomber Support Group, including nightfighters, deceptive measures, and radio countermeasures (RCM). In June 1944, just after D-Day, he was given command of No 192 (SD) Squadron based at Foulsham, another wartime airfield. This squadron had been formed in January 1943 as a specialist RCM unit, and it pioneered this type of operation in Bomber Command; it flew more sorties and suffered more losses (19 aircraft) than any other RCM squadron. While RCM and electronic intelligence were its primary purpose, its aircraft often carried bombs and dropped them on the Main Force targets. RCM took a number of forms – swamping enemy radar and jamming it with “window” tinfoil, looking for new radar types and gaps in its coverage, deceptive R/T transmissions to nightfighters and so on – and one of the attractions of the work was the considerable measure of autonomy, and the freedom to plan their own operations. These extended to tasks such as searching for V2 launch sites (recorded as “whizzers” in David’s log book) and trying to identify the radio signals associated with them, and supporting the invasion of Walcheren in September. The squadron was equipped with Wellingtons (phased out at the end of 1944), Halifaxes and Mosquitoes, plus a detachment of USAAF Lightnings.
This role was the climax of his career, and lasted until the end of the war and after. It involved him in 25 operational sorties, all in Halifax IIIs, the much improved version of this initially disappointing 4-engined heavy bomber. They carried special electronic equipment and an extra crew member known as the Special Operator. The record of these sorties in the log books, for the most part so formal and statistical up to this point, becomes a little more anecdotal: “rubber-necking on beach “ (when he took two senior officers to see the breaching of the dykes at Walcheren), “Munster shambles”, “Lanc blew up and made small hole in aircraft [but only] 4 lost out of 1200!” The furthest east he went was to Gdynia in Poland; on returning from there he had the privilege of becoming the first heavy aircraft to land at Foulsham using the FIDO fog dispersal system. “Finger Finger Fido” was the cryptic comment in the log book.
[Page break]
= 4 =
A number of these sorties were daytime; on one of them, on September 13th, he was chased home by two ME109s which made six attacks on him. One of them opened fire but thanks to violent evasive action his aircraft was undamaged: his own gunners never got a chance to fire. No doubt it was skill of this sort, as well as his survival record, which gave his crew great faith in David’s ability to get them home safely. An encounter on December 29th 1944, on a Window patrol over the Ruhr, was not quite so satisfying; they claimed to have damaged a Ju88 which subsequently proved to be an unhurt Mosquito X from Swannington – and the Mosquito had identified them as a Lancaster. The log book entry concludes “Oh dear. FIDO landing, flew into ground. What a day.”
He was awarded a bar to his DSO in July 1945. The recommendation, made in March, recorded that “since being posted to his present squadron he has carried out every one of his sorties in the same exemplary fashion and has set his crews an extremely high standard of devotion to duty and bravery. This standard has had a direct influence on the whole specialist work of the squadron.
“He has been personally responsible for the planning of all the sorties carried out by his special duty unit and by his brilliant understanding and quick appreciation of the everchanging nature of the investigational role of his squadron, much of the success of the investigations performed by his aircraft can be attributed to him. He has shown himself to be fearless and cool in the face of danger, and towards the end of his tour made a point of putting himself on the most arduous and difficult operations.
“Both on the ground and in the air he has been untiring and has not spared himself in his efforts to get his squadron up to the high standard which it has now reached.”
The squadron was disbanded in September, by which time David had completed 501 hours of operations against the enemy in 86 sorties, the great majority of them as captain of his aircraft, He had no ambition to make a permanent career in the RAF; he has commented to Richard that this fact gave him a degree of independence in his dealing with his superiors that he thinks they appreciated and valued. He was demobilised in November and returned to his interrupted law studies.
…….
I showed these notes to David, who thought them well written but suggested that they gave a twisted view of the reality – a reaction that I can understand. Since then, however, I have managed to contact one man who flew with David: HB (Hank) Cooper DSO DFC, who first met David in 149 Squadron which he joined in January 1941 as a wireless operator / air gunner for his first tour, and later did two tours as a Special Operator in 192 Squadron, the second of them under David’s command. On two occasions he flew as a member of David’s crew.
He has written of David that “he was always completely fearless and outstandingly brave and pressed home his attacks to the uttermost. As the Squadron’s CO he generated loyalty and warmth, he was an outstanding model to follow. He spent much trouble and time encouraging his junior air crews as well as helping and seeing to the needs of the ground technicians who serviced the aircraft, generally in cold and difficult conditions. He was completely non-boastful, in fact he belittled his own actions (which were always of the highest order) when discussing air operations. (That rings very true!) He was an outstanding squadron commander in all respects, much liked and completely respected by all his air crews and ground crews.”
GND
March 2002
[Page break]
Temple Bar 1217
TEL. Extn. 2631
Correspondence on the subject of this letter should be addressed to:-
PS. THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE,
AIR MINISTRY S. 7. E.
and should quote the reference:-
S.7.e/79693.
[Crest] AIR MINISTRY,
LONDON, W.C.2.
26 March, 1949.
Sir,
I am directed to refer to your letter dated 21st March, 1949, regarding those awards due to you in respect of your service in the 1939/45 World War, and to inform you that your entitlement to the 1939/45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star with the France and Germany Clasp, and the War Medal has been established. These awards will be despatched to you shortly.
2. It is regretted that as you did not complete three years wartime non-operational service in the United Kingdom, the Defence Medal cannot be authorised. The Air Efficiency Award will not be ready for issue for some time. Application will not be necessary, but I am to request that you will notify this Department of any change in your permanent address, so that the award may be sent to you as soon as it becomes available.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
[Signature]
Wing Commander D.W. Donaldson, D.S.O., D.F.C.,
1a, Crescent Place,
London, S.W.3.
[Crest] Rep’d 29/3/49 & pointed out total of No of service in UK was 3 yrs 4 mth 120 day
[Page break]
[Blank page]
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
David Donaldson's pilot's flying log book. One
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LDonaldsonDW70185v1
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
Description
An account of the resource
Pilots flying log book for David W Donaldson. This is a newly bound compilation of 3 log books covering the period from 12 March 1938 to 19 September 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown, Instructor duties and special duties flying. He was stationed at RAF Hamble, RAF Hanworth, RAF Evanton, RAF Brize Norton, RAF Harwell, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Feltwell, RAF Wyton, RAF Exning, RAF Hampstead Norris, RAF Warboys, RAF Lindholme, RAF West Raynham, RAF Bylaugh Hall and RAF Foulsham. Aircraft flown were, Cadet, B2, Hart, Hind, Magister, Henley, Oxford, Wellington, Hudson, Mentor, Anson, Lancaster, Tiger Moth, Halifax, Proctor and Moth Minor. He flew a total of 86 Night operations, 31 with 149 squadron, 5 with 57 squadron, 1 with 15 OTU, 23 With 156 squadron and 26 with 192 squadron. Targets were, Calais, Le Havre, Flushing, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Cologne, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Duisburg, Merignac, Mannheim, Turin, Bordeaux, Lorient, Bremen, Venice, Wilhelmshaven, Hannover, Brest, Cherbourg, Dunkirk, Dusseldorf, Emden, Milan, Nurnberg, Stuttgart, St Nazaire, Kiel, Frankfurt, Spezia, Dortmund, Pilsen, Munster, North Sea, Walcheren, Bochum, Hagen, Merseburg, Gdynia, Wiesbaden, Politz, Chemnitz, Ladbergen, Dessau, Stade, Moblis and Berchtesgarten. His first or second pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Woollatt, Pilot Officer Morrison, Flying Officer Henderson, Sergeant Horn, Pilot Officer Garton, Pilot Officer Pelletier, Sergeant Wilson, Flight Lieutenant Meir, Major Leboutte, Flying Officer Parr, Wing Commander Chisholm and Wing Commander Willis. The log book contains newspaper clippings and a summary of his exploits written by his brother.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1940-09-25
1940-10-01
1940-10-02
1940-10-09
1940-10-10
1940-10-13
1940-10-14
1940-10-15
1940-10-16
1940-10-21
1940-10-22
1940-10-23
1940-10-24
1940-11-06
1940-11-07
1940-11-08
1940-11-09
1940-11-13
1940-11-14
1940-11-15
1940-11-16
1940-11-17
1940-11-18
1940-11-19
1940-11-20
1940-11-22
1940-11-23
1940-11-28
1940-11-29
1940-12-04
1940-12-05
1940-12-08
1940-12-09
1940-12-20
1940-12-21
1940-12-23
1940-12-24
1940-12-28
1940-12-29
1941-01-02
1941-01-03
1941-01-09
1941-01-10
1941-01-12
1941-01-13
1941-01-29
1941-01-30
1941-02-10
1941-02-11
1941-02-12
1941-02-14
1941-02-15
1941-02-21
1941-02-22
1941-02-24
1941-02-25
1941-02-26
1941-02-27
1941-03-01
1941-03-02
1941-09-30
1941-10-01
1941-10-03
1941-10-13
1941-10-14
1941-10-22
1941-10-23
1941-11-26
1941-11-27
1942-09-10
1942-09-11
1943-02-13
1943-02-14
1943-02-15
1943-02-19
1943-02-20
1943-02-24
1943-02-25
1943-02-26
1943-03-08
1943-03-09
1943-03-10
1943-03-11
1943-03-12
1943-03-13
1943-03-22
1943-03-23
1943-03-27
1943-03-28
1943-03-29
1943-03-30
1943-04-04
1943-04-05
1943-04-10
1943-04-11
1943-04-13
1943-04-14
1943-04-26
1943-04-27
1943-05-04
1943-05-05
1943-05-12
1943-05-13
1943-05-14
1943-05-23
1943-05-24
1943-05-25
1943-05-26
1943-06-12
1943-06-13
1943-12-21
1943-12-22
1944-09-03
1944-09-13
1944-10-03
1944-10-25
1944-11-04
1944-11-05
1944-11-18
1944-12-04
1944-12-05
1944-12-06
1944-12-07
1944-12-18
1944-12-19
1944-12-29
1944-12-30
1945-01-05
1945-01-06
1945-01-28
1945-01-29
1945-02-02
1945-02-03
1945-02-08
1945-02-09
1945-02-14
1945-02-15
1945-03-03
1945-03-04
1945-03-07
1945-03-08
1945-04-02
1945-04-03
1945-04-07
1945-04-08
1945-04-25
1945-04-26
1945-05-12
1945-06-23
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Anne-Marie Watson
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Czech Republic--Plzeň
England--Berkshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--London
England--Hampshire
England--Norfolk
England--Oxfordshire
England--Suffolk
England--Yorkshire
France--Brest
France--Calais
France--Cherbourg
France--Dunkerque
France--Le Havre
France--Lorient
France--Saint-Nazaire
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Berchtesgaden
Germany--Bochum
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dessau (Dessau)
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg)
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Leipzig Region
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Merseburg
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Stade (Lower Saxony)
Germany--Steinfurt Region (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Wiesbaden
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
Italy--Milan
Italy--La Spezia
Italy--Turin
Italy--Venice
Netherlands--Vlissingen
Netherlands--Walcheren
Poland--Gdynia
Poland--Police (Województwo Zachodniopomorskie)
Scotland--Ross and Cromarty
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Mérignac (Gironde)
100 Group
149 Squadron
15 OTU
156 Squadron
1667 HCU
192 Squadron
57 Squadron
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
bombing
Bombing and Gunnery School
Cook’s tour
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
Flying Training School
Gee
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hudson
Lancaster
Magister
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
pilot
Proctor
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Evanton
RAF Feltwell
RAF Foulsham
RAF Hampstead Norris
RAF Harwell
RAF Lindholme
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Warboys
RAF West Raynham
RAF Wyton
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
53, LIMERSTON STREET,
LONDON, SW10 0BL
01-352 4460.
D.W.D.
D.S.O & Bar Awarded 14.5.43 and 17.7.45
D.F.C Awarded 7 February 1941
1939/45 Star
Air Crew Europe Star (With France & Germany clasp)
Defence Medal
War Medal 1939/45
Air Efficiency Award
(DSO, Bar & DFC have year of award engraved on back)
(Air Efficiency Award has name & [indecipherable word] on rim)
J.D. War Medal 1939/45
[page break]
RAF Service
53, LIMERSTON STREET,
LONDON, SW10 0BL
01-352 4460.
D.W.D.
RAFO (A.A OD) 13.8.34 – 31.1.37 ASTLd Hamble etc
RAFVR 1.2.38 – 2.9.39 Avro Cadet, BE2.A.
RAF EVANTON (Scotland) 3.9.39 – 26.4.40. Hanley. (Target Training).
RAF BRIZE NORTON (2 SFTS) 27.4.40 – 9.8.40 Oxford, Flying Training
No15. OUT RAF HARWELL 10.8.40 – 19.9.40 Wellington Training
No149 (B)Sqd RAF MILDENHALL 20.12.40 – 7.3.40[sic] Wellington. 31. Ops
Detailed to Air Ministry & British [indecipherable words] NEW YORK and ATFERO for Ferrying Duties USA Canada Iceland & UK. 8.3.41 – 28.9.41. Hudson and Wellington.
No 57(B) Sqdn. Feltwell & [indecipherable word] 26.9.41 – 20.x11.41 Wellingtons. 5 Ops.
RAF Hospitals Ely and Littleport & Sick leave 20.x11.42[sic] 9.3.42
H.Q 3 Group RAF EXNING 9.3.42 14.7.42 Staff-Group Tactics Offices
No.18. OUT RAF HARWELL & HAMPSTEAD NORRIS 15.3.42 18.1.43 Instructor 1, Op. Wellingtons
RAF WARBOYS (Pathfinders) 18.1.43 21.6.43. Flight Commander (WgCom) Pathfinders 23, Ops.
P.T.O.
[page break]
No 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit. RAF LINDHOLME & FALDINGWORTH. 21.6.43 – 14.12.43 Chief Instructor Lancasters.
HQ 100 Group RAF West Raynham & BYLAUGH Hall 15.12.44[sic] 12.6.44 Staff Air 1 & D.S.A.S.O 2 Ops.
RAF FOULSHAM, No 192 Sqdr. (Spec Duties) 12.6.44 – 6.9.45. CO Air [indecipherable word] & Signals Investigation Halifax. 21, Ops.
H.Q 100 Group RAF BYLAUGH HALL 6.9.45 1.10.45. (W/C. Ops).
Demob [indecipherable word] 1.10.45 – 25.x1.45.
[underlined] JD. [/underlined]
WAAF October 1939 – Feb 1940 Initial Training
RAF Bentley Priory H.Q. Fighter Command Feb 1940 – June 1940 Filter Plotter
Code & Cypher Training at OXFORD June 1940 – August 1940 ASO Code & Cypher Training ASO
RAF MILDENHALL Bomber Command August 1940 – Late Summer 1941 C&C Offices
RAF WYTON Bomber Command Section Offices Summer 1941 – Dec 1941 C&C Offices
H.Q Flying Training [indecipherable word] RAF CAVERSHAM Dec 1941 – April 1941[sic] C&C Duties
April 1941[sic] – [indecipherable word]
([indecipherable words])
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
Summary of medals and Royal Air Force Service for David and Joyce Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
List medals for David Donaldson including Distinguished Service order and bar, Distinguished Flying Cross. Medal for Joyce Donaldson, War Medal 1939-45. Lists RAF Service for David Donaldson from 1934 to demob in November 1945. Lists Joyce Donaldson's wartime service in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force from October 1939 to April 1941.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Donaldson
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three page handwritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Hampshire
England--Hamble-le-Rice
Scotland--Easter Ross
England--Oxfordshire
England--Berkshire
England--Suffolk
England--Norfolk
England--Exning
England--Ely
England--Huntingdonshire
England--London
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Yorkshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1934
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MDonaldsonDW70185-150610-07
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
100 Group
149 Squadron
15 OTU
1667 HCU
18 OTU
192 Squadron
3 Group
57 Squadron
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
ground personnel
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hudson
Lancaster
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
RAF Bentley Priory
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Evanton
RAF Faldingworth
RAF Feltwell
RAF Foulsham
RAF Hampstead Norris
RAF Harwell
RAF Lindholme
RAF Methwold
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Warboys
RAF West Raynham
RAF Wyton
training
Wellington
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
Redgrave, Henry Cecil
H C Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. The collection concerns Henry Cecil Redgrave (743047, Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, letters and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 207 Squadron from RAF Waddington. He was killed 13/14 March 1941. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pam Isaac and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Henry Cecil Redgrave is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/119457/">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-02
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
Redgrave, HC
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
Harry Redgrave's Driving Licence
Description
An account of the resource
A licence issued to Harry Redgrave
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed booklet with handwritten yearly licences affixed
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
MRedgraveHC743047-160216-010001,
MRedgraveHC743047-160216-010002,
MRedgraveHC743047-160216-010003,
MRedgraveHC743047-160216-010004,
MRedgraveHC743047-160216-010005
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Essex
England--Southend-on-Sea
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.
1938
1939
1940
1941
-
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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
Redgrave, Henry Cecil
H C Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. The collection concerns Henry Cecil Redgrave (743047, Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, letters and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 207 Squadron from RAF Waddington. He was killed 13/14 March 1941. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pam Isaac and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Henry Cecil Redgrave is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/119457/">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
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
2015-10-02
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
Redgrave, HC
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
1935 Blackpool Illuminations
Description
An account of the resource
A brochure advertising the 1935 Blackpool Illuminations
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935
Format
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One printed two-sided leaflet
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Identifier
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MRedgraveHC743047-160216-050001,
MRedgraveHC743047-160216-050002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Lancashire
England--Blackpool
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15998/ORedgraveHC743047-151002-010001.1.jpg
833729708bc44b1d1df8af400e7caa6b
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15998/ORedgraveHC743047-151002-010002.1.jpg
36ce06ddfdb502dd4ea8c5f5254755ad
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
Redgrave, Henry Cecil
H C Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. The collection concerns Henry Cecil Redgrave (743047, Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, letters and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 207 Squadron from RAF Waddington. He was killed 13/14 March 1941. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pam Isaac and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Henry Cecil Redgrave is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/119457/">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-02
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
Redgrave, HC
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
Volunteer Reserve Pass - Southend District
Description
An account of the resource
Pass issued to Leading Aircraftsman Harry Redgrave in 1939. In pencil is annotated 'Thurs 3 Fri 10 Sun 3'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1939-07-18
Format
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One printed card with handwritten annotations
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
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ORedgraveHC743047-151002-010001,
ORedgraveHC743047-151002-010002
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Essex
England--Southend-on-Sea
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.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
aircrew
observer
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/16002/YRedgraveJM743047v2.1.pdf
10873330e482cba2e1e31d9afbafecba
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
Redgrave, Henry Cecil
H C Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. The collection concerns Henry Cecil Redgrave (743047, Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, letters and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 207 Squadron from RAF Waddington. He was killed 13/14 March 1941. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pam Isaac and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Henry Cecil Redgrave is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/119457/">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Redgrave, HC
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
KIA-ORA
DIARY
1939
[Page break]
[Patterned printed page]
[Page break]
THE
KIA-ORA
DESK DIARY
FOR 1939
WITH MONTHLY AND ALPHABETICAL INDEXES
[Page break]
[Page of General Information]
[Page break]
[Tables of information on Bridge Scoring and Wages]
[Page break]
DECEMBER, 1938
[Deleted] THURSDAY 22 [/deleted]
[Entries from FRIDAY 23 to SATURDAY 31 in diary from 1938]
SUNDAY-JAN. 1
Cont -. From previous diary
[Page break]
JANUARY, 1939
2 MONDAY
Mum & I did our washing in the morning She took Gwen to the Pantomime
Window cleaner came in the afternoon
3 TUESDAY
Pamela still is not so good. Went to work in the afternoon
Harry bought two snips of champagne.
Harry bought home a lovely piano the very thing we want
4 WEDNESDAY
I went to work all day
Rain quite a lot today
[Page break]
[Panel advertising Kia-Ora]
[Page break]
MEMORANDA
Harry is joining the R.A.F. Volunteer Reserve so far as he has his school master signature Mrs Leslie & Mr Robinson
[Page break]
JANUARY, 1939
THURSDAY 5
I went to work this afternoon [deleted] in [/deleted] till 8 oclock.
FRIDAY 6
Mum and I got a lot of work done in the morning. Pamela is a lot better and went to work in the afternoon
Harry has bought Pamela a lovely box of chocs.
SATURDAY 7
I am sitting on the bed by a lovely fire in our bedroom writing this it [underlined] is [/underlined] lovely. Harry and I had a Champagne supper. Excelent! Bought some Bickie-pegs for Pamela
SUNDAY 8
20/ min fire Went out for a walk in the morning with Gwen to the aerodrome. Vera came up. We all had a game of Monopoly
[Page break]
JANUARY, 1939
9 MONDAY
Mum and I did our washing this morning.
Harry and I fitted Mum’s wireless on top of the cabinette this afternoon and then he went out and bought Mickey’s hook to hang his cage upon he looks a lot better now complete with cuttlefish
Making Pamela another petticoat
10 TUESDAY
Hanging out the rest of the washing
Went to work in the afternoon to finish at 6.15pm
Had a game of Monopoly with Mrs Jacombe.
Turned bitterly cold tonight
[Calculations]
11 WEDNESDAY
Rained during the night
Harry took me to work on the motor byke
Harry had the piano tuned. Practicing some of my old music lessons again. Band Waggon was good tonight.
Stan came with his young lady to see Harry.
8 1/4 5/6
[Page break]
JANUARY, 1939
THURSDAY 12
Did a bit more washing nearly filled the line washed the front room carpet looks better and the hall runner
Went to work in the afternoon finished 6.15.pm.
Did my ironing 2-10
FRIDAY 13
Pamela’s birthday her first birthday time does fly. She is such a little dear. Her daddy has bought her a birthday cake and a box of chocolates
Agnes – a pink wooly coat Gwen Hanks a petticoat & a lovely dolly. Mrs Souster was down [inserted] with [/inserted] the flu so could not come to tea.
SATURDAY 14
Mum & I getting very busy for tomorrow had Pamela’s party today Stan & Gwen bought a lovely doll & Big ball
SUNDAY 15
Joyce & I made the sandwiches to the party. The party was a success & everybody enjoyed themselves Dolly & Sid bought Pamela a novelty toy coloured wooden rings
[Page break]
JANUARY, 1939
16 MONDAY
Mum & I were a bit worried over Joyce & Tom could not seem to do any work. Joyce was feeling a bit brighter
Harry and I went to the Astoria in the afternoon the first time for months saw “Robin Hood” Errol Flynn – Olivia de Havilland.
17 TUESDAY
Did my washing but it rained still worried about Joyce cant seem to get the work done.
18 WEDNESDAY
Harry spent a lazy day half in bed & the rest in an armchair Harry is starting Vernon’s Club Band Waggon was very good – “Stay in my arms umbrella”.
Joyce & Tom seem to have to some arrangement thank heaven.
[Page break]
JANUARY, 1939
THURSDAY 19
Mum went out and ordered her divan I went to work in the afternoon.
Agnes’ mistress bought Pamela a pretty dress hand [deleted] embroidied [/deleted] embroidered I have never seen such a sweet dress. Harry is laying in bed beside me waiting for me to pack up writing this
FRIDAY 20
Mum & I got with the work O.K. in the morning
Went to work in the afternoon
SATURDAY 21
Harry owes me 1s 2d 3s 0d
2 3
6-5
SUNDAY 22
Harry & Tom made mum’s bed look a treat looks quite modern. Gwen Pamela in the pram & I went for a walk a bit cold.
[Page break]
JANUARY, 1939
23 MONDAY
A nice day for washing did some of mine ready for tomorrow
Harry & I went over to Milly’s in the evening had quite a chat wireless promgrame was good about Jan-birthday’s
Pamela a bit [deleted] toughy [/deleted] touchy
24 TUESDAY
Harry’s Mothers birthday 55 years
Sun shone all day today the best day for a long time for drying my washing Pamela was very good today Turning very cold tonight
Harry had to buy a new tyre for his front wheel.
25 WEDNESDAY
What a terrible day it has turned out to be. rain and snow and very cold
Harry tool me to work morning and afternoon finish at half past five
Pamela hurt her finger in the door. very good “Band Waggon” and Variety still very cold
[Page break]
JANUARY, 1939
THURSDAY 26
Aggies case arrived today it is a very nice one blue Harry’s shirt arrived and Joyce’s wedding ring
I went to work in the afternoon finished 6-15pm.
Had a nice bath
FRIDAY 27
Pamela cut a tooth today [deleted] a [/deleted] in the bottom row.
Went to work in the afternoon finished at 9.O clock.
SATURDAY 28
Sat – rather cold Mum & Joyce went flat hunting and shopping Washed my hair & had a game of monopoly with Gwen.
SUNDAY 29
Made mum a bolster for her divan We had a very good game of monopoly in the evening I won
We gave Aggie her case she was very pleased Harry & I turning the front garden over
[Page break]
JAN.-FEB., 1939
30 MONDAY
Mum did her washing I did a bit of mine. Harry & I went to Southend to pay the rates
We went to the Moscert and saw Bing in “Doctor Rythme”
31 TUESDAY
Nice day for washing did all my ironing and mending. Mum went to pictures with Mrs Jacomb.
1 FEB.-WEDNESDAY
Went to work all day. Pam went for a walk for the first time down the path
Harry & I went to see Florrie she has got a baby boy.
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1939
THURSDAY 2
Still cold
Went to work in the afternoon till 7- O clock
Pamela has a bit of a cold
Harry’s chain broke. coming home worse luck.
FRIDAY 3
My husband’s birthday 27th year I have bought him a pr of leg shields including his Mum Aggie bought him two of socks.
Bought himself a pr pyjamas
Very foggy all day
Met Nurse Leadbeatter tonight had a long talk in the fog. Went to work this afternoon
SATURDAY 4
1’/- Kye light 6/S & 1/- = 7/5 [symbols]
8/- SUNDAY 5
A nice day Made Joyce’s curtain & Mum’s sheet. Play mon- in the evening Aggie bought a birthday cake for Harry & hers Birthday it was lovely. Pamela not so good in health
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1939
6 MONDAY
Sun is shining looks [deleted] likle [/deleted] like a summers day Mum has done all her washing We both went to Southend in the afternoon Paid Abbey Road.
Harry put new [inserted] valve [/inserted] springs. at 13,240 miles
I bought myself a new hat at last and Harry likes immensely.
7 TUESDAY
Another lovely day did crowds of washing Pamela a little irritable with her teeth. People moved in next door into their £900 bungalow
Harry & I popped down Southend to see about Tom electric light
Did my ironing in the evening and my mending then had a bath It is raining now.
8 WEDNESDAY
Went to work all day
Harry is going to get in the [deleted] R A F Rerves. [/deleted] R.A.F. Volunteer Reserve. He went and saw his old school master and talk over old times.
I had Pamela’s coat washed and finished in the day and bought it home
Band Waggon was very good
Stinker is going to have an opperation for appentacitis
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1939
THURSDAY 9
Mum & I got our work done as usual. Went to work in the afternoon Agnes had a lovely birthday cake made for her by her mistress it had on it “To Our Agnes” They bought a very good pair of brown shoes and some other friends bought her several pairs of stocking we bought a blue weekend case which she liked very much. Agnes certain is very lucky now.
FRIDAY 10
[Deleted] Agnes [/deleted]
Mum & I tried to get Saturday’s work in this morning what a scramble
I went to work in the afternoon finish at 8.30 p.m. Joyce & Tom had a lot to do they did not get to bed till 1-45 AM, they looked very tired their Bedroom Suite did not come for today
SATURDAY 11
Joyce & Tom were married at 12 Oclock today Joyce looked lovely the dinner went off lovely we play monopoly in the evening I won the 1st game. 4th. Milly & Frank came they looked very well Bobbie was ill though
SUNDAY 12
It rained a bit this morning just as Mum & I were going out for a walk but still we had plenty to do in the mean while. Vera came up in the afternoon
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1939
13 MONDAY
Mum did her washing a very nice day.
I cleared up the mess in the long room after the wedding
Joyce & Tom came along in the evening Wireless was not to bad.
I making a crochet butterfly
14 TUESDAY
I did my washing another very nice day did my ironing in the afternoon played monopoly with Gwennie in the evening I had my bath and washed my hair
15 WEDNESDAY
Went To work all day Harry took my on the motor byke but something wanted doing to its in the engine
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1939
THURSDAY 16
Mum & I got our work done and washed and dressed in the morning
Harry had his day off today as he has an appointment a 2.30pm. at the RAF offices at Pameria Towers he passed the board, but he had to go tomorrow to see the doctors.
FRIDAY 17
Washed over all the carpets this morning we are keeping the bungalow lovely The green grocer is still ill his wife looks very tired
Went to work in the afternoon finish at 8-oclock going to work I met Nurse Leadbeatter she took me to work in the car.
Harry has passed for R.A.F.V.R. He is sworn in for 5 years.
SATURDAY 18
Still very nice weather Mum & I got through our work lovely I went to Mums in the afternoon and Mum & Gwen went with Joyce to Southend Harry bought some roe home for supper I am making Joyce some more curtains
SUNDAY 19
Harry & I went over to Millys on the motor byke saw Joyce & Tom first Joyce had badly scalded her hand.
Went to Joyce & Tom in the evening Pamela did not want to sleep un the pram
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1939
20 MONDAY
Nice day for washing Harry & I went to the Mascot saw “You & Me” & St Martins’ Lane”
Joyce’s hand is no better. Gwennie stayed in bed she had a bad head.
Pamela walked up & down the road today she loved it walked round to Elsie but she was out
21 TUESDAY
Did rest of my washing and all my ironing and mending
22 WEDNESDAY
Harry & Millie went up to Aunt Nell’s for the day saw Vera she is having a baby in June It rain a lot up in London
Harry got home a 2-15P.M. I took Pamela to my mother’s in the afternoon she had a good time 3/4 hours late for work.
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1939
THURSDAY 23
Took Harry’s trousers to be cleaned and he had let some in the pockets
Worked in the afternoon took Pamela to Mum again
FRIDAY 24
Went to Joyce’s in the morning and dress her made her cup of tea.
Went to work in the afternoon finish earlier Heard Victor Silvesta and “Top Hat” again
They found Harry’s money thank good-ness
SATURDAY 25
Mum & I got our work done and the sun shone all morning but it poured during the afternoon
I washed my hair in the evening and altered my skirt
SUNDAY 26
I cooked the dinner this morning while mum went out Harry & I went over to Milly’s to tea it was all very lovely.
[Page break]
FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1939
27 MONDAY
Mum did her washing and it was a very nice day
Harry & I took Pamela for a walk to the aerodrome saw some new Hawker Hurricanes
Harry & I went to the Ritz saw “Pygmalion” the best picture of the year.
28 TUESDAY
Did my washing today not quite so much for a change. Pamela is very amusing she is still cutting more teeth
Did my ironing and had a lovely bath.
The council have started laying the drainage in Hamton Gdns.
1 MARCH-WEDNESDAY
I went to work all day
Harry took me to & fro on his byke.
Doris is ill with the flu. so I did her work
We all listened to “bandwagon” very good indeed Auther Askey is a scream
Harry made a beautiful fire to night.
[Page break]
MARCH, 1939
THURSDAY 2
Sun shone it is a lovely day I went to work in the afternoon I saw Elsie & her sister & mother doing some cooking as usual. Her sister is going to Switzland for a holiday very nice too
Harry brought home my handbag they had repaired it nice and strong.
FRIDAY 3
Still another very nice day Pamela is getting so clean now that I have not got so much washing to do.
I went to A in the after-noon finish at 9 o’clock
Aggie came and [deleted] fecth [/deleted] fetched to stay with her over the week-end
SATURDAY 4
Sun shone all the morning then it rained in the afternoon just as Mum & I planned to go shopping but still we went in the evening. I made some lemon curd it was good.
SUNDAY 5
Mum went out this morning with Pamela saw Mrs Winch Harry & I went over to Tilbury to tea with some of Millie’s friends had a nice time the ride there & back was grand.
[Page break]
MARCH, 1939
6 MONDAY
I did my washing the morning and got it dry during the afternoon
I listened to the wireless. in the evening Harry bought himself some very nice grey [deleted] worsters [/deleted]. garbs.
He started attending his lectures tonight he has quite a lot to learn I hope he is successful.
7 TUESDAY
Went and saw Elsie in the morning did some gardening in the afternoon did my ironing and mending in the evening and had a nice bath.
8 WEDNESDAY
I Went to work all day Wed. Harry did a bit of [deleted] gardening [/deleted] studying during the day
Pamela is keep very well
We listened to “Band Waggon” the last but one this season Auther Askey is a fool
[Page break]
MARCH, 1939
THURSDAY 9
Mum & I did quite a lot of work this morning
I went to W. in the afternoon saw my mother in the evening Bought Pamela yellow coat I had it washed again
FRIDAY 10
We got our work done O.K. Polish a lot of window fittings went to work in the afternoon
Harry went to his RAFVR. [deleted throuroughly [/deleted] thoroughly enjoyed it very exiting and thrilling rather interesting to
The little airplanes over the airodrome are called “Tiger Moths” Mum helped Harry with the garden
SATURDAY 11
It was a nice morning but it rain in the afternoon again Harry & I did a bit of gardening. Started altering one of my dresses
SUNDAY 12
Gwen, Pamela, & I went for a walk [deleted] pats [/deleted] past the aerodrome to Eastwood Church. Harry a quiet afternoon & evening indoors. Vera came up in the afternoon.
[Page break]
MARCH, 1939
13 MONDAY
Turned out a better day today but it is still cold.
Harry & I went and saw George Formby in “Its in the Air” Washed my hair in the evening Harry went to his lectures feeling rather tired tonight It has turned very chilly.
14 TUESDAY
It has turned out a miserable kind of day I could not hang out any washing but still I had some drying by the fire in the evening Had a good game on monopoly in the evening with Gwennie
Had a very nice bath and nearly finish altering my dress
15 WEDNESDAY
I went to work all day Harry took the motor byke he went to work in the evening.
We listened to the last “Band Waggon” tonight it was very good. also there was a good variety.
I did my ironing as it rained yesterday
[Page break]
MARCH, 1939
THURSDAY 16
Rain during the morning and Pamela did not seem so well so I let her play [deleted] a [/deleted] whilst [deleted] while [/deleted] we did the long room thoroughly.
Did a bit of shopping on my [dleted] biykle [/deleted] bicycle.
I went to work in the afternoon Pamela was better and very good in the afternoon because Harry just said so whilst I am writing this (the B so and so)
FRIDAY 17
Victor Sylvestere 9-15P.M. cancelled Herr Hitler does not seem so good after all, every thing is getting serious again. Harry had a letter from “Air Hire” to make an appointment for going up in the air I listened to Chamberlain’s speech he certainly is very disapointed over Berlin & Munich agreement. Very cold to day bitter
SATURDAY 18
Mum & I bought the tea for Sunday for 12 people Mrs Holmes tool Pamela out she did enjoy it
SUNDAY 19
Mille & Frank arrived and their friends We all had a nice tea and nice time The visitors had to leave us early to [deleted] cacth [/deleted] catch their train
[Page break]
MARCH, 1939
20 MONDAY
Did some of my washing Mum [deleted] Harry [/deleted] & I went with Harry to the aerodrome to see him go up for the first time [Deleted] U [/deleted] He thoroughly enjoyed it he said it was better than motor byke riding it was grand.
While we waited for him we got frozen.
Altered two frocks this evening.
21 TUESDAY
Finished my washing and did a lot of gardening in the [deleted] evening [/deleted] afternoon did my ironing and mending in the evening washed my hair and had a bath went to bed before Harry got home Mum went to Thundersley Harry went to Pameria Towers They held a meeting there for future entertainment
22 WEDNESDAY
It poured with rain when I woke up this morning and poured in the front door went to W. all day home at 5-30p.m. We had the fire on in my bedroom tonight as the kitchen one went out
{Page break]
MARCH, 1939
THURSDAY 23
Mum & I got our usual work done I went to A finished at 6.15pm Tried Agnes’ dress on her it fitted lovely I am so glad
FRIDAY 24
We did the bedrooms today and got washed and dressed before dinner Harry run me up to A finish at 7 oclock saw. Elsie Had quite a long chat and her husband showed me the [deleted] ds [/deleted] lounge it looked lovely I had never seen a room done like it. Harry played darts & table tennis after his lectures
SATURDAY 25
We got through our work. Took Mum to see Elsie and she showed us all her baby’s clothes they looked sweet I went shopping in the evening and it was raining looked at all the dresses.
SUNDAY 26
I cut out my new dress and started to make same. Harry & I spent the afternoon and evening around the fire.
[Page break]
MARCH, 1939
27 MONDAY
Mum did her washing but it rained so she had to dry it indoors. In the afternoon I took Pamela to see Michael and Mrs Souster. Pamela had a lovely time playing with Micky’s toys he did not look any better in health poor chap.
28 TUESDAY
I did my washing it rained so I had to dry it all indoors did my ironing it the evening
Had [deleted] and [/deleted] a very nice bath
29 WEDNESDAY
I went to work all day and Harry motor byke has gone wrong so I had to pedal to work. I cut and thinned out mum’s hair & semi shingled it I was quite pleased with it
[Page break]
MARCH-APRIL, 1939
THURSDAY 30
I went to work all day today got up early went on my bike Aggie took Gwen to Southend as usual.
FRIDAY 31
Mum I did our work as usual. I went to work in the afternoon Harry took on his motor byke
Saw Joyce & Tom in the evening He was sworn in the RAF.V.Rs. I was very pleased because he had not been to High School, so he was lucky I gave Joyce some pink wool to make a babie’s vest.
SATURDAY-APRIL 1
Mum went to Millies’ for the week end over till Monday night
I did feel queer during the morning I listened to the boat race Cambridge won Harry bought home a dozen [deleted] oste [/deleted] Oysters the first I had tasted grand
SUNDAY 2
Harry & I got up early so did Gwen & Pamela I helped Harry finish the back garden ready for the seed
Harry went to work in the evening
[Page break]
3 MONDAY
Did all my washing this morning and cooked the dinner Pamela had a powder which made her sleep all the morning. I manage to wipe up the dinner things and put Pamela back in the pram for Harry to take down to the hairdressers to have my perm. It took 4 1/2 hrs. Miss Simmons did it very carefully and extremely well. Did my ironing in the evening my green bedspread look O.K.
4 TUESDAY
It poured with rain just before dinner but cleared up after, Joyce came with me to have Pamela’s photo down she had to stand on a chair with me sitting and wanted to get down. Saw Elsie again she looks very well and Ethel came up too.
5 WEDNESDAY
I worked all day
#Mum & I spent a quiet evening in the long room round the fire.
[Page break]
APRIL, 1939
THURSDAY 6
I worked all day again took [inserted] Pamela to [/inserted] Mum’s in the afternoon
Pamela had a nice lot of Easter eggs. lucky girl and so did Gwennie
FRIDAY 7
Went to work in the morning came home with a shocking headache.
Joyce & Tom came round. he went up for his first flight he like it
Vera came along too we had a darn good game of Sorry.
SATURDAY 8
Mum & I saw Elsie and her baby in the morning.
After tea I felt tired to I went to bed I was not so good.
SUNDAY 9
I still felt pretty rough, so I set about doing nothing I felt terrible is was a touch of the flu.
[Page break]
APRIL, 1939
10 MONDAY
Stayed in bed felt rather queer shocking headache. Vera came up & took Pamela out in the morning again.
11 TUESDAY
Feeling a bit better today Harry took Pamela and I to Barking. Had some Oysters for tea and being as I was feeling rotten again Harry gave me Champagne it certainly cleared my head.
12 WEDNESDAY
Harry Pamela & I went to Priory Park in the morning Pam did enjoy herself trotting about with other children
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[Kia-Ora advertising]
[Page break]
MEMORANDA
Harry has camera gun test April 16th [deleted] t [/deleted]
First flight March 20 th.
Aerobatics April 16th
I had a touch of the flu Easter Sunday
Agnes had it the following Sunday, her mistress came round to tell us she is very nice & her friend Mrs Huntly.
[Page break]
APRIL, 1939
THURSDAY 13
I went to A in the morning but I had a-nother nasty headache went to bed early in the evening
FRIDAY 14
Mum & I got through the work fine and I went to A in the afternoon felt very tired when I got home.
Agnes’ Mistress sent me the birds’ Cage I liked I cleaned it all up its brass and it looked lovely
Mum took Gwen & Pam to Southend & met Agnes. Pam is a pickle when she is out.
SATURDAY 15
Sun shone all the morning finish my dress and mended Pamelas dog that got burnt and iron her best dress.
SUNDAY 16
Dris-led with rain this morning it was really Mum’s Sunday off but she gave it to me. I popped up to see Joyce & Tom – Mrs Rogers came round in her car like the bungalow very much Did the front garden hoed & mowed Played Sorry in the evening
[Page break]
APRIL, 1939
17 MONDAY
Did my work & my washing a very nice day to Mum did a bit of gardening.
Went to Southend in the afternoon wireless was good in the evening, then it rain too late to put the grass seed Harry was disappointed
18 TUESDAY
A bit cold this morning but the sun shone and I had all my washing dry. I helped Harry seed the lawn and Gwen help me tie papers to keep the birds off. Did my ironing & mending in the evening and had a lovely bath Harry came in and ruffed my back down how seductive. Harry brought home a book ‘One bright Summer”
19 WEDNESDAY
Woke up and found the sun shining but did not want to get up. Harry took me to A. and I finished at 6-15p.m. Did some machining in the evening and made 6 dusters& 2pr [deleted] dusters [/deleted] knickers for Pam. Pamela has been very good today. I shall always have a picture in my mind of Pamela looking through the gate when she saw us go out on the motor byke she did so want to come
[Page break]
APRIL, 1939
THURSDAY 20
I went to A in the morning & took Pamela to my mother’s in the afternoon Harry brought me home a beautiful bunch of narcisis they smelt lovely they were out of his boss’s grounds.
It is a lovely evening out I hope the weather keeps fine Harry watered his seed lawn as it was still dry weather and no sign of rain
FRIDAY 21
A beautiful day I went to A in the afternoon finish at 8-45.p.m. Bought some chips on the way home
Gwen has still got her nasty cough
SATURDAY 22
Sat a nice morning but did not look so nice in the evening We had a nice fire in the reception room did some maching
SUNDAY 23
Mum took Pamela out and went to see Joyce they are coming down in the afternoon I made 2 Gainsborough tarts & 14 Madalines they all enjoyed them
Tom & Joyce came down we played M.
[Page break]
APRIL, 1939
24 MONDAY
Mum did her washing it rained during the morning I washing the net curtain they shrunk a bit they were not suppose to still they all do
I helped Harry & Stan make the cement path down the garden it is looking nice and did my back ache
25 TUESDAY
I did my washing and washed a blanket it was nice weather during the morning but it rained in the afternoon I got all my ironing done and cut out a nightie for Gwen’s doll. and we play M.
Mum got Pamela a mug for she keeps on breaking the cups. She is a little devil
Harry keeps moving about while I am writing he is a B nuisance
26 WEDNESDAY
Went to A allday bitter cold N.E wind Harry took me on the motor byke
[Page break]
APRIL, 1939
THURSDAY 27
Worked in the morning and [deleted] did m [/deleted] went to the Kursaal Cinema to see “Test Pilot” the first time I have been there made my appointment at the hairdressers. Joyce came round in the evening to see a house with a friend she might live there its very nice
FRIDAY 28
A very nice NE. wind has dropped but there was a ground frost
Went to A. finished at 7-15pm.
I left a book there I must go & get it tomorrow in case its lost.
Put the chrysanth’s cuttings in the garden this morning they are good ones Harry had [deleted] a yo [/deleted] them given to him.
SATURDAY 29
Did not feel so grand this morning we lit a fire in the long room and mum did some knitting I had an hair appointment at 3.0oc
Harry took me to a tail end of a wedding to introduce me to Mr. Davis & his wife they were very nice I got a little tottering on Sandeman’s Port and Champagne
SUNDAY 30
/Sunday. We all spent the day indoors it never ceased raining the whole time
[Page break]
MAY, 1939
1 MONDAY
Still pouring with rain and no end of weeds coming up all over the garden. Pamela & I went over to Millys all day she was pleased to see us and Pamela was ever so good Milly had to have Bobby put to sleep as the neighbours continuely complained. Mum met me off the train and we all had fish supper when we got home.
2 TUESDAY
I did my washing and had to dry a lot indoors I got all my ironing done. I am trying to get Pamela white coat finished for Whitsun
3 WEDNESDAY
I went to A. all day.
Mum & I went round to Joyce’s and did her curtains for her She has moved in to a lovely house upstairs her bedroom is very large. Harry & I saw the lady’s place downstairs it was very pretty.
[Page break]
MAY, 1939
THURSDAY 4
I went to A. all day and took Pamela to my mother’s in the afternoon Went I got home I did a bit of washing and had a lovely hot bath
I showed the girls at work Pamelas photo they all liked it very much.
FRIDAY 5
Mum & I got the work done alright I also cleaned Joey out did some washing Pam Yellow coat Bluebelled. the Birds stand looks nice.
Went to A in the afternoon finish at 7 o clock
I have been talking to Vera Mum & her may be going for a holiday to Hasting the first week in July. very nice too it would be the first since mum has been married.
SATURDAY 6
Mum & I got our work done and went to Southend in the afternoon, around the band stand and down the cliffs When we came home I had all my work cut out preparing sandwiches and things for tomorrow I bought P. a new pr of shoes
SUNDAY 7
Stan, Gwen, Harry & I got up 3.-30AM to go fishing of Barking creek we went aboard with three other fellows We all had a grand time 11 hours and I have never felt so fit for a long time it did me a world of good and it was very good weather Sun shone all the time
[Page break]
MAY, 1939
8 MONDAY
Mum did her washing and I hoovered every where in the bungalow and polished. The weather is gorgeous.
Harry took me to see “Men with Wings” a very good picture about history of aeroplanes and the progress
Weeded the front garden and trim the lawn. It is all looking lovely.
9 TUESDAY
I did my washing and got it all dry a beautiful day and hot Pamela looks comfy laying in the pram with the canopy over her and fast asleep she is getting brown. Pamela is a pickle there is nothing she wont touch and she had a little paddy does not want to come out of her bath and likes eating her soap.
10 WEDNESDAY
Went to A finished at 6-15p.m. Weather is still OK. The lawn is come along fine. Pamela is very good with exceptions now & again she is have a bit of trouble with her teeth. I altered mum’s dress tonight it is very nice material. Harry & I danced to the wireless when he came home from work Sunday has done us a bit of good.
The Havow Hensons have arrived
[Page break]
MAY, 1939
THURSDAY 11
Went to A. in the [deleted] after [/deleted] morning and took Pamela to see the girls in the afternoon they all loved her and she had a smile for every one. I altered mum’s dress and it fitted all right.
Harry & I danced to the radio it was very good like old times
FRIDAY 12
Mum & I did all the work we possible could because Aunty & Uncle were coming down tomorrow
I went to A in the afternoon finished at 8 O clock.
SATURDAY 13
Harry Mum & I got up @ 7 oclock and we were ahead with the work. and telegram came to say they were definently coming. They arrived safe & well. Went to Southend Granny & I went And saw Elsie and the baby.
SUNDAY 14
S We all went for a walk by the Aerodrome while mum cooked the dinner Aunty bought Pamela two pretty dresses, one pink & one yellow they went home at 7-30pm. as they had a long way to go home.
[Page break]
MAY, 1939
15 MONDAY
I did a bit of machining in the morning sat with Harry in the afternoon around the fire. Mum went to the pictures with Joyce.
Pamela is getting along fine.
Harry came home with his uniform he did look smart they were all good things.
Harry came top in Navigations
It rained today Mum did her bit of garden and I gave her some plants
16 TUESDAY
Did my washing & ironing did a lot of mending and repairing things in the evening had a nice bath.
It rained during the morning but it cleared after dinner
17 WEDNESDAY
Went to A all day Harry went to work in the evening I was very tired
Sun shone all day.
[Page break]
MAY, 1939
THURSDAY 18
Went to A all day My mother looked after Pamela in the afternoon came home and found a nice fire
Altered Mums dress.
Sun shone all day.
FRIDAY 19
Went to A in the afternoon
The sun shone all day.
I finish W at 8-30pm came home tired and Pamela was crying with her teeth and would not go to sleep I had to put her in the reception room to sleep
SATURDAY 20
We got our work done early and Vera & her young man took us to Hornchurch in his car to see the R.A.F. display I never seen such streams of traffic as there was that day, lined up for 3 miles
SUNDAY 21
S I got the dinner prepared and went out with Mum Gwen & Pamela for a walk. went over to the aerodrome. Harry & I walk to Rochford and back with Pamela
[Page break]
MAY, 1939
22 MONDAY
I done the reception room out thoroughly Hoovered the curtains and the suite washed the carpets & runner polished the floor all over and [deleted] Hooverd [/deleted] Hoovered the bedrooms. We all gardened in the afternoon Harry took me to Southend to do a bit of shopping then we came back & done the front garden thoroughly Cut Joyce’s dress out in the evening
23 TUESDAY
Sun shone bright it is a lovely day for washing Harry & I sat in the garden in the afternoon and Pamela slept in the pram.
I did all my ironing and machined some of Joyce’s dress. Had a lovely bath.
24 WEDNESDAY
Went to A all day, fitted Joyce for her dress in the evening and finished it and sew some large pearl buttons on Pamela white woolly coat I made for Whitsun it does look nice
Harry & I were busy turning out his robet & my wardrobe at 11-15pm but still they look better for it
[Page break]
MAY, 1939
THURSDAY 25
I did not feel so good today nasty pain in the Back. Joyce’s dress is to big so I must alter it
I had a nice little honey pot Agnes gave me a little brown one with flowers around it
FRIDAY 26
I went and had my hair set at Ediths this morning the sun shone lovely but the wind is a bit cool. Went to A this afternoon finish at 6-30p.m.
SATURDAY 27
We got our work done and Mum went out with Mrs Jacomb and I tool Gwen & Pamela down the beach Pamela did enjoy it. We saw Harry later & Stan
SUNDAY 28
Harry work Morning and Evening Mum went out with Mr Jacomb so Pamela helped me with the front garden she tried to hoe she certainly got the idea I bathed her about 8-30pm the Agnes & Gwen came home so Gwen & Pam went to bed together
[Page break]
MAY, 1939
29 MONDAY
Harry went into work and help with [deleted] di [/deleted] oysters his governor’s son is doing quite a lot of wholesale as well as retail. he will be [indecipherable] Harry at the end of the season.
Harry took me over to Barking Creek to get no end on oysters, in the evening we all went to Priory Park it had turned very chilly North East wind
30 TUESDAY
Mum stayed in bed today as her back was not any better “lumbago”. I did all my washing it was a lovely day and I managed to have 1/2 hr in a deck chair. I did my ironing and mending and had a nice bath then got the supper and had a chat with mum. Pamela has been a very good girl all day and she is getting very loving bless her
31 WEDNESDAY
I went to A all day finished at 6 oclock. Joyce looked after Pamela in the afternoon Mum went to bed about 7 oclock she is feeling better. I took Pamela along the road to the sweet shop to buy some choc. I spoke to a young lady next door but one and she is having a baby in November she is very happy about it and she loves Pamela.
[Page break]
JUNE, 1939
THURSDAY 1
I went to A all day and Harry’s mother push Pamela down to my mum in the afternoon and they went down to the beach. Joyce was all alone when I got home, and when Pamela was put to bed we had quite a long talk in my bedroom Tom came and fetched her at 10-30pm he said he was going up in a Avro [deleted] H [/deleted] Anson on Saturday, he was quite bushed with himself
FRIDAY 2
[Deleted] We [/deleted] Gwen’s wardrobe arrived this morning a very nice little one too
Mum & I altered the room round to make more room. I went to A and finished at 8-45 Heard a good variety on the wireless and a good play called “Musical Chairs”. Harry has started working till 10-30pm now for the season.
SATURDAY 3
We got work done as usual. Mum went out with Mrs Jacomb. to the pictures I altered two dresses one for Joyce & one for me.
SUNDAY 4
Mum went to Mrs Jacomb to dinner so [deleted a [/deleted] I put the meat in the oven and went out with Pamela for an hour then came back put the dinner on and made a cake Harry & I spent the afternoon in the garden then went to Chalkwell Park. then went in the Bell.
[Page break]
JUNE, 1939
5 MONDAY
Mum went round to Joyce’s to do her washing in Her new machine I washed the curtains in the long room and done all the paint. Harry took me over to Millies in the afternoon then he came back and went to the RAF. I mowed the front garden and watered it Mum done some and the back garden. I pulled all the weeds out on the public path.
6 TUESDAY
I did my washing today not so much as I sent some to the laundry then I washed three blankets out they did look nice & clean.
It is hot today I believe it is the hottest day [deleted] week [/deleted] we have had so far this year. I did my ironing in the evening and finished Joyce’s dress and made Pamela a beach dress of pink print. Harry & I had a lovely bath.
7 WEDNESDAY
Another hot day went to A all day Harry received a watch from Aunt Nellie for him to go up in the aeroplane. Pamela a bit touchy [deleted] tutchy [/deleted] tonight I wrote a letter in reply to Aunt Nellie and posted it finished the dress for Pamela. it does look nice. Harry is reading a good book called “Testament of Steven Fane” hot.
[Page break]
JUNE, 1939
THURSDAY 8
Went to A all day very busy this week my feet ached.
Harry went. up in the Avro. he did enjoy it then he went to his lectures in the evening. Altered my trousers to fit
FRIDAY 9
I went to work in the afternoon it is a beautiful day.
Mum went out with Pamela in the evening I arrived home first and watered the garden.
SATURDAY 10
The weather is still fine had a sleep in the afternoon to make up for the morning as we were off to Chedar Gorge. Saw Elsie in the evening [deleted] us [/deleted] her baby is fine.
SUNDAY 11
We started off 2 oclock in the morning but it started raining so we turned back Stan & Gwen came back too so we slept and went to Godsfield Lake & Colne Valley & Flatford Mills we had a lovey day
[Page break]
JUNE, 1939
12 MONDAY
Mum did her washing today and I help her with two blankets did some weeding in the garden I helped Harry in the afternoon with mum’s wireless set the cord from the gang had broken but after mending it something else was wrong.
13 TUESDAY
I did my washing and a blanket Pamela seems to have a cold coming
It certainly is cold today not a bit like last week. I did my ironing in the evening and Joyce popped in, it was pouring with rain.
Harry & I had a lovely bath each.
14 WEDNESDAY
Harry went on his flight with Vicky Captain McGill & Lt. Barlow to Exeter they left at 5 oclock. Harry phoned Stan when they arrived and he came down & told us. I had the bed all to myself. Harry came back at 2 o’clock [inserted] on Thur [/inserted]and brought home some Devonshire cream They navigation was top hole they came out [inserted] right [/inserted] over the aerodromes. Harry had a lovely [from next page] time when they arrived at Exeter Lady Mcgill came in a car to meet them and Vicky Harry stayed at a hotel for the night they had a picnic in the aeroplane on the way back. [/from next page]
[Page break]
JUNE, 1939
THURSDAY 15
I went to A as usual.
Freda told me Joan had a baby girl 9lb born, but her mother had gone to Scotland with Bobby Abrey & Nancy, apparently there was some misunderstanding Mr Holmes is staying with Joan & Freda with Dick’s people I am very sorry about it all. their home is all broken up.
FRIDAY 16
Went to A in the afternoon finish at 6 Oclock quite early for a Friday did some gardening in the evening
SATURDAY 17
A lovely day. took Gwen & Pamela on the beach at Westcliff a bit windy had a look at the shops a met several friends I use to know.
SUNDAY 18
Harry worked both turns today. Mum & I took Pamela for a walk to St Mary’s church just as we got back it poured with rain and I felt rather queer.
[Page break]
JUNE, 1939
19 MONDAY
A lovely day and mum did all her washing she had quite a lot
Harry & I did a bit of gardening. Pamela helped. She is getting on lovely. Harry went to the RAF in the evening.
20 TUESDAY
I did my washing and washed my bedroom curtains & washed the paint the curtains have shrunk a bit.
I went round to Joyce’s flat it does seem a shame to have to move again it all looked so nice every where, it made my blood boil to think Mrs Phillips played such a dirty trick on them
21 WEDNESDAY
I went to A all day the work is getting slack
There was a scene out side Mrs Phillips house tonight the chap she is going out with hit Tom because he would not pay the rent they played a dirty trick on him so vice versa it made Joyce cry & scream her head off I was wild about it all especially in Joyce’s condition
[Page break]
JUNE, 1939
THURSDAY 22
I went to A. Joyce went out to look for a place and found a nice top flat in Byne Dr. near us and they are taking it [deleted] it [/deleted].
I went and saw Mrs Phillips and properly told her off.
Harry went for his flight at 13.45 [deleted] pm [/deleted] and did a spot of camers [deleted] gunning [/deleted] gunnery he felt a bit seedy afterwards
FRIDAY 23
I went to A as usual Joyce & Mum went out in the morning to get a removal man but they were all booked up but when Tom came home dinner time his pals had offered to help him and on a barrow so it saved a bit of money for them
SATURDAY 24
Pamela & I went to Southend after tea and I bought her a pair of new blue shoes she does like them Gwennie went to her mothers for the week end. Harry bought a plane model to make
SUNDAY 25
Harry Pamela & I went over to Milly & Frank’s we met Franks Parents and his youngest brother & baby sister had a lovely time Pamela thoroughly enjoy herself. He was very good and such charming company.
[Page break]
JUNE, 1939
26 MONDAY
I did a bit of washing but no ironing the week I did a bit of gardening in the afternoon I had to take Pamela down to the sweet shop to get some chocolate Mum & Joyce went to the pictures so I went to [deleted] the [/deleted] bed early.
27 TUESDAY
Harry & I went to Margate on a sea trip. We got up early 5 o clock. and went to Tilbury Station by motor byke and train to Fenchurch Street Station. The sun shone all day and we had a thundering good time Dinner at Dreamland we landed at Tilbury pier and motor byke home Harry went to the R.A.F.
I bought Pamela a wooden [deleted] buck [/deleted] duck She had been a good girl
28 WEDNESDAY
I went to work all day did a bit on gardening in the evening
Pamela went to bed good as gold she is getting on lovely and she like her duck very much
The weather is not so good today [deleted] an [/deleted] there was a terrible fire in London today and on the previous day and on the placards tonight another one. there certainly must be some one behind it all.
[Page break]
JUNE-JULY, 1939
THURSDAY 29
I went to A all day and took Pamela down to Mums and she took her on the beach she was a very good girl. In the evening I bought home a box of anteriums 4 doz for 1/2d and mowed the lawn and trimmed it Harry went to the RAF they are preparing for the exams
FRIDAY 30
Turning a bit cold. we got our work in the morning Pamela is keep well shoe likes her duck and fork & trowel. I bought another box of anteriums “Dark Prince” for the back garden I finish early at A. so I did a bit more gardening.
SATURDAY-JULY 1
Got the work done went to Southend in the evening Pamela did enjoy herself had a nice ice cream at “Rossi” bought quite a number of things
SUNDAY 2
[Deleted] Sun [/deleted] Harry is flying in the morning her went over to France Cape Griz Nez he had a lovely flight and his navigation was good Mum & I went to Southend in the evening I made a ginger cake
[Page break]
JULY, 1939
4 MONDAY 4
It turned out to be a lovely day. Vera came up she is on holiday this week. We went down on the beach Pamela did enjoy herself. Vera & I went to the pictures in the evening I cant remember the last time we went together. Started knitting a woolly set for Joyce’s baby.
4 TUESDAY
I did my washing and it started to rain as soon as I put some out but after that the sun shone and it was a hot day I got my washing dried air ironed and repaired. Harry bought me 8 dahlias Snow white & the Seven Dwarfs and Harry reminded me it is our anniversary day we have been out with one another 10 whole years not a day to long.
5 WEDNESDAY
Not such a nice day it rained a bit during the morning. Harry took Pamela for a ride in the van when he took me back to work she did enjoy it then again in the evening when I finish work and when he went back to work Pamela wanted to go too she did cry. The world crisis is still very serious it certainly looks like war. I planted my dahlias tonight then afterwards Mum & I went for a walk and posted my letter bought some chip for supper.
[Page break]
Kia-Ora advertising
[Page break]
MEMORANDA
[Deleted] Aug [/deleted] Sept 2nd [underlined] Sat. [/underlined]
I changed my libraries got a book called “Gentle Eagle” by Christine Ore about James the Fourth King of Scots
Lord Halifax is
5000th Feet German planes.
Reuter reports that they have not declared war but they have bombed many of Poland Aerodromes and badly [deleted] cpl [/deleted] crippled them The German planes are reinforce theirs for protection.
All men are called upon to enlist aged are from 18 to 40.
Sept 3rd Sunday.
News they are still fighting
An important anouncement at 10-Oclock
We gave Germany an ultimatum by 11 oclock if they do not withdraw their troops [underlined] War [/underlined]
[Page break]
JULY, 1939
THURSDAY 6
Harry has booked up for flying 11 oclock for all day
Very windy today Harry found it a bit bumpy in the air, they past over Wimbledon Windsor Horse show and landed at Heston airport.
I went to A all day my mum took Pamela down the beach in the afternoon A letter arrived to say that the fruit dishes will arrive as soon as possible the factory had such a lot to do
FRIDAY 7
It rained a little during the morning Millie and Frank wrote to come down tomorrow so we are busy.
Went to A in the afternoon finished at 8-25pm. Harry said if I liked a fur coat Mum saw I could have it so I shall go and see it on Monday if it is still there
SATURDAY 8
Milly & Frank came down dinner time to spend the week end. with us
I ordered my fur coat today.
SUNDAY 9
Harry booked up for flying [deleted] next [/deleted] 18-45PM
Tom went up to and they went to Hadleigh in Suffolk. Harry was O.K. with his navigating
Millie & Frank & I played Monopoly I won, they went at 8-30
Joyce’s legs are bad.
[Page break]
JULY, 1939
10 MONDAY
Having Pamela’s photo done this afternoon I went but it was [deleted] too [/deleted] crowded. I am having a lovely fur coat 3/4 length. in coney musquosh. I am hoping to get it tomorrow night
Popped down to see Mum & Vera Aunty Jessie is coming down next week. I mowed the back lawn & watered the garden.
11 TUESDAY
A very nice day today I did a lot of washing and got it dry & air Pamela does not seem so good today a bit touchy. Harry took me up to Higgs’ to get my fur coat and it is lovely they all like it at home.
I mowed the front lawn, then I did my ironing and had a nice bath plenty of earwigs about.
12 WEDNESDAY
I went all day to A. Vera was on subdividing too and did we keep the work down. Harry brought me home in the van Mrs Jacomb came round in the evening she wanted to cut out a blouse we sat in the garden with the wireless it was very nice. Pamela was very good. I am making Joyce a babies dress
[Page break]
JULY, 1939
THURSDAY 13
Went to A all day. Harry did not fly this afternoon but did some swotting He got 37 out of 51 marks for a test paper. I am now going to help him with some administration.
FRIDAY 14
I went to A in the afternoon. We had a letter from Aunty & Uncle in the evening they are coming down tomorrow.
I felt very tired tonight
SATURDAY 15
It was a lovely day Aunty & Uncle arrived at 6 oclock. quite safe and happy We went to Southend in the evening Had a nice drink at the Bell spent quite a nice evening out. There was a plague of beetles & earwigs all round the bungalow.
SUNDAY 16
We all went for a nice [deleted] th [/deleted] walk to Belfairs golf course in the morning we had a lovely dinner & a nice tea a game of cards the Aunty & Uncle had to go home. I felt rather tired perhaps because they went.
[Page break]
JULY, 1939
17 MONDAY
Mum did her washing I popped down in the morning to see Mum about Aunty Jessie they came to see us in the evening with Vera. they liked our bungalow very much and my fur coat Pamela teeth were troubling her again
18 TUESDAY
I did my washing Mum went out early to go with Joyce up to the hospital and the gas men came in the afternoon to do my iron. I did all my ironing then went to the Astoria and saw “Trouble brewing” with George Formby.
Harry sat for his examination [deleted] on [/deleted] in navigation and administration
19 WEDNESDAY
I went to A all day Mum Gwen & Pamela & I went to Priory Park in the evening men were fishing in the lakes. There is a lovely show of geraniums and Begonias
[Page break]
JULY, 1939
THURSDAY 20
I went to A in the morning they have started their new clock machines today. It made me a bit late to meet Mum & Aunty we went down the beach and It was very windy the tide was high We came home about 5-15p.m. I did a bit of sewing and darning Harry sat for his arnament & Photography
FRIDAY 21
I went to A in the afternoon finish at 8-45pm Aggie came and took Gwen away for the week and mum had her bath after taking Pamela out
SATURDAY 22
Mum, Gwen & I went to Southend in the afternoon shopping and met Milly & Frank on the way back. Harry had a friend he took to work & bough her a nice dress.
SUNDAY 23
Mum went out in the morning to Rochford Aunty Jessie & family came up and gave Pamela a (Panda) and took our photos I did the front garden in the afternoon and we went for a walk in the evening met Laurel & Ciril they have a new car. We went in the Bell Inn
[Page break]
JULY, 1939
24 MONDAY
Mum did her washing It poured with rain in the afternoon Harry & I wanted to go to the pictures but we read instead. I made Pamela a green taffeta coat in the evening and shortened Millies dress.
25 TUESDAY
I did a lot of washing and the curtains in the reception room at the back. Harry helped me put them up in the afternoon and he made some rubhard wine Gwennie went to the swimming baths
I did all my ironing and had a nice bath so did Harry he brought me home a good book “Salome the wandering Jewess” Viereck & Eldridge
26 WEDNESDAY
I went to A all day Harry took me to the pictures in the evening I saw “Gunga Din” it was very good.
When we got home we kill no end of beetles & earwigs.
[Page break]
JULY, 1939
THURSDAY 27
I went to A, in the morning it was raining Elsie & Jack arrived about 2-30pm. They look well. we all sat in the front room and chat during the afternoon walk to Southend along the front and back up Hamlet court Rd home I was tired we slept in our own bed
FRIDAY 28
Mum & I got our work done I went to A. in the afternoon finished at 8-30pm. mad two cakes got slightly burnt I felt very tired
Harry & I slept on the settee
SATURDAY 29
This morning Mum & I did not feel much like work. but still it got done.
Gwen, Pamela & I went to Southend by bus no pram had a nice time, down in the children’s play ground. Harry & I sept in our own bed.
SUNDAY 30
I spent the morning in Priory Park Pamela enjoy herself. Jack Elsie Harry Pamela & I walked through the golf links & to Stonebridge Mills and it was a lovely day We had a good game of knock-out in the evening. Pamela good we slept on the settee
[Page break]
JULY-AUGUST, 1939
31 MONDAY
We all spent the day on the beach and Elsie & Jack it was very wind and had a few showers of rain I made a dress this evening for sun bathing.
1 AUGUST-TUESDAY
Gwen helped me do my washing this morning I did quite a lot The sun shone now & again
Ironed in the afternoon sewing & mending in the evening I had a nice bath then Harry Elsie & Jack. It poured with rained for an hour just as they were coming home from Millies somebody had a bad storm Finish my sun bathing dress & made Joyce some pillow cases.
2 WEDNESDAY
I went to A all day. after tea we all had a good game of knock-out I [deleted] wkn [/deleted] won 8 1/2 d. Harry did not finish work until 10-15 pm so he was very tired.
[Page break]
AUGUST, 1939
THURSDAY 3
I went to work in the morning in the afternoon We all had a game of cards and monopoly Elsie & Jack went home at 7oclock they bought Pamela a silver bracelet very nice so sweet I went round to Elsie in the evening She is quite well her mother was they two
FRIDAY 4
We had several falls of rains at dinner time I had to wait as it simple fell down. I went [deleted] w [/deleted] work in the [deleted] evening [/deleted] afternoon finish at 8-45pm. Vera brought me in a lot of apples.
SATURDAY 5
We had several storms during the morning but the sun shone for a while in the evening Harry & I bought Gwen a tennis racket ring & Hi li for her birthday I did quite a lot of shopping at Southend.
SUNDAY 6
Harry worked all day I cooked the dinner Mum is at Mrs Jacomb’s house. I went for a walk in the evening and popped in and saw mum she has been very busy. The weather is very disappointing.
[Page break]
AUGUST, 1939
7 MONDAY
Vera bought Mr & Mrs Curtis up to see us during the morning it drisled with rain when it stopped we went over to the aerodrome. In the afternoon I took Pamela to the pictures but she gets to noisy I had to come out so I went for a walk down Hamlet Ct Rd and on the front Pamela looked very pretty people were admiring her as she walked along the front
8 TUESDAY
Washing day Mum & I did it together Had a card from Millie She was coming down but the weather is not so good shame. I did some ironing and had 1/2 hr sleep in the garden Harry & I went to the [deleted] Ritzy [/deleted] Ritz saw “39 Steps” with Robert Donat very good, found a bathing helmet.
9 WEDNESDAY
It keeps raining it is not a bit like summer. I went to A all day Harry busy down at the shop
Finished my ironing and started altering Mums dress another Agnes has got for her.
Raining again.
[Page break]
AUGUST, 1939
THURSDAY 10
Gwen’s birthday today at last she has looked forward so long for it and she has had some lovely presents too she is 10 years old now she had a nice little party and her mother bought her a lovely birthday cake. Mrs Rogers bought her a gold cross & chain. Pamela enjoyed herself too
I went to A all day (still raining
Harry went to RAF in the evening
FRIDAY 11
Got the bedrooms done and went to A in the afternoon very busy Millie & Frank came down.
Vera had a letter from her young man they had had a tiff.
SATURDAY 12
A beautiful day it has been after a wet week. Milly & Frank spent the morning in the garden. I painted Pamela’s push chair blue it looks better for it. I went to Southend in the evening procurede a form for Pamela show
SUNDAY 13
Harry went flying at 1030.AM. this morning and did not get back until 5 oclock. The crew went to Teignmouth in Cornwall Harry had a lovely time and the scenery is beautiful Lady Mcgill met them in the car 100mins.
[Page break]
AUGUST, 1939
14 MONDAY
Sun is shining lovely Millie & Frank spent the morning in the garden Mum did her washing There were a few Spitfires performing over head in the afternoon two Ansons landed at the aerodrome. Harry Pamela & I walk over to see if there were any on the field Harry went there in the evening to drill poor Harry, they are practicing for the Drummmer head of service Harry bought me a box of chocs
15 TUESDAY
I did my washing sun shining lovely, but I felt tired I read a good book “Conflict” Haydyn Guest on German people.
Did all my ironing in the evening. Gwennie has gone to Millies for a few days coming home Friday
16 WEDNESDAY
I went to A all day a very hot day Mum & I bottle some rhubarb wine there were 20 wasps dead in it
I cut mum’s frock then Harry & I had a lovely bath before we went to bed
[Page break]
AUGUST, 1939
THURSDAY 17
Rather misty when I got up this morning but it is a sunny hot day
I work in the morning and made some of Mum’s frock in the afternoon
Took Pamela round to Codbo Corner after tea. Harry went flying all the afternoon doing bis Nav. 1 & 2 exercise. Stan clean his byke for him
FRIDAY 18
Mum & I got our work done in the morning I went to A in the afternoon finished at 8-15. Afterwards I went and met Harry from the aerodrome they were drilling in full uniform he did look smart then we went for a walk around might be our last.
SATURDAY 19
We got our work done I saw Mr Pringe about our water tap leaking he said he would send the plumber round. It was a lovely morning Gwen, Pamela & I went to Southend I have joined the Public Library .
SUNDAY 20
Harry went to work in the morning and flying in the afternoon did CG 2 & 3 (100%) & N3 Harry helped me with the garden in the evening he cleaned his uniform up for tomorrow Mum went to Sheerness by boat for the day, Made a lovely cake.
[Page break]
AUGUST, 1939
21 MONDAY
Mum did her washing I went down to see Mum she gave me some money to buy some medicine for Pamela chest its her teeth troubling her again I bought some oranges. Pamela is not eating much I finished Mums dress in the evening it looks nice.
Harry took me to Southend and change the library books & bought Pamela some black slippers.
22 TUESDAY
I did my washing got done nice & early Mum & Joyce went to see the doctor he said baby will be any day now I hope it wont be long because of the crisis it is getting serious I did my ironing in the afternoon took Pamela & Gwen up in Chalkwell Park not much there in the fair Mrs Jacomb came with me we met Mrs Wy & Mr Holmes
23 WEDNESDAY
I went to A all day finish at 5-15pm so dashed home and to Pamela to see the Carnival it was not so good Pamela was quite excited over the horses.
Went down to see Harry then went home I did a bit of machining and fused the lights I was in a plight but I managed to mend them but not the machine plug I left that
We listened to the news Hitler is still determined. The plumber repaired our leak.
[Page break]
AUGUST, 1939
THURSDAY 24
The crisis is getting more serious Russia has definitely signed a contract with Germany not to fight but still we were not relying on them
It rain a bit early I went to A in the morning Mum looked after Pamela in the afternoon while Harry & I saw “Four Feathers” very good.
I made 9 1/2 lb of plum jam in the evening, Harry went to his RAFVR. no orders yet thank God but they wont be long
FRIDAY 25
Mum & I did our work as usual but the war is still coming,
I went to work in the afternoon
SATURDAY 26
It’s a lovely day but the crisis is still bad I wish it could all be settled Harry is not thinking much of it every where A R P is preparing people are buy lot of food stuff.
SUNDAY 27
Pamela Gwen & I went to Chalkwell Park and saw Harry & Tom march in the Drum head service they look very smart the Navy & Terrys & army were not there they were called up
[Page break]
AUGUST, 1939
28 MONDAY
A lovely hot day mum is doing her washing The war is getting nearer every body nerves are on edge I don’t know which will be first Joyce’s baby or the war.
Harry & I spent a quiet afternoon by ourselfs it is nice to be alone
Harry went to the R.A.F. nothing to be done yet
Mum & Joyce are both worried if there is a war I did a bit of machining
29 TUESDAY
A nice day the news is still holding over. I did my washing and done my bedspread & blanket Did my ironing. We all listened to the Premier speech at 3.oclock They are not disclosing what is in the documents between Sir Neville Henderson & Herr Hitler but we are still preparing and standing by waiting ready for war it is up to Hitler to say Peace.
30 WEDNESDAY
A bit cold today. I went to A allday I felt queer about 10-15 a bit of tummy ache nuisance when I was working very busy Listened to the wireless the news is no better Hitler is still demanding Danzig and the corridor. Joyce went to the hospital this morning the doctor said the baby is a bit on one side that accounts for her pains. I did a lot of mending and made a white petticoat for Pamela
[Page break]
AUG.-SEPT., 1939
THURSDAY 31
Much colder today I went to work in the morning I went to Southend with Pamela & Harry I bought some material for a dress & Harry ordered a new suit for the winter but the news every where is getting worse I hope nothing comes of it The men are busy making trenches of sandbags. The government Have called up all the army & navy and started on RAFVR. Waiting now for more news.
FRIDAY-SEPT. 1
The sun is shining. Mum & I are getting on with the work & cooking but the news on the wireless is very bad Germany has started war on Poland bombed 8 places many killed & injured Harry is likely to be called up any time now, I shall be going to work just the same in the afternoon Harry will phone me if he goes. No Harry not phone but they have to report each day till they are told to go. [Deleted] SATURDAY [/deleted] We all have been listening to the news every hour I have covered all the windows and glass doors so the light does not show out side I wonder if anything will happen before morning
Sat. did our work[deleted] SUNDAY [/deleted] Phone Harry as a urgent paper came He reported in uniform and Tom they are on 7 days leave with pay till the 7th Sept even if war is Declare. The news said 34 German planes were brought down & 100 tanks bombed [inserted] Destroy [/inserted] German has said she has not declared war. [Underlined] cont. in memo [/underlined]
[Page break]
SEPTEMBER, 1939
4 MONDAY
France and England have declared War on Germany it is Hitler who has cause this terrible war they are invading Poland. The English planes came over last night about 3-30pm.
Mum was a bit agitated did not like because I mentioned it. Joyce is still O.K.
5 TUESDAY
I did my washing and ironing Harry & I spent the afternoon together only a few more days before he goes I wonder when I shall see him again
6 WEDNESDAY
I took Pamela down to the laundry this morning and saw Mrs Stockton the war has effected the work and only delivery when they collect because of lighting up time Mum seem all right she has an [inserted] attack [/inserted] case in case of flight. Harry & I went over to see Millie & Frank and they did not no quite what to think about the war. All the way down on the road every car & lorry was doing some government work I thought this might be our last ride together
[Page break]
SEPTEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 7
This morning I tried to paste the door with brown paper & cardboard but it was not any good so Harry took me to Southend and got a lot of large sheets it certainly it good but it makes a lot of extra work We all bathed this afternoon the tank does get hot Harry went down for his medical exam tonight. black-out at 7-30p.m.
FRIDAY 8
Mum & I got our work done and had dinner a bit latter.
I made a great big curtain for the shop Mr Leslie gave me 5/- for doing it
Mum & I spent a quite evening in the front room.
SATURDAY 9
Millie & Frank came down early Mum went to Southend with them We had a game of knock-out in the afternoon They could not get home so they stop the night and was it dark out Millie had a cold coming
SUNDAY 19
I went out for a walk with Vera in the morning bought some chocs and saw my mum. Millie & Frank went home in the afternoon
This black out at 7-20 is quite a preparation every night
[Page break]
11 MONDAY
I received money order for £3 from the R.A.F.
Harry & I went to the Gaumont and saw Jesse James Errol Flyn and Tyrone Power very good Harry & Tom went to the RAF in the evening I cut out a nightdress for Joyce she is still the same.
12 TUESDAY
I did my washing, but it rained a little very windy. The latest news is the British are fighting with the French on the front some Germans have supposed to [deleted] thro [/deleted] have deserted
13 WEDNESDAY
Mum Gwen & I went blackberrying we just got home & made dinner as Harry was home.
We sat in the front room in the afternoon Joyce & Tom came round we had a nice tea
[Page break]
SEPTEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 14
Harry’s day off He took me to Southend in the morning did some shopping bought some rubber over-boots We went to the Ritz in the afternoon saw Q. planes a darn good picture
FRIDAY 15
We got out work done and Mum went with Joyce & Tom to the Gaumont Gwennie Pamela & I went to see my mum she was very please to see us. It was showery all the afternoon & evening
We had a game of cards
Harry went to the Town Centre to get his pay. very good
SATURDAY 16
Harry has been simply wonderful to me today he has spent near £4 on me Hat shoes bag slip dress. pantees & vest corsets stockings and they are all lovely. Joyce still Ok they came round in the evening “Band Waggon”
SUNDAY 17
Mum took Gwen & Pamela for a walk while cooked the dinner Joyce still the same. Russia has started into Poland just the Polands were resisting well from the Germans. the French are gaining well on the Seigfreid line Harry is on duty all night at the T.C.
[Page break]
SEPTEMBER, 1939
18 MONDAY
A nice morning but blowing the sun is shining
Harry & I went to the Gaumont in the evening saw [inserted] “Goodbye [/inserted] Mr Chips” starring Robert Donat very good. Saw Joyce & Tom in there. Coming home it was a lovely starry night
19 TUESDAY
I did my washing I got it dried and aired Went to the Building Society and library Harry did a route march this morning it made his heels very sore Altered the sleeves of his RAF coat it is much better now
20 WEDNESDAY
Harry went to a foot clinic and had his heels seen to he got out of doing another march
Altered Tom’s coat for him he bought me a lock of coffee chocolate
[Page break]
SEPTEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 21
Mum & I did the bedroom today Joyce still the same
Harry & I spent and hr in the front room and I altered my new dress we met some friends in the evening Mr & Mrs Vale we went to the Rivoli saw “Jamaica Inn” Charles Laughton Leslie Banks and Horse Racing picture with George Raft. We went to the Palace after and had drinks and a talk quite a number of people there Vale wife [indecipherable] knew Millie at Echo. Shows of rain during the day.
FRIDAY 22
We got our work done Harry & I sat round the fire in the after noon reading Gwen & I played cards in the evening went round to bring Mum home from Joyce & Toms in the dark.
SATURDAY 23
My form arrived for my allowance book I had 1-3 & £1 12-6 to draw I did not feel so well today had a bit of a headache Harry bought home a £1’s worth of groceries. Joyce went into hospital
SUNDAY 24
Took Pamela & Gwen out for a walk went & saw Mum & Vera it poured with rain all the way home so for Joyce is the same.
[Page break]
SEPTEMBER, 1939
25 MONDAY
Joyce’s baby weighs 9lb 4ozs a lovely baby the biggest the hospital has had for a long while Tom is very pleased Mum is doing Her washed and some of Joyce’s
We had a fire in the long room Tom took his mother to the pictures.
26 TUESDAY
I did my washing & ironing played cards with Gwennie
27 WEDNESDAY
Altered a frock for mum made Pamela a petticoat to wear. We went to see Joyce & her baby at the Hospital the baby lovely Joyce feel a bit home sick poor kid Knitting her baby’s coat nearly finish. We had a roasting fire and a good programme on the wireless.
[Page break]
SEPT.-OCT., 1939
THURSDAY 28
Cold but sun is shining Aunt Nellie sent Mum a new coat Elsie knitted it fits a treat and [inserted] Joyce [/inserted] a pram cover in blue and a yellow set for her baby they have been busy
I drew my pension today but I did not do it
My linen chest arrived it is green & gold
FRIDAY 29
Mum & I got our work done. [deleted] the [/deleted] my ironing board arrived
I took Pamela down to see my mother she had bought Joyce’s baby a lovely Bonnet & wooly toy. Pamela a motor and me a birthday present.
SATURDAY 30
Mum & I got our work done and went out to the library In the afternoon Harry took Pamela and I to Southend and rigged her up and bought us an eiderdown & bedspread to match green for our anniversary today
SUNDAY-OCT. 1
I cooked the dinner Mum went to see Joyce. Vera came round in the afternoon with Marie and her Raymond. he is a little devil
We all had a game of cards in the evening.
[Page break]
OCTOBER, 1939
2 MONDAY
Mum did her washing and some of Joyce’s. Milly & Frank sent me a lovely box of chocs. My mother bought me a Californian Poppy outfit powder & cream etc. Harry bought a lovely brooch.
3 TUESDAY
I did some of washing but it [inserted] rain [/inserted] all the morning I manage to dry & iron it. I took some laundry to the office and then saw Joyce’s baby Harry is come home early in the evening now
Joyce has come home from hospital this morning
4 WEDNESDAY
Mum is going round to Joyce’s every day until she is better the baby is very good and looks lovely [deleted] I popped round in the [/deleted]
[Page break]
OCTOBER, 1939
THURSDAY 5
I did all the rooms out & Harry dug the gardens Pamela helped him in the mud Harry was home all day and so went sat round the fire and read, the wireless was good Joyce’s baby eyes are mattery she is quite worried Mum is busy.
FRIDAY 6
I did my work altered a skirt and pressed Joyce’s baby rigout. Went and drew my pension out on Friday then went to my mothers we went down to the beach Pamela enjoyed it had tea then went home the laundry came when I was out he put it in the shed.
We all had our baths I curled my hair up.
SATURDAY 7
It is very muggy this morning every where seems damp
I did my work & went out at 11 oclock saw the RAF men marching Harry came home with sore heels so we did not go out & I went round the corner and bought some bulbs.
SUNDAY 8
Sunday – not a very nice morning
Mum went round to Joyces and helped her all day Harry & I change the bathroom & reception room over they both look very nice
[Page break]
OCTOBER, 1939
9 MONDAY
I did some washing but it rained all day never stopped I have not known such a day this year. I dried it indoors and lit both fires. Made Pamela two pinafores from Gwennie and a dress & coat for her doll, mum came home earlier to have a bath. The programme on the wireless is good
10 TUESDAY
I must not forget to go to the schools this afternoon for Pamela’s mask no tomorrow A-M ours is in group N-Z. I did the rest of my washing and ironing altered three of my skirts in the evening I am knitting a little coat for Pamela.
Cooking stew for tomorrow
11 WEDNESDAY
I put the dinner and dressed Pamela and went out up to the school but Pamela did not like the gas bag Came [deleted] bag [/deleted] back and called upon Elsie up to her eyes in work Coral is getting on lovely allways smiling
Gwennie made a lovely fire in the lounge Harry & I sat round it
Pouring heavens hard with rain.
[Page break]
OCTOBER, 1939
THURSDAY 12
I must draw £1-12-6.
I have £2-12-0
£4-4-6 + 1 0 – 0 £4-14 6
Harry & I went to Southend in the morning changed the libraries & Harry bought himself a lovely watch £3-3-0 I went & paid the elect account and water rate bought some odds and ends in Woolworths I bussed home and got the dinner I felt very tired after dinner sun is shining but it is going to rain
FRIDAY 13
I did all my hoovering and dusting in the morning. Tea has gone up 1/2d Cooked dinner early and Stanley fetched Harry’s for him at work I went to my mother’s earlier this time so as to be home for Harry and the Laundry man “Chamberlain gave his answer yesterday to Hitlers “Peace Offers”. I don’t think the German people know the real truth the Nazis keep a lot from them telling them a lot of lies
SATURDAY 14
One German paper states that we supplied Mustard gas to Poland an excuse to use some on our soldiers.
The Royal Oak was sunk over 850lives are lost.
SUNDAY 15
Two French & one British ships were sunk all most to-gether Three U boats were sunk on Friday last It poured with rain alday so Joyce did not get her baby christen but we had the party just the same.
[Page break]
OCTOBER, 1939
16 MONDAY
The sun is shining for a change to day Pamela is very amusing now in the mornings.
Mum did her washing
Harry Pamela & I went to Southend in the afternoon he took his watch back to R.A. Jones as the spring was slipping
I bought a new powder compact for my Coty Harry bought a new pr of gloves woollen with orange & green embroidery & a bottle of scent California Poppy
17 TUESDAY
I did my washing quite a lot Mum went out with Mr Jacomb The air raid warning went about 1-30pm 6 Bombers took off at Rochford they look magnificent Harry soon came home Pamela is quite excited about it all
I did my ironing in the afternoon & evening Harry repair a valve in mums set that was broken. I had a backache all the afternoon & evening listened to the wireless
18 WEDNESDAY
Mum went round to help Joyce this morning Harry & Tom went marching this morning I am writing this round a beautiful fire Gwen made and Pamela is worrying & jogging me all the while
[Page break]
OCTOBER, 1939
THURSDAY 19
It was pouring with rain all the afternoon and morning just as we planned to go out I made some scones & a cake instead mum went round to help Joyce.
We went to the Astoria after dinner saw “Lucky Night” with Robert Taylor and Myrna Loy very good Had a game cards went we got home
FRIDAY 20
Mum went round to Joyces Gwennie took Pamela out and got the dinner for me I hoovered the place out Went and saw my mother in the afternoon went down the beach brought home some shells.
SATURDAY 21
Mum & I got our work done and went out shopping. Harry & I went to Southend in the afternoon and bought Pamela a little woolly coat and overalls I bought a new tooth brush We listened to band waggon
SUNDAY 22
Patricia Joyce Cole was christened at 2 oclock it was a lovely day after all the rain We had a nice game of cards. Agnes bought round some lovely apples she has got a rotten cold
[Page break]
OCTOBER, 1939
23 MONDAY
Sun shining but misty, I heard the aeroplanes warming up the engines, I suppose just being prepared. I wondered what move Hitler will make now?
24 TUESDAY
I did my washing & ironing and washed my hair
25 WEDNESDAY
Last week of Vernons I am glad it is finished before Harry goes
The bulbs are coming up.
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[Kia-Ora advertising]
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MEMORANDA
[Page break]
OCTOBER, 1939
THURSDAY 26
I went to Southend only with Pam Harry went to RAF.
Change my libraries
Harry & I went to the pictures in the afternoon it was very dark when we came out
FRIDAY 27
I went to my mothers in the afternoon went went down to the sea front Pamela does enjoy herself. Had some tea just got home as Harry went back to work. Milly came down went to the doctors with mum then went to the Mascot I made Pamela two jumpers Harry & I went to bed early but Pamela cried several times
SATURDAY 28
Millie & Mum went to Southend in the morning We did not go out as it rained
Had a nice game of cards.
Frank came down they stayed
SUNDAY 29
I went out took Gwen & Pamela down to see my mother took some chrysanths
Frank & Millie went at 7 oclock it was pouring with raining
Joyce & Tom went to his mothers
[Page break]
OCT.-NOV., 1939
30 MONDAY
Mum did her washing so as to have nothing left to go round to Joyce.
Harry & I went to the Pictures saw I left my shopping in Woolworths I never got it back. lost my pretty purse
31 TUESDAY
I did my washing go it all done and my ironing getting thinks ready for tomorrow I am quite busy chopped & saw some wood and tidied the garden Harry found out he was deffinently he was going next Monday. Tom went this morning Joyce was upset.
1 NOV.-WEDNESDAY
Harry Pamela & I went up to Aunty Nellie for a few days to say goodbye, it was very dark going up in the tube Pamela thoroughly enjoyed it We had packed our case up full they were very please to see up Aunty is a bit upset at Harry going but still it is all in a life time Aunty has made us very comfortable Pamela went to sleep good.
[Page break]
NOVEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 2
We got up Pamela had to go out and see Aunty do the work when we had breakfast we did some shopping and saw Cousin Nellie & the children. In the afternoon we went to Felton and saw Vera and the children I feel very sorry for Author is not good to her at all Elsie & Jack came up and had a game of cards.
FRIDAY 3
We got up and had breakfast and Aunty came with us to Richmond to see us off Uncle went to work as usual We arrived home at 2-45pm Then Tom surprised us and came home on his six days leave Joyce was ever so pleased
So instead of Mum going round with Joyce she stopped at home
SATURDAY 4
There was not much work to do as mum did it yesterday We had a fire in the front room Harry spent it alone it is getting near for him to go
SUNDAY 5
Harry had his breakfast in bed we had our dinner early then Mum & Gwen Aggie went round to Joyce & Toms to tea Harry & I had tea by ourselves and the fire all the evening
[Page break]
NOVEMBER, 1939
6 MONDAY
Harry went away this morning he kissed every one goodbye Pamela know he is going on a Puff Puff.
Mum cannot get use to [deleted] of [/deleted] cooking for less
Mum & I did our washing together but I think I would rather do it by myself
We went round to Joyce & Toms while [deleted] she [/deleted] they went to the pictures Had a nice bath
7 TUESDAY
Mum & I did our ironing and work. In the afternoon went shopping and then pictures saw Jeanette Macdonald in Serenade”. Very good had my first letter from Harry wrote him one back
8 WEDNESDAY
Mum & I got the room for Joyce. Pamela rig outs arrived from Vernons 1 brown 1 green they look very nice
In the afternoon Mum Gwen, Pamela & I did some gardening We had our tea early It seems a long day without Harry
Mum & I played cards knitted & listened to the wireless very good Pamela & Gwen are Both sleeping with me
[Page break]
NOVEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 9
Received Pamela’s ration book
Poured with rain all the morning cleared up at dinner time Tom is going back this afternoon Joyce is getting ready to come round had another letter from Harry I went out on my bike to change my librarys [deleted bunbe [/deleted] met Bill he just as jolly, a Pilot Officer was killed over the aerodrome.
FRIDAY 10
Very misty above today Gwen took Pamela to Priory Park to feed the ducks Gwen posted my letter to Harry I took Pamela to my mothers in the afternoon we went down Chalkwell Av to the beach Pamela loves it all Had tea then came home before it got too dark I don’t feel very grand I have got a head-ache & sore throat and no Harry to hug.
SATURDAY 11
I did [inserted] not [/inserted] feel so good this morning then I Had a letter from Harry. In the afternoon as I was talking to Stan Harry came round the corner what a lovely surprise I did hug & kiss him I have. really missed him He had a nice bath
SUNDAY 12
It seem wonderful to have him with me We went for a walk in the morning round Rochford & Sutton Mum cooked a nice dinner had the afternoon to ourselves had a nice tea then went with him and saw him off at the station it was very dark
[Page break]
NOVEMBER,1939
13 MONDAY
Mum & Joyce did their washing I went out in the afternoon and took Pamela went to get my watch but it was not ready pity
Writing letter to Harry
14 TUESDAY
I did a lot of washing did my ironing in the evening and mending writing a letter to Harry dark out and spitting with rain Mum is out late at the pictures
Writing a letter to Harry.
15 WEDNESDAY
I got up earlier this morning Joyce went to hospital
Mum is not feeling so well this morning
Took Pamela & Gwen into Priory Park very nice out.
Writing letter to Harry
[Page break]
NOVEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 16
Rain all the morning I took Pamela out in the afternoon drew my allowance and had Pamela’s hair cut looks nice handed in Green’s order.
Wrote another letter to Harry
read my library
very good
Had a nice bath.
FRIDAY 17
No to bad today for weather dusted my bedroom. done the bathroom mended the electric fire sawed some logs and tinded the coal shed. Went down to my mothers and we went do to the beach Pamela did enjoyed herself had a nice when we got home back home mum had bought Pamela another doll & me a ashes sifter. Writing to Harry listen to the wireless Tom came home this after.
SATURDAY 18
We got our work done & cooked a big dinner Joyce & Tom went to the pictures and I did a bit of shopping in Southend I had two letters from Harry today It poured with rain I got my feet wet
SUNDAY 19
Wind blowing like a gale today
Tom went at 4 p.m. Pamela & Gwen went for a walk and met Agnes
We had a nice game of [deleted] gam [/deleted] cards I won I am writing to Harry.
[Page break]
NOVEMBER, 1939
20 MONDAY
Mum & Joyce did their washing
21 TUESDAY
I did my washing but it never got dry so I did some knitting and wrote a letter to Harry
22 WEDNESDAY
I went out during the morning Sun is shining but it is cold. Called on Elsie her baby is lovely. A german plane came over they got it down We went down to see my mother but did not stop long it soon gets dark. Did a lot of knitting at 10 oclock we had an air raid over head it was soon over.
[Page break]
NOVEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 23
Hoovered all the rooms rubbed off the pencil marks off the wall in the hall went to register out registration books and change my libraries and did some shopping. It rained all the time. I read my library during the evening and then had a lovely bath put scent in and made my face up to be nice for Harry I wish he was home. Had a letter from him. the man put in a new pane of glass.
FRIDAY 24
A funny day today it does not know wether to rain or dry up I put the net curtains up again at the door and the long room they do look nice polished up every where and mopped and dusted Joyce is trying to get to see Tom.
Harry is coming home today about 7p.m. I have made myself up ready for him he arrived at 6-20pm. and he did look well oh boy did I hug him
SATURDAY 25
It was very cold and rained a bit, we went to the pictures Garon’s saw “Blondes”
SUNDAY 26
We all spent the day indoors
Harry had a nice bath Mum & I cooked the dinner Joyce & Tom were on their own for a while he went in the evening we saw him off.
[Page break]
NOVEMBER, 1939
27 MONDAY
It poured with rain Harry & I got up at 6-15 AM. I cooked his breakfast and pack his case for him
I fixed the blinds up much better now and the kitchen.
28 TUESDAY
My mother in law paid me the final 2/-. I did my washing and did my ironing not so much today thank goodness wrote to Harry and listened to the wireless.
29 WEDNESDAY
I did the front garden it looks much better now but it made me tired. I went to my mothers in the afternoon we went down Chalkwell Av. on the beach very windy. Went home had tea then went on to my home Pamela enjoyed herself. Writing a letter to Harry. Knitting vest for Pamela Having a bath tonight.
[Page break]
NOV.-DEC., 1939
THURSDAY 30
Drisled with rain all day I went down to Southend and paid my rates and met Mrs Cole and George he is working in the experimental dept. It soon got dark at 4-30pm I am writing to Harry.
FRIDAY DEC. 1
Made the Xmas puddings today We trimmed one another’s neck. I had a nice letter from Harry he is keeping fine. Russia & Finland are at war. I shall be going to the pictures in the evening very blowy I went to the Astoria very good ‘Man of Conquest’ Richard Dix had to walk all the way home.
SATURDAY 2
Weather better today went out and got the dinner Cook the Xmas puddings do they smell good. Bought a nice new pair of brown shoes. Writing to Harry send of his books.
SUNDAY 3
Very nice morning and we went down to my mothers to dinner and walked along the front Sun shone but windy. We came home at dark made up a nice fire in the kitchen had a game of cards It poured heavens hard with rain Mum & Joyce got soaked
[Page break]
DECEMBER, 1939
4 MONDAY
Looked better this morning after last night rain We cooked out Sundays dinner very nice I took Pamela to Southend and went to the Building Society had a long talk with the manager. Went to the pictures saw “Lion has Wings” [deleted] Wk [/deleted] Wore my new shoes not bad
5 TUESDAY
I did my washing today very cold. Pamela is being very good today she does like going out with Gwennie.
Mum paid me her second 2/- I finished Pamelas second vest they look very nice.
Did my ironing and mending
Wrote to Harry.
6 WEDNESDAY
Bitterly cold today I went out for a while saw Elsie and did a bit of shopping Went to see Lily Everly with Elsie came home a dark had tea and put Pamela to bed
Not so well to day though I did not have a back ache.
Writing to Harry.
[Page break]
DECEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 7
Very foggy but I went out in the afternoon and did quite a lot shopping met Mrs Jacomb & Aggie the fog cleared at 3 o’clock
Had a game of cards and wrote a letter to Harry sending the standard
FRIDAY 8
It poured with rain all day so I did not go out. lit the fire in the front room. Wrote a letter to Harry had a game of cards. Ate some dates Mum & Gwen had a bath.
SATURDAY 9
Did my work and took Pamela to Eastwood Schools and got her gas mask she like it on her self it is red mickey mouse type
SUNDAY 10
Mum took Pamela out for an airing saw Mrs Winch. I cooked nice dinner and made a cake played cards in the evening and read my library.
[Page break]
DECEMBER, 1939
11 MONDAY
Rather foggy today so I did not go out making Gwen a dress and tried to mend the lamp standard and took down the black out in the bedroom. I have put ap a board of ply wood.
had a nice letter from Harry he is trying to come home this weekend its will be grand to see him again
12 TUESDAY
It is a funny kind of a day What wind there is is bitterly cold and the washing is not drying so I am trying to put it round the chimney. The International station is pretty good this afternoon
Mum paid me another 2/-.
13 WEDNESDAY
Mum & Joyce did their washing Gwen Pamela & I went to see Mrs Cole we had tea there Just got in at dark.
[Page break]
DECEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 14
We did the bedrooms today Went to Southend with Elsie it soon got dark
FRIDAY 15
Getting everything ready for Harry my darling husband is coming home this evening I put the decorations up and as I finished he knocked on the door was I happy to see him Pamela & Gwennie slept in the front room
SATURDAY 16
Harry & I went for a walk and bought the dinner home we went to Southend in the afternoon met some of his pals and then had a nice tea went to the Astoria saw “Cheer Boys Cheer” Nova Pilbeam Doctor Kildare
SUNDAY 17
We went over to Millies for the day had a nice time we walk to Southend and back.
[Page break]
DECEMBER, 1939
18 MONDAY
Harry & I over slept this morning but he soon got dressed and went I shall be seeing him again on Thursday
I went to Southend in the afternoon with Elsie and bought Coral a pair of blue slippers and Harry an Air Force cigarette case.
Mum went to stay with Mrs Jacomb till tomorrow Joyce and I played cards
The war news is good. Graf Spee is scuttled
19 TUESDAY
I did my washing but it is not drying I am draping it round the chimney I fell lost this afternoon but I have quite a lot I could do.
20 WEDNESDAY
We did our Bedrooms today so as to get done for Xmas and Harry is coming home tomorrow Went down to my mothers in the afternoon it poured with rain all the time Mum was very pleased to see us and gave us a nice time Bought some Xmas Cards and sent them off having a bath and curling up my hair
[Page break]
DECEMBER, 1939
THURSDAY 21
We finished our work for the week and I went to Southend in the afternoon and got some more shopping for Xmas and rushed back Harry arrived 1/2 hr later it turned very cold Oh boy do Harry & I love one another, the gas fire is a treat in our bedroom. Harry bought me a lovely manicure set I am really resolved to stop bitting my nails he does wish it so.
I bought him a lovely cigarette case.
FRIDAY 22
Harry has his breakfast in bed and got up at 10 went down to the Building Society and settled everything up We spent the afternoon round the fire and, went to the pictures in the evening saw ‘Second Fiddle’ Tyrone Powell and Under Cover Doctor both very good. Harry bought Pamela a lovely baby doll red pair of slippers and two books she is a lucky girl, Harry bought his mother a fountain pen.
SATURDAY 23
I did a lot of work this morning quite busy Harry made a nice fire and Mum went to South- It was still frosty and very foggy We went out in the afternoon and evening had a nice time at the Palace Hotel got home 12-15pm. nearly drunk.
SUNDAY 24
We cooked our Xmas dinner and boy it was good we slept in the afternoon and it was so nice to be with my darling husband we played cards in the evening Gwennie went home to her mothers for Xmas.
[Page break]
DECEMBER, 1939
25 MONDAY
Mum & I cooked a piece of pork and my Xmas pudding was good for Sunday’s dinner.
We all went down to my mothers for dinner today she cook a great big Turkey it was good Pamela thoroughly enjoyed herself they bought her a woolly dress and yellow silk pinafore a concertina and a little dolly. We went home about 11-30pm.
26 TUESDAY
We had cold pork and green and potatoes it was good Mr Robinson gave me a 1/2 pint of cream for a Xmas box. In the evening Harry cleaned his boots and buttons and had a bath we talked a long while in bed and Joyce woke us up at 6-10 in the morning. I cooked his breakfast and we talked a while in the kitchenette
27 WEDNESDAY
We put the gas fire on it made the room very warm then I dress and went with Harry to the bus stop the North wind has sprung up and was freezing we waited 5 mins. Then the bus came along and we said goodbye perhaps I shall see him again soon but it may be a long time to come we he goes far away but I hope he comes back soon. I got my work done and mum & I went to Southend we nearly froze coming home so we decided not to go to the pictures but sit around the fire
[Page break]
DECEMBER 1939
THURSDAY 28
Very cold this morning mum & Joyce did their washing It snowed in the afternoon so I did not go out we stopped in the kitchen Aggie brought Gwennie home. She is not feeling any to well.
FRIDAY 29
A very nice morning the snow laided every where it looked a picture Tom Pamela and Gwennie played in the snow. I went to Southend in the afternoon and bought another pair if shoes and saw Tickett and went to the Electric Co. Building Society, Woolworths it was not so cold today. We we got home we played cards. Had a letter from Harry.
SATURDAY 30
The wind is bitterly cold their water froze next door must watch ours. did a bit of washing it got dry. I went out in the afternoon to post Harry’s letter and bought so sweets they are dear now,
SUNDAY 31
Well here endeth the last day in this diary it is still very cold out no pleasure in walking anywhere. Here is wishing for peace and a bright prosperous new year and my Harry home for good how I love him and miss him. I have written every day.
[Page break]
MEMORANDA
On Pamela’s 1st birthday Harry & I had invited 21 persons we all had a jolly good time plenty to eat & drink we started at 4-30 pm. broke up at 3-30 AM.
Pamela had some lovely presents Her daddy bought her a box of chocs and birth day cake. Pamela has done very well for she can almost run we hope she will always be lucky and clever forward and lovely.
[Page break]
[2 blank pages]
[Page break]
Mr & Mrs Cole
60 Byre Dr
Prittlewell
[Page break]
[Blank Page]
[Page break]
Mr Billy & Mrs Elsie Hayns.
“Kia-Ora”
Alton Gardens
Prittlewell
[Deleted]Mr & Mrs Sweeting
16 Artiel Rd
Eastwood. [/deleted]
[Page break]
[Blank page]
[Page break]
743047 L.A.C. REDGRAVE H.C. R.A.F.
ROOM 124 D FLIGHT
NO 2 SQUADRON
NO4. I.T.W. R.A.F.
SACKVILLE HOTEL
BEXHILL on Sea.
[Page break]
[Blank page]
[Page break]
Mrs Sherwood
459 Fairfax Dr
W.
Mrs Sweeting
16 Artiel Rd
Eastwood
[Page break]
Baker 2-4d.
Greengrocer 1-5d.
Butcher 2-3
Milkman 5-8 1/4
Greens Boy 4-3 1/2
Southend Shop 4-7 1/2
Newspaper 8d
[Calculations]
Monday 6d 1d 8d + 2 1/2
A.W. MASON Author of
Four Feathers.
Dec. 4 [calculations]
1oz grey wool.
Building Society
Cakes.
[Page break]
[Blank page]
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
Jessie Redgrave's 1939 diary
Description
An account of the resource
A diary kept by Jessie Redgrave during 1939 with detailed daily entries on her life.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jessie Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1939
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed diary with handwritten annotations
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Diary
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
YRedgraveJM743047v20001
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Essex
England--Southend-on-Sea
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
home front
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1244/16288/LWoodsEH751788v1.1.pdf
3374514a43262ab7d566dd81994a1651
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
Woods, Eric Horace
E H Woods
Timber Woods
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Eric Horace Woods (b. 1921, 751788, 162541 Royal Air Force) and consists of his log book and a mess bill. He flew as a navigator with 511 Squadron in Transport Command and then operations with 106, 144 and 61 Squadrons in Bomber Command. He flew with British Overseas Airways Corporation before becoming an aircrew examiner after the war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Peter Geoffrey Woods and 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
2018-10-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Woods, EH
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
Eric Horace Woods’ observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
Observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book for Eric Horace Woods, navigator, covering the period from 28 November 1939 to 10 July 1946. Detailing his flying training, operations flown, instructor duties, operations with transport command and post war flying. He was stationed at RAF Stapleford Abotts, RAF Hamble, RAF Penrhos, RAF Upwood, RAF West Raynham, RAF Finningley, RAF Hemswell, RAF Watton, RAF North Luffenham, RAF Woolfox, RAF Cranage, RAF Wigtown, RAF Lyneham and RAF Bassingbourn. Aircraft flown in were, Anson, Westland Wessex, Avro Avalon, Envoy, Battle, Harrow, Demon, Blenheim, Hart, Hampden, Manchester, B-24, Oxford, Albemarle, C-47, York and Lancaster. He flew one operation with 106 Squadron, 4 night operations with 144 Squadron and 25 night operations with 61 Squadron. His pilots on operations were Squadron Leader Parker, Sergeant King, Sergeant Curtis, Sergeant Whitmore, Sergeant Sleight, Sergeant Baker, Flying Officer Casement, Squadron Leader Pascall, Flying Officer Craig, Flying Officer McKee, Flying Officer Hebbourn and Flight Sergeant Scott. Targets were, Bordeaux, Essen, Magdeburg, Hannover, Kiel, Borkum, Mannheim, Hamburg, Bremen, Cologne, St Nazaire, Dusseldorf, Weser River, Karlsruhe, Krefeld and Frankfurt. He also flew 101 wartime transport operations with 511 Squadron. The log book is annotated with a brief biography, and cuttings about aircraft and operations.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Cara Walmsley
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
LWoodsEH751788v1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Transport Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Cheshire
England--Essex
England--Hampshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Rutland
England--Yorkshire
England--Wiltshire
France--Saint-Nazaire
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Weser River
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Wales--Gwynedd
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Germany--Borkum
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1940-09-09
1940-09-10
1940-10-09
1940-10-15
1940-10-16
1940-10-18
1940-10-24
1940-10-25
1940-10-26
1941-05-05
1941-05-06
1941-05-08
1941-05-09
1941-05-10
1941-05-11
1941-05-12
1941-05-17
1941-05-18
1941-05-25
1941-05-26
1941-05-27
1941-05-28
1941-06-02
1941-06-03
1941-06-11
1941-06-12
1941-06-14
1941-06-15
1941-06-17
1941-06-18
1941-06-20
1941-06-21
1941-07-03
1941-07-04
1941-07-05
1941-07-06
1941-07-14
1941-07-15
1941-07-19
1941-07-20
1941-07-24
1941-07-25
1941-07-30
1941-07-31
1941-08-06
1941-08-07
1941-08-08
1941-08-09
1941-08-11
1941-08-12
1941-08-13
1941-08-25
1941-08-26
1941-08-27
1941-08-28
1941-08-29
1941-08-30
106 Squadron
144 Squadron
17 OTU
61 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
Air Observers School
aircrew
Albemarle
Anson
B-24
Battle
Blenheim
bombing
Bombing and Gunnery School
C-47
crash
Hampden
Harrow
Ju 88
Lancaster
Manchester
mine laying
navigator
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
RAF Bassingbourn
RAF Cranage
RAF Finningley
RAF Hemswell
RAF Lyneham
RAF North Luffenham
RAF Penrhos
RAF Upwood
RAF Watton
RAF West Raynham
RAF Wigtown
RAF Woolfox Lodge
training
York
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1245/16546/PBainA18030003.1.jpg
7e98198577ede2f0ce3ccedd0f47a666
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1245/16546/PBainA18030012.1.jpg
06590f28caca924129cfc9d34c5a9487
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1245/16546/PBainA18030013.1.jpg
3eda1694c579bf0c82cb0d12b175dfc3
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
Bain, Andrew
A Bain
Description
An account of the resource
58 items. The collection concerns Andrew Bain (1916-1943, 658930, Royal Air Force). He joined the British Army in September 1939 and transferred to the RAF in October 1941. He was killed in action 23/24 August 1943. Collection includes: observer's logbook, pay book, photographs (some loose, some in album), letters (numerous), brevets and badges, medals, ribbons and BC Clasp. Includes correspondence received by Andrew's widow Isabel following his death and a list of his effects. <br /><br />Additional in formation on Andrew Bain is available via <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/201025/">the IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Lorna Aitchison Howieson and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-07-23
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Bain, A
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
Six people at Eyemouth
Description
An account of the resource
Three men and three women. Andrew in scout uniform (with kilt). Group leaning against or sitting on crenellated wall, houses in background. On the reverse 'August 1939 Eyemouth on the eve of war'. On a post- it 'Subject right with Isabella Aitcheson'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1939
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph and reverse
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PBainA18030003, PBainA18030012, PBainA18030013
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Berwickshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
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/1245/16629/MBainA658930-180723-03.2.jpg
8fdae80f4f1bad289079c3e20b6ae3f3
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
Bain, Andrew
A Bain
Description
An account of the resource
58 items. The collection concerns Andrew Bain (1916-1943, 658930, Royal Air Force). He joined the British Army in September 1939 and transferred to the RAF in October 1941. He was killed in action 23/24 August 1943. Collection includes: observer's logbook, pay book, photographs (some loose, some in album), letters (numerous), brevets and badges, medals, ribbons and BC Clasp. Includes correspondence received by Andrew's widow Isabel following his death and a list of his effects. <br /><br />Additional in formation on Andrew Bain is available via <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/201025/">the IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Lorna Aitchison Howieson and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-07-23
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Bain, A
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Summary of Andrew Bain's military service
Description
An account of the resource
Hand written note giving brief details of Andrew's service.
'2579675
Called up for army 1st Sept 1939,
Sailed for France 9th June 1940,
Evacuated from France 17th June 1940.
658930,
Transferred to RAF. 6th Oct 1941,
Sailed for South Africa 13th April 1942,
Made Sergt Oct 1942,
Arrived England 19th Dec 1942,
Killed 24th August 1943'.
Written in pencil below '£32.18'
Format
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One handwritten note
Language
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eng
Type
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Text. Personal research
Text
Identifier
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MBainA658930-180723-03
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
British Army
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
France
South Africa
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
killed in action
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1253/16650/PHarrisJ1901.2.jpg
37f8e76c3007a5907c8d5e5767aac5ec
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1253/16650/AHarrisJ190131.2.mp3
f2e60b853eb7f0eb7e4f2d66a84fd858
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
Harris, Jack
John Harris
J Harris
Description
An account of the resource
Three oral history interviews with Jack Harris (b. 1920). He served as a navigation instructor before flying operations with 550 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2019-01-17
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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Harris, J
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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PS: This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Patricia Selby. The interviewee is John Harris. The interview is taking place at [buzz] Tunbridge Wells [buzz] and the date is the 31st of January 2019 and it’s 10am. When were you born, John?
JH: I was born on the 21st of September 1920. I was born in Gillingham, Kent which at that time was the largest borough in Kent with a population of sixty thousand people who depended heavily on the Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham which was a very big employer, and there were also other army units at Old Brompton and other places in Chatham. I was born in very modest circumstances, I suppose. It was a traditional family residence with a front room which was kept under wraps Monday to Saturday and opened up on Sunday when relatives or friends came for tea and that was the big social point of the week. Yes. Very, very modest beginnings. And then when I was aged about four, my parents who had both been shop assistants decided to open up their own shop which was a confectionist and tobacco shop. And we moved to 465 Canterbury Street say when I was about three or four. I was still on a little tricycle and the garden path had to be widened slightly to take my tricycle. I remember that. Living as a small boy in a sweetshop was a mixed blessing [laughs] and it was easy to overdo the pleasures particularly as I soon found my way around the sweet shop. Where the best chocolates were kept and such. So I was brought up with a pretty sweet tooth. Yes. But anyway I went to Napier Road Elementary School at the age of five and stayed there until the age of ten when I got a scholarship to go to Gillingham County School for Boys in Third Avenue Gillingham, which was a fairly new school. It had probably been built four or five years before, and it had a school of about four hundred pupils. It had very big playing grounds with cricket pitches, rugby pitches and a hockey pitch and unusually it had its own swimming baths which was pretty small. About twenty yards. Twenty five yards long or so. But it was quite unusual for schools to have their own swimming pool. Yeah. So I [pause] stayed at the County School and took two exams in about 1935, and I was then aged fifteen. And at that time the government was very worried about the spread of venereal disease and they decided that students in the fifth form, who would be aged about fifteen, would be given talks or lectures on the dangers of venereal disease. And we were the first class to start this new instruction. The physics master gave the lesson. It was unfortunate because he had a slight stammer which was a legacy of the Great War. But his lecture was built around a series of photographs which he passed around for all the boys to see and these boys, these photographs showed up in considerable detail what could happen to your private parts if you caught gonorrhoea or syphilis and it wasn’t a terribly happy experience. And it had a very, very daunting effect on, on my life and I was a slow beginner. So that affected me quite a bit really. That you didn’t want to, to get involved with that sort of thing you see.
PS: Yeah.
JH: So it put a considerable break on my social activities with the other sex [laughs] But there we are. That was what the government wanted to do. And of course in a way their lesson got home because we were all pretty scared about the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. So when I was sixteen I passed the matriculation exam with quite good results. Distinction in maths and French. And I then sat the entrance exam for the Civil Service to become a Civil Service clerk. And there were exams held in every big city and I had to go up to London to the Civil Service premises at Burlington Gardens. And there in a big hall they’d assembled about two or three hundred desks and we all had to sit down and take this exam. They came around, put the question paper on your desk and then they said: ‘You can turn the paper over and you’ve got two hours to complete the paper.’ [laughs] Quite, quite, quite a stiff test. I mean you know it was pretty important and you could see the other two hundred and ninety nine you were competing with [laughs] Yes. But I managed to pass that exam. I also took the exam for the London County Council to be a clerk with them and passed that as well so I got jobs offered with both. But I accepted the job with the Civil Service as a clerk and started off in the Intelligence Department of the Air Ministry in, I think it was June or July 1936. You see. Yeah. Yeah. Because I, I had to wait for the inter-house cricket competition to be finished because I was the best batsman in our house cricket team. [laughs] So how little things influence things. But anyway I started work and they started me off in a section in air intelligence which dealt with security. Well, the word intelligence was pretty, sounded pretty well to a young boy, you know. And we were responsible for security in the Royal Air Force and we had contacts with MI5, the counter intelligence agency that rounded up foreign spies. The RAF liaison officer with the Secret Service was a friend of my boss in, in our department and he was always coming in once a week for a chat and so on. Not, not that he said anything of importance. It was just social chat, you know. But anyway [pause] I started that job, I think in 1937, and then when war broke out [pause] one Friday we were told to pack everything up and tie it up and label it and put it in desks, filing cabinets and cupboards. All these cupboards, cabinets and desks were labelled and so on. And war was declared on the Sunday morning and on the Friday afternoon we, we cleared up everything and put it in the cupboards and filing cabinets and we were given railway warrants to go on the Saturday to a school at Harrow and Willesden. This school had been evacuated. The children were all sent away to Devon, Cornwall, Wales and so on. That was a mass evacuation. So we arrived at this school. Our desks, cupboards and filing cabinets were in a classroom. Well, we were provided with a telephone. We were all there on the Sunday morning. We heard Neville Chamberlain declare war and about fifteen minutes later the air raid warden siren sounded and we trooped off into air raid shelters built in the playing fields. But of course nothing happened. It was a false alarm. So the Air Intelligence Department from Kingsway London had been evacuated to a school at Harrow in North London. Yeah. It was, it was, just a Grammar School. A secondary school like, like ours in Gillingham, you know. But I mean it was quite amazing how the move was done and the telephones were connected and working all, all within a twenty four or a thirty six hour period. In some ways it says quite a lot for the planning that was involved. Yeah. Yeah. We, we stayed at Harrow for about a month. And this was the period of the Phoney War. Nothing was happening and then they moved us back to central London. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I remember that, and although young men were conscripted for military service on their eighteenth birthday, I was exempt from conscription because I was in what was called a Reserved Occupation and if, if they thought the job you were doing there and then was more important to the war office, war effort then being in the army or the other services you got exemption from the call up. So I carried on as a Civil Service clerk. But then when Dunkirk came along in May and June 1940, the Civil Service bosses relaxed the rules and they said that young men like me could be released to join the services if you wanted to be aircrew or a glider pilot or a parachutist. So I applied to be aircrew straightaway and I went before an Aircrew Selection Board at Uxbridge and got through all that and they accepted me as a trainee pilot. This would be about July or August. [pause] Oh God, my memory’s failing me. God.
PS: Don’t worry.
JH: Yes. This would be about July 1940 but the RAF training machine was so overwhelmed with new people coming in, that they couldn’t accept me for two or three months and I had to wait until mid-October 1940 when I was sent down to Babbacombe on the outskirts of Torquay which was the Receiving Centre for new trainee pilots. And we went to Babbacombe. It was a Receiving Wing it was called and you were attested. You took the Oath of Allegiance and you got a service number and then we drew a uniform, an RAF uniform and we started introduction to RAF drill and early lectures on Royal Air Force law and so on. And we were only there for a fortnight when I was posted to Number 5 Initial Training Wing at Torquay where we were in a requisitioned hotel called the Elfordleigh. And there were three flights of students with fifty student pilots in each flight and we started off our pilot training with lectures in air navigation, meteorology, the principles of flight and beginning to be introduced to machine guns and how they worked and so on. And of course there was lots of drill involved and a certain amount of sport. That course lasted eight weeks and we finished just before Christmas 1940 and we were due to go on to an Elementary Flying Training School to start to learn flying Tiger Moths. But first of all it was winter time and all the RAF airfields then were grass airfields and in the winter they got too soft and boggy and couldn’t be used for flying. Also, the training machine was being overwhelmed by this new influx of would be pilots and there was no flying unit we could go to and they sent us to Paignton just to mark time, and waste time for two months until we could be sent away to start flying training. So I didn’t start my flying training until February 1941 when I was sent to Fairoaks near Woking to start to learn to fly on Tiger Moths. Fairoaks was a grass airfield. It was also belong to an aircraft factory in the corner of the airfield which was making certain planes. I can’t remember what they were, but anyway, anyway we started flying training in Tiger Moths. The instructor sat at the front. No. Sorry. The pupils sat in the front cockpit. The instructor was behind and the instructor gave you instructions with a gosport tube. He spoke down a tube which came in to your earphones and of course you started off with circuits and landings, learning to fly the thing and land it. To do local flying and then a little bit of cross country flying and that was it. We did about forty or fifty hours on Tiger Moths and then we were ready to go on to the next stage of flying training and I went up to a service flying training school at Grantham in May 1941 to learn to fly Oxfords which were a twin engine trainer. And again you did circuits and landings, local flying, you did formation flying, you did some cross country, you did some bombing exercises on a bombing range and you finished up by doing night flying. Grantham wasn’t a good airfield for night flying because the airfield was shaped like an inverted saucer and you couldn’t see the far end of the airfield. Also it was alongside a main road with telegraph poles and telegraph wires so it wasn’t good. So the night flying was meant to be done from a World War One grass airfield on the other side of Grantham which was called Harlaxton. But at the end of the runway, the end of the flare path at Harlaxton, there was a factory making twenty millimetre cannon for Spitfires and Hurricanes and it was a priority job to get these British fighters equipped with this twenty millimetre cannon and they were scared that if the flare path was laid out at Harlaxton it would attract German intruder bombers and the bombs could fall on the factory. So they stopped us flying from Harlaxton at night and we were sent up to Ingham just north of Lincoln which was not a proper airfield. There were no buildings of any sort. Just tents, telephone and slit trenches. But it was a grass airfield of course. A farmer’s field converted to an airfield, but you could lay out a portable flare path which gave you eight or nine hundred yard take-off and landing strip. So we went up to Ingham and my instructor did three or four dual circuits and landings with me at night. And then he got out and he said: ‘You’re on your own. Go and do your first solo night take-off and landing.’ So I taxied to the end of the flare path, got the green light and the Aldis lamp from the flare path controller who was at our end of the flare path and he gave me a steady green, so I opened the throttles and took off down this flare path. I’d got about two thirds of the way down this flare path when I noticed in the corner of my windscreen there was a reflection of five or six bright yellow flashes behind me. Well, I knew what they were. A German intruder bomber was dropping a stick of bombs along our flare path chasing me up the flare path. Well, I saw the flashes from the first five or six bombs. When the last two bombs burst, I heard the crump of the burst and got the push of the blast so it sort of helped me down the flare path. Anyway, I got into the air, climbed up to about forty or fifty feet, retracted the undercarriage, put out my navigation lights because I didn’t want the German bomber to pick me up and shoot me down. And I turned cross wind and looked back and our flare path had been turned out you see. It had been turned off. They had turned it off. In those days each RAF airfield, when flying at night, had a red beacon which was portable and it was located within a mile or two of the airfield and it flashed two Morse Code letters. So for Ingham our pundit was flashing I and, I for India and N for nuts you see. So I went to this portable flashing beacon at a height of about a thousand feet and circled it for a minute or so and then I thought well this isn’t a good place to be because the German will come to the beacon anyway and look for me. So I mean I turned off my navigation lights so I had no contact with the ground. No radio. So I didn’t know what to do. My own flare path had been put out. I, I had to find another flare path. I’d, I’d got about three hours fuel left to fly but dawn was still four or five hours away so somewhere I’d got to find a flare path and make a landing at night and I’d never done a solo night landing before. So I formed a little plan and I flew south for five minutes looking for a flare path. Came back to our beacon. Nothing. I flew east for five minutes, came back, nothing. I couldn’t fly west because we were getting near the hills. Getting near the Pennine Hills. So then I flew north for five minutes and I was flying now at about two thousand feet and I was just looking for a flare path and suddenly I saw what was called a hooded flare path. It was a proper flare path with two lines of lights you see, but there was a hood over the lights so you could only see the lights from low level. You couldn’t see them from high up. So I lined up on this flare path, set my gyro to make sure I’d got the right heading, did a circuit and landing, dropped my wheels down, down downwind. Came around, put my flaps down and landed. I’d had no radio contract with the airfield and I landed on this flare path which was actually a runway and it was an airfield being used by a night fighter squadron flying Defiants and they had a couple of aircraft up looking for the German bomber that had bombed my flare path you see. Well, of course I was a big surprise to them. It was, they had no warning of my arrival. As I came over the end of the runway, the runway controller in a caravan at the end of the runway told his ops room that he’d got a stranger. An Oxford had just landed. Well, they shepherded me to a dispersal and I switched off. So both I and the aircraft had got down in one piece safely albeit to a completely strange airfield. But it had a happy ending you see [laughs] So that was quite an introduction to night flying.
PS: Yes.
JH: Yeah. We’ll have a cup of coffee. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
PS: Right. Ok.
JH: Yeah.
[recording paused]
PS: You’re on.
JH: Well, [pause] about ten days after that incident where the Germans bombed my flare path I finished my flying course on Oxfords. And I received my wings on the 2nd of August 1941 and I was commissioned on that day. And then all the big tailors; Gieves, Orchid and so on had representatives that they sent to officer’s messes and you could be measured for your uniform and it would be made up and then you’d have a fitting. And you could get your uniform within oh two or three weeks. It was quite well organised. Unfortunately, I had come top in my navigation exam. And when I finished this course on twin engine Oxfords and got my wings, they made me a navigation instructor and I was sent away to a navigation instructor’s school at Cranage in Cheshire and we spent six or eight weeks learning a bit more about navigation in general but specialising in astro navigation using sextants to take shots of the stars, the moon and the sun. And you could get position lines from your sextant readings and plot these on the chart and get a fix. If you had taken shots on three stars you could get a fix which should give you your position at night to an accuracy of about ten miles which was a lot better than they’d had up ‘til then. So there was all this emphasis on astro navigation and particularly on the various star constellations and we had to get out and identify these at night when, when the sky was clear enough and so on. But the RAF had great hopes of astro navigation but it was overtaken by other better means of navigation soon after so it didn’t catch on as a mainstream of navigation. It was always a back up aid if you needed it. Yes. Yes. So [pause] I did about a six or eight week course at Cranage and I was then qualified to teach navigation. And you’ve got to remember I was only twenty one. Still pretty young. Yeah. So they sent me down to Number 3 Service Flying Training School at South Cerney near Cirencester and I taught navigation to each group of student pilots that came along. And they had to get enough in to, to pass navigation exams and so on. Each course consisted of fifty student pilots and they were learning to fly Oxfords and we were teaching them navigation. Each course of fifty students included eight or ten Polish pilots. And these had been perhaps members of the Polish Air Force or young Polish men wanting to fly who’d used an escape route to get out of Poland and be passed down through five or six countries. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania into Turkey and finally they’d reached the RAF in Palestine and there they’d be vetted to make sure that they weren’t German spies. But then they would be accepted into the Polish Air Force and sent to England for training. So that’s why we had a lot of Poles on each course. Now, the training included some exercise learning how to drop bombs from two points of view. One being the pilot accepting instructions from the bomb aimer about getting on to the aiming point and the other being the actual bomb aimer who was guiding the pilot and giving instruction to the pilot to make sure that he lined up properly on the aiming point. And a bombing detail consisted of two pilots in an aircraft flying to the practice bombing range which was on mud flats in the Severn Estuary and took about ten or twelve minutes to fly to the bombing range. And then one pilot would go down to the nose where the bombsight was and he would guide his pilot friend to drop six practice bombs on this bombing range and they would change over and the other would do the bombing and the other would do the flying in the pilot’s cockpit. So the actual dropping of the bombs took about fifty minutes and with flying back to base the whole flying detail would be about an hour and twenty minutes or an hour and a half. [pause] One day, two Polish pilots took off to do this practice bombing exercise but they took a long time to come back and the Oxford only had fuel for about four hours flying but these two Poles didn’t come back to South Cerney and enquiries were made as to whether anybody had reported an Oxford crashing somewhere. They, they thought they’d crashed you see. Well, after about four hours these two Polish pilots returned. They hadn’t got any practice bombs on board. They’d dropped them all. They’d flown out over the English Channel at low level to get below the German radar screen. They got to the French coast. They flew up and down the French coast until they came to a German barracks flying a swastika flag and they dropped their twelve practice bombs on the German barracks. [laughs] Now, these practice bombs were very small. Only about eleven or twelve pounds each. They were just filled with magnesium powder so that you could plot them to give a cloud of dust. But they had a small explosive charge that gave a flash. That was all. But anyway, after about four hours these two Poles returned and they said what they’d done and of course everybody was a bit upset because they completely ruined a day’s flying programme. Apart from causing concerns about a missing aircraft, they’d ruined the next couple of day hours that aircraft was due to fly. So the chief instructor had to tear them off quite a large strip but at the same time he had to admire their aggression. [laughs] They weren’t going to waste any practice bombs. So I carried on instructing at South Cerney until May 1942 when I was posted to Canada to become a navigation instructor at a new Operational Training Unit that was being set up in Canada. But we ran into some problems straight away. The Operational Training Unit we were going to was meant to fly Hampden twin engine bombers and the crews were meant to be trained for night operations in Bomber Command. And that is where astro-navigation still played some considerable part. But unfortunately, the airframes for the Hampden bombers were made in Canada so the airframes were available but the engines were Mercury engines made by the Bristol Aircraft at Bristol in England. Well, the engines for the Hampdens never arrived. They’d been put on a ship to cross the Atlantic and the U-boats had got it and sent the ship to the bottom. So we had no engines. And of course you can’t do anything with a bare airframe. So for four or five weeks we were in limbo with virtually nothing to fly. So they made an emergency decision. The Air Ministry had ordered from Lockheed Aircraft Company at Burbank in California a number of day twin engine bombers called the Ventura which was an adapted version of the Hudson maritime patrol aircraft. Well, the Ventura used the Hudson wings and the Hudson wings were built for flying for long periods at low level, at low speed on maritime patrols you see, and the wings weren’t suitable for a day bomber which had to be a high speed bomber. So the concept of making the Ventura a day bomber never worked out. We, the RAF did order a small number. Perhaps seventy or eighty aircraft. They equipped three squadrons in Bomber Command but the casualty rate was too high and they couldn’t get away from German fighters. They couldn’t defend themselves and the casualty rate was just too high so the Ventura was never a success as a day bomber as it was meant to be, but it was quite an interesting aircraft to fly. It had very modern systems. The Americans were very good with instruments, electrics and auto pilot. Much, much better than actually the RAF equivalent and it was still an interesting aircraft to fly. So I carried on flying Venturas at Pennfield Ridge in New Brunswick, Canada which was one of the Maritime Provinces and heavily dependent on forestry, agriculture, orchards and fishing and so on and generally a rather poorer part of Canada. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I stayed on teaching navigation and then they made me a staff pilot on Venturas and I could lead students on formation flying and certain air firing exercises and so on. So I did quite a number of hours on Ventura aircraft. So then in January ’44, I was sent back to England on a troop ship from Halifax in Nova Scotia, and I came back on a troop ship called HMS Andes which when war broke out had been under construction. So it was a fairly new ship and they were able to finish it as a troop ship and it could take, you know, several hundred RAF people. So we were, I think I was on one of the top decks. A deck it was, and a cabin with six bunks in it. Three double tiered bunks occupied seven officers. The seventh had to sleep on the floor so we took it in turns to sleep on the floor. But we didn’t come back in a convoy. The Andes was fast enough to make the Atlantic crossing unescorted and if you could cruise along at seventeen or eighteen knots you were probably going fast enough to avoid the U-boats and so on. So we came back to Gourock in the Firth of Clyde at Glasgow. That was our landing point. Yeah. Yeah. I’m sorry, I’m wrong there. We came back to Liverpool. We landed at Liverpool. We landed at Liverpool, yeah. Sorry. And then I started my training with Bomber Command and I went to Number 30 OTU at Hixon, near Stafford, flying Wellington bombers. I was the pilot and I acquired a crew of; navigator, bomb aimer, wireless operator and one air gunner. So we became a crew of five and we did all our circuits and landings, local flying, cross country, bombing exercises, air firing exercises, formation flying, fighter affiliation and night flying and so on. And then after about eighty or ninety hours on Wellingtons, we finished that course and we were ready to go on to the next step on the Bomber Command training ladder, and we went to a Heavy Conversion Unit at Sandtoft near Doncaster to learn to fly the Halifax four engine bomber. And there I added on a flight engineer and a mid-upper gunner to my crew. So at that point we became a crew of seven and we did the same sort of exercises; circuits and landings, local flying, cross countries, bombing, air firing, fighter affiliation and night flying. So we did forty hours flying on Halifaxes and then we were sent to Number 1 Lancaster Finishing School at Hemswell where we all did a quick conversion course on to the Lancaster and it was just circuits and landings, day and night flying and I think one cross country. We were only there for about two, two and a half weeks and then we were qualified Lancaster crew and I was posted to Number 550 Squadron flying Lancasters based at North Killingholme near Grimsby. We arrived about teatime on the 30th of August 1944 and there was an air of gloom everywhere because that day the squadron commander, a wing commander had been shot down on a daylight raid on a French target but unfortunately he didn’t come back. So we did a couple of cross country exercises on the squadron, particularly getting used to a navigation aid called H2S which was a downward looking radar which gave you a picture of the ground and you could identify towns and water features which helped a lot with the navigation. So we did two or three training exercises with the squadron and I had to start my tour by doing a second pilot trip with an experienced crew which I did on the 10th of September 1944 and the target was Le Havre port. And we attacked it in daylight so the whole sortie was very short and we were only over the target for two or three minutes and we hardly saw any flak. Just a few puffs of smoke. A few. But it wasn’t much good from the point of view of getting me used to enemy defences. So our first raid as a complete crew was a night sortie on the 10th of September to Frankfurt and we went on a totally clear night with no cloud. But Frankfurt and Mainz it’s twin city had about two hundred searchlights and they were all alight as we came over this target and you could see three or four aircraft had been coned by, you know twenty or thirty searchlights each, and they were being plastered with flak. So that didn’t do the morale a lot of good. But anyway, we, we got through all that alright. That was a flight of just over seven hours. And then we started to do three or four daylight raids on targets in or near Calais. There was a gun site that was firing shells into Dover and southern England. There were a lot of German troops in Calais which were trying to stop the allies capturing the port because we wanted to get the port for the port facilities it offered you see. Loading supplies and so on. Yeah. So we did three or four day sorties and then we [pause] we were sent on one daylight raid in October, early October, to an inland port on the River Rhine at Emmerich which was being used to bring German reinforcements in. And they sent us in in daylight at a height of eleven thousand feet which was pretty low and the German flak gunners had no trouble in picking you up as target. And suddenly a flak shell burst about thirty or forty feet in front of me. Fortunately just below me. Just a few feet below. I saw the red flash as the shell burst. I jumped out of my skin. I knew I was going to be severely tested in the next few minutes. There was one very loud bang which we found out when we landed was because a blind landing aerial on the outside of the fuselage just below, just by my left knee had been shot clean away. And we took a lot of flak fragments in the port wing and one fragment punctured one fuel tank and the mid-upper gunner reported fuel streaming back from this tank and I could tell from the petrol gauge that it was leaking pretty badly. The needle was going down. So we had to run all four engines off that one tank to make best use of what fuel was remaining in it. And I checked around with the crew. Nobody was hurt. We were all unharmed. That was a bit of a surprise in a way. And when we landed we found we’d got over seventy holes in the port wing in the bomb bay doors of the fuselage and so on. So we’d taken quite a pasting from this flak shell. But anyway, we got back alright and then we set out to do a lot of night raids on mostly targets in southern Germany like Stuttgart, Munich, Leipzig, Nuremberg and so on, interspersed with raids on Ruhr Targets like Essen and Dusseldorf and then three raids on Cologne we did as well. On one of the Cologne raids we were hit by flak again but that time minor. We only got ten or twenty holes. Yes. Yes. So there was one particular episode during my tour with 550 Squadron. About halfway through our tour, our flight engineer fell off his motorbike and broke his wrist and he was out of action for five or six weeks, in which period we carried on flying doing six raids with a replacement flight engineer. So when my crew had finished their thirty raids, the flight engineer had only done twenty four because he’d missed six of them. So I got the whole crew to volunteer to fly six extra raids to finish off the flight engineer which meant that I as a pilot did thirty seven raids all together, because I’d started with the second pilot trip you see. So I, there weren’t, there weren’t many people on the squadron that had flown more raids than that. Yeah. And we, we got through the tour alright. As long as you were in the middle of the bomber stream you were relatively safe from night fighters. The night fighters were the biggest danger because with their twenty millimetre cannon firing upwards they came underneath you and you couldn’t see them and they fired up in to your fuel tanks and engines and so on, and usually the first burst was pretty fatal. But the night fighters were looking first for bombers on the edge of the bomber stream where they would be easier to pick up you see. But I had a good navigator and he kept me in the middle of the bomber stream and we were never attacked by a night fighter. So I take my hat off to my navigator there. He was really responsible for the crew coming, coming back unharmed from all these raids. Yeah. Yeah. We finished up. Our next to last raid was the Dresden raid where we, we flew for ten hours twenty minutes. And unfortunately when I started up my own aircraft, the brake pressure was too low and we couldn’t taxi out and take off. We had to switch quickly to the reserve aircraft which was already bombed and fuelled up. So we were taken to the reserve aircraft and we flew the sortie in the reserve aircraft. But not surprisingly the reserve aircraft was a very tired out aircraft and possibly had a twisted fuselage. It didn’t fly too well and I had to use much more fuel than usual in climbing up to altitude and we started to get a bit short of fuel and coming back across France we realised we didn’t have enough fuel to get to North Killingholme, so we landed at an emergency airstrip at Manston in Kent. Just next to Ramsgate. And we landed there about ten past seven in the morning just as it was getting light. Yeah. So, that, that was that was a long, long sortie. Ten hours twenty minutes was our longest sortie. That’s ten hours twenty minutes from take-off to landing. But that means, what with starting the engines during the early take off checks, taxiing to the take off point, taxiing back after you land, I’d been strapped to that seat for over eleven hours you see. Quite a long time isn’t it? [laughs]
PS: A very long time.
JH: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Ok. So shall we have a rest now?
PS: Yes.
JH: Yes. Yes. Yes.
[recording paused]
JH: I’d finished my tour and I was posted in early March 1945 to a Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit at Sandtoft where I was an instructor and deputy flight commander. And of course we were training crews on the Halifax first and then they would go on to the Lancaster. And the war with Japan was still on and they were due to go up to the Pacific Islands to bomb Japan but Japan came out of the war in, I think it was August 1945, and obviously there was no need to carry on training crews. So we had a very awkward period where they didn’t really know what to do with all the aircrew they’d got, and holding units were set up just to [laughs] just to sleep and feed them but not, not really knowing what to do with them. So it was a rather awkward time. And I had a stroke of luck. I took some leave and my home was in Gillingham in Kent so I went up to London quite a lot. And I was walking the streets of London and I met a squadron leader who I knew and we started chatting and he, he was in charge of pilot postings in the Air Ministry and he said to me: ‘You know, pilots and aircrew are going to have a difficult time for the next few months until everything gets sorted out, but — ’ he said, ‘If you like I could get you a job in the Air Ministry.’ Well, I leapt at it you see. So I was posted to the Air Ministry on the 1st of October 1945. And first of all I was a flight lieutenant but fortunately in about March ’46 they made me an acting squadron leader and I was pretty pleased with that at the age of twenty five. Life was looking pretty good. And then a month or two later about April or June, April or May ’45, they gave me a permanent commission which I accepted as quick as I could and I was going to stay in the RAF permanently you see. So that was a lucky break for me. Yeah. So then in March 1948, I went back to flying duties and had to take a refresher course flying Oxfords at Finningley near Doncaster for six or seven weeks. And then I was posted to an Operational Conversion Unit flying Dakotas at North Luffenham near Oakham in Rutland and I acquired a pilot and a wireless operator, so we were just a crew of three and we learned to fly a Dakota transport aircraft and the Dakota could transport about thirty or forty troops. It could drop paratroops. It could tow gliders, and you could also drop containers as supply dropping to troops on the ground. So we had to practice all those exercises. But the main thing was doing a long cross countries to get the navigator exercised and so on. So that was fine. And I carried on until March 1948. No, sorry. [pause] I carried on ‘til February ’49. That’s right. February ’49 when I was posted out to the Far East and we went up on a troop ship the Devonshire which was the services troop ship, you know. Yeah. Now, we’ve got —
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 Harris. One
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Patricia Selby
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
2019-01-31
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AHarrisJ190131, PHarrisJ1901
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:15:33 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Jack Harris was born in Gillingham, Kent. At sixteen, he undertook employment as a clerk in the intelligence department of the Air Ministry. He describes the brief evacuation of his department to Harrow in 1939 and receiving permission to leave his reserved occupation and volunteer for aircrew in 1940, when he was sent down to Babbacombe. Harris began training as a pilot on Tiger Moths in February 1941 at RAF Fairoaks, followed by Oxfords at RAF Grantham and RAF Ingham. Harris describes night flying at Harlaxton before going to Ingham. He describes his first solo night flight, when a German intruder bomber caused the landing flares to be turned off, forcing him to find an alternative airfield to land. In 1941, Harris was made a navigation instructor and was sent away to a navigation instructor’s school at RAF Cranage in Cheshire. He then served as a navigation instructor for pilots at RAF South Cerney until May 1942, when he was posted to an Operational Training Unit in Canada as a staff pilot leading Ventura training exercises. In January 1944, Harris returned to England and trained on Wellingtons at RAF Hixon, Halifaxes at RAF Sandtoft, and converted to Lancasters at RAF Hemswell. In August 1944, he joined 550 Squadron based at RAF North Killingholme and completed thirty-seven operations. He compares his first daylight operation accompanying an experienced crew to Le Havre with his first solo pilot operation at night to Frankfurt. He also recounts anti-aircraft fire puncturing a fuel tank and seventy holes into their wing during a daylight operation over the Rhine River, and his penultimate operation to Dresden. In March 1945, Harris was posted to a Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Sandtoft. Finally, Harris describes receiving a permanent position in the RAF in 1946 and training to fly C-47s before being posted to the Far East in 1949.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tilly Foster
Julie Williams
Steph Jackson
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Surrey
England--Lincolnshire
England--Gloucestershire
England--Staffordshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Harrow
Canada
France
France--Le Havre
Germany
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Dresden
Rhine River
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
1941-02
1942-05
1944-01
1944-08
1946
1949
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
30 OTU
550 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945)
C-47
Flying Training School
H2S
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Initial Training Wing
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
navigator
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
pilot
RAF Cranage
RAF Fairoaks
RAF Grantham
RAF Harlaxton
RAF Hemswell
RAF Hixon
RAF Ingham
RAF North Killingholme
RAF North Luffenham
RAF Sandtoft
RAF South Cerney
RAF Torquay
recruitment
Tiger Moth
training
Ventura
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1254/16727/MBakerWB1392752-161128-040001.2.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1254/16727/MBakerWB1392752-161128-040002.2.jpg
0b9cdbf434f505cab07b7a038ad0e44d
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
Baker, William Benjamin
Biff Baker
W B Baker
Description
An account of the resource
45 items. The collection concerns William Benjamin "Biff" Baker DFC (Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents art work and and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 115 and 626 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Pamela Baker and catalogued by Nigel Huckins and Peter Adams.
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
2016-11-28
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
Baker, WB
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Royal crest]
8th June, 1946
TO-DAY, AS WE CELEBRATE VICTORY,
I send this personal message to you and all other boys and girls at school. For you have shared in the hardships and dangers of a total war and you have shared no less in the triumph of the Allied Nations.
I know you will always feel proud to belong to a country which was capable of such supreme effort; proud too, of parents and elder brothers and sisters who by their courage, endurance and enterprise brought victory. May these qualities be yours as you grow up and join in the common effort to establish among the nations of the world unity and peace.
George R.I.
[page break]
IMPORTANT WAR DATES
1939
Sep 1. Germany invaded Poland
Sep 3. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany; the B.E.F. began to leave for France
Dec 13. Battle of the River Plate
1940
Apr 9. Germany invaded Denmark and Norway
May 10. Germany invaded the Low Countries
June 3. Evacuation from Dunkirk completed
June 8. British troops evacuated from Norway
June 11. Italy declared war on Great Britain
June 22. France capitulated
June 29. Germans occupied the Channel Isles
Aug 8 – Oct 31. German air offensive against Great Britain (Battle of Britain)
Oct 28. Italy invaded Greece
Nov 11 – 12. Successful attack on the Italian Fleet in Taranto Harbour.
Dec 9 – 11. Italian invasion of Egypt defeated at the battle of Sidi Barrani
1941
Mar 11. Lease-Lend Bill passed in U.S.A.
Mar 28. Battle of Cape Matapan
Apr 6. Germany invaded Greece
Apr 12 – Dec 9. The Siege of Tobruk
May 20. Formal surrender of remnants of Italian Army in Abyssinia
May 20 – 31. Battle of Crete
May 27. German battleship [italics] Bismarck [/italics] sunk
June 22. Germany invaded Russia
Aug 12. Terms of the Atlantic Charter agreed
Nov 18. British offensive launched in the Western Desert
Dec 7. Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour
Dec 8. Great Britain and United States of America declared war on Japan
1942
Feb 15. Fall of Singapore
Apr 16. George Cross awarded to Malta
Oct 23 – Nov 4. German-Italian army defeated at El Alamein
Nov 8. British and American forces landed in North Africa
1943
Jan 31. The remnants of the 6th German Army surrendered at Stalingrad
May Final victory over the U-Boats in the Atlantic
May 13. Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered
July 10. Allies invaded Sicily
Sep 3. Allies invaded Italy
Sep 8. Italy capitulated
Dec 26. [italics] Scharnhorst [/italics] sunk off North Cape
1944
Jan 22. Allied troops landed at Anzio
June 4. Rome captured
June 6. Allies landed in Normandy
June 13. Flying-bomb (V.1) attack on Britain started
June Defeat of Japanese invasion of India
Aug 25. Paris liberated
Sep 3. Brussels liberated
Sep 8. The first rocket-bomb (V.2) fell on England.
Sep 17 – 26. The Battle of Arnhem
Oct 20. The Americans re-landed in the Philippines
1945
Jan 17. Warsaw liberated
Mar 20. British recaptured Mandalay
Mar 23. British crossed the Rhine
Apr 25. Opening of Conference of United Nations at San Francisco
May 2. German forces in Italy surrendered
May 3. Rangoon recaptured
May 5. All the German forces in Holland, N.W. Germany and Denmark surrendered unconditionally
May 9. Unconditional surrender of Germany to the Allies ratified in Berlin
June 10. Australian troops landed in Borneo
Aug 6. First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
Aug 8. Russia declared war on Japan
Aug 9. Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Aug 14. The Emperor of Japan broadcast the unconditional surrender of his country
Sep 5. British forces re-entered Singapore
MY FAMILY’S WAR RECORD
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
Celebratory letter from King George
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from King George to all school-children, celebrating and sharing the victory of the allied nations. It is headed with the Royal Standard, in colour. On the reverse a list of 60 important war dates.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
George VI, King of Great Britain (1936-1952)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946-06-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed 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
MBakerWB1392752-161128-040001, MBakerWB1392752-161128-040002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
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.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
childhood in wartime
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
home front
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1252/16832/PCheshireGL18100037.2.jpg
86144d7510db014826f6fbd5702e1c20
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1252/16832/PCheshireGL18100038.2.jpg
8d5c5ef9c3acddabaeec5b032256c7e5
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
Cheshire, Leonard
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard
Baron Cheshire
Description
An account of the resource
374 items concerning Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC. Collection consists of photographs of people, vehicles, places, aircraft, weapons and targets; documents including, private and service letters, signals, telegrams, intelligence reports, crew lists and official documents. Cheshire served on 102 and 35 Squadrons and commanded 76 and 617 Squadrons. The collection includes details of 617 Squadron's precision bombing operations. Also included are two sub-collections: one containing 21 photographs of Tinian and Saipan, the other consisting of 37 audio tapes of speeches given by Cheshire after the war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by The Leonard Cheshire Archive and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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 property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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
Thirty one airmen in front of a building
Description
An account of the resource
Thirty one airmen all wearing tunics in five rows sitting and standing. Two in the front row have pilot's brevet and non commission officer stripes. In the background a building with large windows. On the reverse Sgt Cross, RAF Hullavington October 1939, P.O Braban, Dinghy Young, Lindsay Simpson, from logbook, PO Bruce, Rogers, E. Jones, Hopkin, Sgt Carter, Bulpitt, Calvert, Carrier, Burnham, Hurst, Peter, Campin, AF/28C'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1939
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCheshireGL18100037, PCheshireGL18100038
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Wiltshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Cheshire, Leonard. Aircrew, people, decorations and bomb damage
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Royalty-free permission to publish
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
aircrew
pilot
RAF Hullavington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1287/17229/PHarperL1901.1.jpg
b15c864ba39a5f20db6c24984d37c6c5
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1287/17229/AHarperL190521.1.mp3
46073482bffd601b5d01a9f978128194
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
DE: So this is an interview with Len Harper for the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. My name Is Dan Ellin. We’re in Len Harper’s home in Chapel St Leonards. It’s the 21st of May 2019. Put that there and then we’ll try and forget about it. So, Len could you tell me a little bit about your early life before you joined the RAF?
LH: Yes. Well, before I just went to the ordinary primary school, which I enjoyed and I left school at the age of fourteen, and from then on I was out of work but I managed to find myself a job and by the end of 19 — Come on. Come on.
Other: Alright.
[recording paused]
LH: I decided that the RAF was the place for me. So having worked in a shop Wednesday afternoon was always our half day off and I told my brother, who worked with me, I said, ‘Tell mother that I shan’t be home for this afternoon.’ Instead of that I went off to Hanley in the Potteries and joined the Royal Air Force. That was in the April of 1939. From then on that’s where it started. I joined the Royal Air Force and I went down to Cardington where I did all my foot slogging, and then from Cardington I was sent to the Wireless Training School at Yatesbury in Wiltshire, and that’s where I took my course on radio repairs etcetera and I passed the course at the end of 1939. Of course, then the war had started in the September. And from then onwards I was posted from, from Yatesbury. I went to RAF station Wittering which was a lovely RAF station and I was there for two years when I was posted to India and Burma. That is a short account of my RAF.
DE: Okey dokey. What was, what was training like? Can you remember?
LH: Training was very, very good really. It was very good indeed. We did, we did learn and it was, it was easy to learn. I mean nothing was too complicated. I know I started, I started at the RAF Wireless School at Yatesbury in the September, and a three month course took me through to the end of December which was then supposed to have passed us through to the, to the training that we’d had. And of course I went straight on to radio maintenance, which I enjoyed very, very much indeed and that’s how it started with me. I had two years. Two years in, at RAF station Wittering. And from then I was posted to, overseas to South Africa and from South Africa to Bombay, India.
DE: Ok.
LH: And Burma.
DE: So what, what did your work entail when you were at Wittering? What was, what was your, what was the job like?
LH: It was repairing radio. Repairing. Mostly it was damaged radios that were damaged during the overseas work and we had a real full time job in trying to get everything going as quick as you could when the aircraft came down. This wanted doing, that wanted doing, and it had to be done.
DE: So was it lots of soldering and changing valves and things like that?
LH: Absolutely. That.
DE: Yeah.
LH: Oh yes. A lot of that. It was good really. I don’t know why I didn’t take it on after the war but I didn’t and that was it. And then in the February 1942 I was on leave to go abroad when I went to South Africa for three days strangely enough. And then from South Africa I went through to Bombay where I was there for what should, what should I say? About two years there and then I was posted to Burma. And from Burma I went almost down the east, east coast picking up various jobs that were required of me to do with regards to radio repairs. But India was quite nice. Well, what shall I say? A rare place. It wasn’t what I expected. We were looked on, some of us were looked on as fighters and what not. We wanted to get rid of India, sort of thing. Others thought the world of us. And we went on like that. And then of course I was posted overseas to Burma where I spent eighteen month. And it was illness that brought me back from Burma, back in to India and then I came back and did another year in India doing the same job that I’d done right the way through.
DE: What was the illness that you had?
LH: It was, what was it? Oh, I can’t think [pause] I’m just trying to think of it. I can’t —
DE: Dysentery or —
LH: It was dysentery.
DE: Right.
LH: Dysentery is correct. Yes. Yes. I had dysentery which I had, I’ve never even got rid of it. I even get yet touches of it nowadays. At my hundredth birthday. But it wasn’t that that took me out of the Force. I automatically left the Force in 1945, and my wife didn’t want me to go back. And having plenty of conversation I thought well she doesn’t want to go back in to the Women’s Royal Air Force so I tore my papers up and that was it and I went to work on the railway.
DE: What did you do on the railway?
LH: I was a railway signalman on the Derby-Crewe line. I enjoyed that. It was very, very nice. I could have stayed on there but once again lines were being taken up and we were knocked out and that was it. Good old days. And from then onwards I went in to various industries. I did work in the man-made fibres division with the ICI. I was there for approximately eleven years, and after then I didn’t see any sense in stopping. I learnt what I wanted to learn and I left and I went into the newspaper business. And that’s how it went on. Going from place to place. It was a good life really because I’ve always been interested in trains and —
[pause]
LH: I’m trying to think what else happened.
DE: That’s ok. We can, we can go back over some of this stuff and you might, you might think of some more things to say. I’m rather interested in why you decided to join the RAF.
LH: Yes. Well, it was rather strange because my brother joined the RAF in January 1939, and he came home after a while and said how good it was, this, that and the other. I said, ‘Oh, I might have a go myself.’ Which I did. I liked the idea of it. So, in the April of ’39 I decided to go and join the RAF, which I did and I’m glad I did. I could have stayed in the RAF for years if, if my wife would have liked the idea. But she didn’t want the idea of being [pause] well, what should I say? Being under the RAF.
DE: Sure, yes. When did you meet her? When did you marry?
LH: I met her long before I joined the RAF. We were married. We married in February 1942 but I met my wife long before that. And she joined, she joined the RAF. She was from Nottingham and there we were.
DE: So it must have been fairly hard. Only getting to see each other when you both had leave, I imagine.
LH: Oh, yes. Yes. We always managed to get together when leave was on the records. Yes. We did.
DE: What did she think when you got your posting to India?
LH: She didn’t like the idea at all but of course she was already in the Women’s Royal Air Force so it didn’t make much of a difference to her. We were, she put up with it and I explained to her that it was all for the best, which it was really. But to go out to India was rather strange. I never thought I should be sent out to India because I went to Bombay where we [pause] and then from Bombay I went [pause] I went to Quetta. I was at Quetta for three, four months taking a wireless course. And then we were posted. I was posted down to Calcutta. And from Calcutta I went through to the postal region, and I went into Burma. To a place called Dohazari. A very nice place. And I was there for two years until I got this dysentery and I had to go back in to India and I went to central India, to Agra where I was hospitalised there for eight months.
DE: What were conditions like in the hospital?
LH: Pretty good. Pretty good really. Oh yes. They did look after us. There’s no doubt about that [pause]. I had plenty of time to get about and I had some good times. I had, well I met a lot of people in India. I went to Bhopal, to Agra, to Quetta and all various places. And I got to know quite a lot of the Indian people and to me they were, they were quite, quite a nice lot in my opinion. But of course there was this time when they were wanting to get out of the British Raj and this, that and the other, and you didn’t know who you could really rely on for a friendship. And there it was. But Burma was a strange place. The Burmese didn’t like us. They liked the Japanese more than they liked, liked us. However, we got over that and as I say the third time I had to, I was posted back in to India with dysentery.
DE: So, were you part of the Third Tactical Air Force over there in Burma?
LH: Yes. Yes.
DE: Yeah.
LH: Definitely. Went down as far as Rangoon and it was quite good out there but Burma seemed a funny place. They didn’t like us. They liked the Japanese. They were more fond of the Japanese than they were of the British troops and I thought, well, that’s what I thought. That was my opinion.
DE: What were the living conditions like out there?
LH: Out in —
DE: In, in Burma.
LH: Pretty jungalised. We more or less lived like we should have done in the, in the jungle but it’s quite good. It was. We had some good food. We had our own, we had our own cooks and what not, so we didn’t do too bad. I suppose if I hadn’t had dysentery I shouldn’t have got back out of Burma.
DE: So, it was, it was airstrips in the —
LH: Yes.
DE: In the forest.
LH: Yes. Yes, it was. Actually it was a very interesting time. I mean people said oh this, that and the other, it was terrible but I didn’t find it terrible. I mean, you took it as it came and that was it. You knew what you’d got to put up with. You knew what you had to do, and you did it. And then of course when I went back in to India I was posted to a place called Santa Cruz just outside Bombay which was more or less, well it was like being on the Underground in London. It was very very good. And then from then on of course I came back in to, in to England.
DE: What was, what was the transport like? I mean, you say you liked trains. You must have used trains a bit and then obviously the, the troop ships.
LH: Well, trains. I could do with trains all the time. I was really a train man. I was brought up on the railways. I mean I was in a signal, signal box on the Derby-Crewe line for eleven months and I really got to know the railway. And I liked it very much. Training was good and you could move about if you wanted to or you could stay where you were. I moved from Derby-Crewe down in to Uttoxeter, and then back to Ashbourne and then from then it was wiped out. The junction was wiped out altogether and I was made redundant.
DE: Was that the cuts? The Beeching cuts.
LH: It was Beeching’s cuts.
DE: Yeah.
LH: Yes. It certainly was.
DE: What were the troop ship transports like that took you out to India and brought you home again?
LH: They were pretty groggy, let’s put it that way. As long as you did as you were told you were alright. But I didn’t like it at all. But then again if you did as you were told you were alright. The troop ships. No.
DE: Were they long journeys?
LH: Well, we started off from South Wales. Went up to Glasgow and from Glasgow back down to the, what was it, the Mediterranean. Then we were sent in to Freetown. We were there for a week because the Germans were outside waiting for us to get out and make after us. But we did go and we finished off going down to South Africa. South Africa we went to, to Bombay, and that’s how I got to know India. Karachi was, Karachi was quite nice. I liked India actually.
DE: What in particular?
LH: I liked the country. I liked some [emphasis] of the people. I met some very nice friends. And that was the main reason and I could get about the country which I did, and that was it. I could have stayed in India.
DE: You didn’t, you didn’t mind the climate then.
LH: No. No. The climate. No. Never worried me a little bit. Not a bit. As I can say I never wore, never wore a sunhat all the time I was in India. I still wore my old RAF hat. And I got some very nice friends.
DE: Was that other RAF personnel or, or —
LH: Well, Anglo-Indian most of them.
DE: Right.
LH: Most, most of the ones but I worked with them. We were BBC but we had taken a part of the Indian radio over and of course we met a lot of the Anglo Indians who had been drafted in to the Force and we got to know them very, very well.
DE: And this was, you were still working on the wirelesses, the radios from the aircraft.
LH: Oh yes. Yes.
DE: Yeah.
LH: Yes, definitely.
DE: So what sort of aircraft were they flying?
LH: We were flying, well mostly it was, what shall I say? We saw a lot the Bedfords, Blenheims, and Spitfires. Anything that came down that wanted repairs to radios we did it.
DE: Did you ever fly?
LH: Not to the extent of work flying. No. I did fly. We often used to manage to get lifts, you know around the countryside but I wasn’t aircrew.
DE: No.
LH: No.
DE: Did you ever consider it?
LH: I did think about it. As a matter of fact I was offered the chance to take a commission. The only thing that stopped me was the fact I knew I should have to do another two years out in India and I didn’t want to do that so I didn’t take it.
DE: What was the contact with your wife like?
LH: Oh, she was, she was in the RAF and of course she could get home from Nottingham back in to Ashwood. She was quite happy and she left the WAAFs before I left the RAF, and it was through that that I didn’t go back.
DE: Yeah.
LH: I wish I had have stayed in the RAF.
DE: But did you used to write to each other?
LH: Oh yes. Yes, we had. We did.
DE: How long did a letter take?
LH: Not too long. About a couple of, a couple of weeks sometimes. Sometimes you got a quick reply. Your answers would come a lot quicker. Correspondence was pretty good during the war. And then of course when I finished, I finished up with going to work on the railway [pause] which I did between Oxford and Uttoxeter. Pomfrey Junction, Leek and various places.
DE: I’ll just pause this.
[recording paused]
LH: But India is the fact that I only saw India, the places that I visited. I mean New Delhi, Delhi. I went there. Fatehpur Sikri, the forbidden city. That was all boarded up.
DE: What was it like?
LH: Pardon?
DE: What was it like?
LH: Well, we never, we never managed to get in to Fatehpur Sikri. We could go around it. I don’t know why it was, it was, it was shut off from the country. It was really quite a nice place. There was the pink city. Jahal. The best place I liked was the central India, was Agra, and of course I saw places that they advertise in the papers nowadays. It costs thousands of pounds to get there whereas I had it all free. Especially through the Taj Mahal. I did enjoy that.
DE: So you did some sightseeing then.
LH: Pardon?
DE: You did see some sights then.
LH: Oh, yes.
DE: Yeah.
LH: Yes. I did.
DE: Did you take a camera?
LH: Yes, I had a camera, and I had a bicycle which I bought to get around the countryside, where ever I wanted to. And I got in with some very nice friends who had been to India for years. And they took us in alright. We got on very well.
DE: So, you went, you went exploring when you had some leave then.
LH: Oh yes.
DE: Yeah.
LH: Yes. I went all over the country, even right down as far, as far as Ceylon [pause] They were good old days, you know when I look back. Really, really good holidays. You can come in Mike, don’t worry about upsetting us.
Other: I was looking to see where your photographs are.
DE: I’ll just pause it again.
[recording paused]
DE: So, I’ll just start recording again. I’ve —
Other: I’ve got the tea coming.
DE: Ok. I’ve been suggested that I should ask you about being chased out of Burma.
LH: Oh yes. We were chased out of Burma soon after we got in there. We’d just got in, more or less settling down and we were chased right out again. But we went back and that was it.
DE: What was it, what was it like when you were retreating from the Japanese?
LH: It was rather strange because the only thing they had between us was about a four foot wide, four foot, four hundred foot river. The River Ramu. And that was as far and they used to shout across to us across the river and they got two of our fellas because we brought their, all their stuff back with us when we left.
DE: So it was quite, quite a close run thing then at times.
LH: Oh, yes. Yes.
DE: Thank you. I’ll just pause it again because there’s tea.
[recording paused]
LH: [unclear] was the place in Burma that we went to. Cox’s Bazaar. That was a place. Ramu, The River [unclear]. That was all on the, all on the west coast.
DE: So, were you involved in the Battle of Kohima then? That sort of —
LH: No.
DE: No.
LH: No. I’m not really involved in any of the big battles. We had times when we, we had to be careful and this, that and the other but, no. It’s, I was pretty lucky actually. I’d say very lucky. I don’t know. [pause] Yes. But like everything, I mean say you think about these things. You try to remember all that you’ve seen and it’s impossible to remember everything. Oh, I liked Delhi. I liked Mandodari. That was very nice there. And what was it? Agra was very very nice. And so was Bhopal. That was nice. We were there just before they had that trouble in Bhopal.
DE: Going back to to Burma what did you think about the Japanese? What was your attitude to them?
LH: Well, we didn’t see a lot of them. We heard a lot of them but we didn’t see a lot of them and we were sort of one side the river and they were the other side of the river and that was it. And then we were suddenly moved off and we went back, we went back in to India. Well, I’d say we were pushed off really.
DE: When you were, when you were being pushed out of Burma. Burma. Were you, were you worried about being taken prisoner?
LH: No. No. We were lucky in that respect in as much that we, Burma we, we did hold the border. We held the border very well there and it was just a hop across on to the ferry and back into India. But then the second time when we went in of course we went right down as far as Rangoon, and of course the Japanese were pushed right out. But I did meet a few Japanese. A few Japanese prisoners. They didn’t like being taken prisoners. They seemed all right. I mean, they were only humans like we were but they seemed to be funny people. They thought nothing of committing suicide and things like that which we wouldn’t even dream of. I’m just trying to think of the point where we were stationed.
[pause]
LH: A lot of it has gone through my head and that. I can’t just recall it.
DE: Yeah.
LH: It’s seventy years ago.
DE: It is. Yeah. It’s a fair old while.
LH: But it’s nice of you to come and have a talk about things. Is there anything else that’s —
DE: Well, I’ve got, there’s other things we could talk about. So, where were you when the war ended? Where, were you on —
LH: When the war ended I was in central India. That’s when, that’s when it ended in India and Burma and we were, I was then enroute back to England and I remember passing, passing Malta and then we went through, right through until we got to England.
DE: So, did you, did you hear about Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
LH: Oh yes. We heard all about that.
DE: Yeah.
LH: Yeah.
DE: What were your thoughts?
LH: I thought it was scandalous. I’d never ever even think that they used bombs like that but of course that was it.
DE: So, did you celebrate the end of the war then?
LH: We did, yes. We celebrated well. I finished up at Morecambe strangely enough. We were all posted off to a camp outside Morecambe and we did a real good celebration there. A very good celebration. And from Morecambe I went home on disembarkation leave and I went there. I was there in 1940, ‘45. Christmas. I never went back. Never went back, which I ought to have done. I never went back in to the RAF.
DE: What was demob like?
LH: Ok. I went straight on to the railway when I, when I came out of the RAF [pause] But I did, I met quite a nice lot of people.
DE: Sure.
LH: In India.
DE: What did you think about the Partition of India?
LH: Well, we didn’t know really a lot about it. We knew what was happening and you could tell at the time that you’d got to be careful what you said and what you did and that was that. You never used to mention politics. You thought it better to remain silent. I mean you was always the British Raj this that, the British Raj that and they were going to do this and they were going to do that, but it never came off. I know there was a very good hairdresser in Agra I got to know. He used to do my hair pretty well.
[pause]
A place called Juhu, just outside Bombay. That was a very nice place. I could have stayed in India.
DE: So they offered you a promotion.
LH: Yeah. I could really have stayed in India.
DE: What would you have been doing then if you’d have stayed?
LH: I don’t know what I should have been. I should have had to take a commission I think. I think that was the only way that I could have stayed in.
DE: So then would you —
LH: It was when they said it would mean I would have to do another extra two years in India I thought oh no, that’s not for me. Bombay was a nice place in parts. I’ve got some photographs there which I took because I always had the camera with me.
[pause]
LH: Well, I think that’s about all I can recall.
DE: That’s really interesting. Thank you. Just one other question that I usually ask is is have you any thoughts about the way the Second World War has been remembered? I mean you said it’s seventy years ago now.
LH: In the way that, well I don’t remember very much of the end of the Second World War because as I say we were coming home from India at the time when it had happened in India and Burma, and we were getting back to England. But with regard to celebrating should I say, the end of the Second World War in England, it had already been done more or less. We all went back to our normal stations. I went, I went back to Cardington and then from Cardington back to Wittering and from Wittering I was demobbed. But it didn’t seem a lot to us, the celebration of the end of the Second World War.
DE: But what about the way it’s been remembered in the history books and on television?
LH: A lot of it was true. A lot of it was false. A lot of it was just made up as one might say. I know, my experience, the fact that I came out and I was posted back to the Army in Yatesbury, to the RAF in Yatesbury and I went back to my Unit and everything went just as normal. It was there that I was recommended I should stay in the Royal Air Force, but of course you know what. It didn’t happen. The one thing about it, we did see the world.
DE: Yes. Because you said you had three days in South Africa.
LH: Yes. That was a strange lot. We got off the boat, went walking around the city and this, that and the other and back to the boat. Back again in to the city. And on the third day we weren’t allowed out. We knew we were moving. We knew we moved from South Africa. We went on to Bombay then. Mumbai as it is now. All I remember of Bombay is the fact that in the harbour when we got there we’d nothing but a sea of floating turbans. Everybody had thrown their turbans into the sea. They were good old days, they were bad old days but I think [emphasis] the good seemed to mix in enough with the bad for it to say well it was just as you saw it.
DE: So even with retreating from the Japanese and being ill for eight months it was a, it was a good time.
LH: It was. It was, yes. It definitely was. The only Japanese we actually saw were prisoners. We didn’t see many of those. I had some good times, had some bad times. Taking it, taking it all in it wasn’t all too bad. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. I did enjoy it. It was an experience. An experience which thousands of people would never experience. The only thing was, as I said if it hadn’t been for my wife I should have stayed in.
DE: Yes.
LH: Full time. But I didn’t.
DE: What did she do in the, in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force?
LH: She was a typist. She was just outside Newton. Outside, just out Nottingham and of course she wasn’t far from home. She could get home when she had a couple of days off and she was very, very happy about that but she left the Air Force before I did. Aye.
[pause]
DE: And I’m just wondering why you’ve, why you’re living here now? When did you move?
LH: Pardon?
DE: When did you move here?
LH: From [pause] I went to, I was born in Reading, and we moved down into Reading from Derbyshire. We were there for ten years in to the cottage where I was born. My aunt who lived in it bought the place and she left it to us in her will when she passed away. The only thing about Reading was the fact we couldn’t get a bungalow to suit my wife. She couldn’t climb stairs so we decided that we’d see what Lincoln had got. But having been six or seven months at Wainfleet during the war we went to Wainfleet. We went all around and we found this place in Chapel St Leonards and we liked it. My wife liked it so we decided that we would stay and we did.
DE: Right.
LH: I’ve always enjoyed it here. I still like it. I still like Chapel St Leonards. I like Lincolnshire.
DE: We haven’t talked about your time at Wainfleet. What were you doing there?
LH: Oh, at Wainfleet I was on the bombing range.
DE: Right.
LH: I was doing radio repairs on the bombing range. It was a crude place but mind you we didn’t half soup up some aircraft. It altered quite a bit after a while. It was just, it was just like a hut on the bombing on the side of the runway [pause] and we we held the radio communications for the station. Mango, Mango. That was our call sign.
DE: Was it, was it very busy then, the bombing range?
LH: It was very busy indeed. Very, busy. It was.
DE: And were they, were they dropping live, live bombs or —
LH: Practice, yes. Live bombs on the proper bombing range but practice bombs. They dropped quite a few of those. That was the days of the Blenheims. Most of them were Blenheims, and the Wellingtons. I always remember all those.
DE: And how accurate were they? How close to the targets did they get?
LH: They were pretty good. They got pretty good at it.
DE: So were you in communication with them when they were doing?
LH: Yes.
DE: Right.
LH: Yes. Oh yes. Radio communication. I can see it all now.
DE: So, how did it work? Were they told how well they’d done and how close they’d got to the target?
LH: Yes. Yes. They were given a report sheet as to what they’d missed and what they’d hit and it all added up I suppose to whatever they did. Of course that was the days of, like I say the American heavy bombers, our Blenheims and what not.
DE: Yeah. So, I suppose being posted to India when you were you, you didn’t see the big bomber fleets of Lancasters and Halifaxes.
LH: No. Only Halifaxes. Halifaxes. Saw all those aircraft in the hangars at the base.
DE: Did you ever work on radar?
LH: Yeah. Oh, yes. Yes, we had radar. We had a lot of radar repairs to do. We went down to the Isle of Wight for that.
[pause]
DE: What was that like to work on?
LH: Quite good really. You could see how things were developing. You could see as it was going to be the, well the means of communication in the end which it was.
DE: So, did you do any work with the navigation aids like Gee and H2S and things like that or —
LH: No.
DE: No.
LH: No. We used to go up in the bombers and test radios when we’d repaired them or when they wanted repairing. We used to go up with the, with the bombers. It was very [unclear] But I never really wanted to, to be in the flying crew. I don’t know why. I didn’t mind the odd journey in an aircraft. That was great. Absolutely was wonderful. Has it been of interest to you?
DE: It’s been fantastic. Thank you very much. Yes.
LH: Anything, anything else you would like to know?
DE: Well, usually the last thing I say is is there anything else that you would like to tell?
LH: Not really. Not as, not as I know of. Except I’ve had all the encouragement with my in-laws and family in doing the jobs that I wanted to do and, and there we are. But with regards to finishing with the Royal Air Force well it just, it came as I’ve told you if it hadn’t been for my wife who didn’t like the idea of [pause] what should I say, being out with me in the aircraft, and having our own, our own aircraft err our own houses, she didn’t like that idea at all. That’s what really put it down.
DE: Yeah. Right, well, I shall, I shall switch the recording off. Can I just say thank you very much again for —
LH: It’s been a pleasure.
DE: For the interview.
LH: I only hope I’ve told you enough to make you realise it was worth coming for.
DE: Well, there’s, there’s nearly, nearly an hour’s worth on the tape so—
LH: Oh.
DE: Right. So thank you very much.
Other: I want to ask you a question.
DE: Oh, ok. I should —
Other: You’ve mentioned Wainfleet.
DE: We have mentioned Wainfleet.
Other: Right. And was it the sergeant or the corporal coming on the motorbike?
DE: Oh, not had that. Is there a story about a non-commissioned officer on a motorbike at Wainfleet?
LH: Oh yes. Yes.
DE: Right.
LH: We, we were on a radio station and this corporal, Corporal Green he had a BSA motorcycle, and he often wondered I think why we were always busy working when he came. We got the beat of his engine, you see. We knew somebody was there so we were all ready for him. That was the —
Other: You used to speak to him on the radio.
LH: The good old days. The good old days.
DE: I shall leave it there then. Thank you very much.
LH: Thank you.
DE: Cheers.
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 Len Harper
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dan Ellin
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
2019-05-21
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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AHarperL190521, PHarperL1901
Format
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00:55:02 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Len Harper registered for the air force in April 1939, influenced by the positive experience of his brother who had joined in January. Upon completing training at the Wireless Training School, RAF Yatesbury, he was posted to RAF Wittering, where he undertook radio maintenance for two years. Harper was posted to India in 1942, after marrying his wife, a Women’s Auxiliary Air Force typist based at RAF Newton, in February. He describes servicing radios for Blenheims and Spitfires, sightseeing with his friends, and sensing the political tensions. After two years, he was posted to Burma, where he completed radio maintenance for the Third Tactical Air Force. He recalls his impressions of the country, the living conditions in the jungle, and retreating from the Japanese. Eighteen-months later, an illness caused him to return to India, where he was hospitalised with dysentery for eight months. Harper returned home and despite enjoying his work, left the air force in 1945 following the wishes of his wife. Finally, he describes his service at RAF Wainfleet, his post-war career, and how fondly he remembers his time in India.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tilly Foster
Carolyn Emery
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Burma
Great Britain
India
South Africa
England--Bedfordshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Northamptonshire
England--Wiltshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
1941
1942-02
1943
1944
1945
Language
A language of the resource
eng
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
Blenheim
ground personnel
love and romance
military living conditions
RAF Cardington
RAF Newton
RAF Wainfleet
RAF Wittering
RAF Yatesbury
recruitment
Spitfire
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1293/17591/PBallantyneWM1901.2.jpg
86381923d989c26f4f633b5ee8a995de
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1293/17591/ABallantyneWM190614.2.mp3
75fb5804dcfe9ab355b6478820a4ddf5
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
Ballantyne, Bill
William Morris Ballantyne
W M Ballantyne
Professor Ballantyne
Description
An account of the resource
Eight items. An oral history interview with Bill Ballantyne (1922 - 2021, 1395001 Royal Air Force) who flew as a pilot with 77 Squadron. Also includes his pilot's flying logbook, service training documents and a photograph of his crew.
The collection was 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
2019-06-14
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Ballantyne, WM
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
JS: This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Jim Sheach. The interviewee is Bill Ballantyne. The interview is taking place at Bill’s home in Edinburgh, Scotland on the 14th of June 2019. Also present is Caroline Urquhart. Bill, thanks for agreeing to be interviewed. Could you first tell me a bit about your life before you joined the RAF?
BB: Before I joined the RAF, immediately I was at Cambridge University and I went there just before, just after the war broke out. Just after the war broke out and I had one year there. I’d always been interested in flying. I took “Flight.” “Flight” magazine regularly before the war so there was no question about which Service I would join if I had to join any. I regarded it then as lunatic that we had another war within twenty years of the one which preceded that one but that’s another story. So I did one year at Cambridge and I was supposed to be studying law but in fact, well you could call it studying law. We all knew we were going into the Forces after a year and it was mostly playtime quite frankly. We didn’t do very much so I got a third class degree at the end of that lot and at the end I went in to the Air Force to do pilot training, which was thorough. My goodness it was thorough. The first international training we went down to Torquay and did marching to get fit. That was the idea of that one. And certain basic aeronautical courses like air speed indicators and all that sort of thing and navigation. Basic navigation. And stop in a moment?
JS: No. You’re fine.
BB: Before that, before the war if you want to go back a bit, I was at Dulwich College, which was a fairly rough school in those days. Superb now. Absolutely superb. But in those days it was a rough public school. In retrospect I look back on that with a certain amount of favour. I was beaten eleven times I remember. Terribly clever. You were really beaten. I mean, it was terribly painful so I probably wasn’t all that good. But the one thing it did teach you at public school was a moral code. If you had, if you were a dirty little liar, you were sent to the prefect’s room and beaten for being a dirty little liar. So the moral code was fairly high. And I think people forget that. People forget that dealing with current day values that people have forgotten. To lie these days seems to be perfectly acceptable and in those days you were thrashed if you did it. It was a different story all together. Then after Dulwich I went to Cambridge as I say. You don’t want to go further back than Dulwich, do you?
JS: No. That’s fine.
BB: Quite.
JS: That’s fine.
BB: So, then I went to Cambridge and then went in to the Air Force and did my pilot training which meant a normal course in Tiger Moths. On to Airspeed Oxfords to get on to multi-engine and then how far are we going forward now? Forward now?
JS: Yeah.
BB: And then in the Air Force after a good deal of training, which was rigorous but extremely good I went [pause] where did I go first?
CU: Is it not —
BB: No. Not in there yet. I went to initial training at Torquay and then went, I can’t remember I’m sorry where my next training was after Torquay. Anyway, I was then sent for basic training to get my wings to South Africa. We were the first course to go to South Africa and I was posted there to Durban in the beginning, and then at Durban we did Tiger Moth training which was the usual start. It was like flying a birdcage I’m afraid. Very rough stuff. And Tiger Moth training, I was very lucky with Tiger Moths training because I went on to Hawker Harts, Audaxes and these were forerunners of the Hurricane which was great. Marvellous training. To be sent up in South Africa with the beautiful weather, just enough cumulus cloud to make it interesting and say, ‘Would you mind going up Ballantyne?’ And you did two hours aerobatics. Bliss [laughs] Absolute. The really, the only part of flying as such, real flying I really enjoyed. That was absolutely marvellous. Then from that, passed out with that, with my wings, and then went up to Pietersburg on the Rhodesian border to train on to Tiger Moths, and after doing Tiger Moths I was sent up to [unclear] Kenya for a little while, to spend at a place called [unclear] and from that I was posted to a squadron, a flight base place in, in Egypt in LG, LG 227 it was. LG227 in Egypt, waiting for posting and some of the people were posted from there, from my course were posted. No, on to Wellingtons bombing aircraft. Very nasty job indeed. Suicide [laughs] absolute suicide. Shipping strikes in Wellingtons not anybody’s idea of a joke at all. Not at all. And then I was waiting and then I was suddenly posted to 267 Squadron which was in Transport Command which wasn’t what I was expecting at all. So I spent quite a lot of time flying. In retrospect very worthwhile stuff what we were taking. Supplies up to the front line and obviously flying back wounded people and it was a worthwhile job actually. Quite a good job. But it didn’t suit me because I wanted really an operational job where I could be shot at and by some extraordinary [laughs] extraordinarily, we were like that. I was twenty two then. I think that’s the way we used to think. And anyway [pause] eventually the CO of 267 Squadron came to me and he said, ‘Ballantyne, you’re not going to make a transport pilot are you?’ And I said, ‘No, sir. Preferably not.’ He said, ‘Right.’ He posted me down to another squadron down in the south in, in Cairo in fact, and I ended up flying Beauforts. An extremely difficult aeroplane to fly. Extremely difficult. I remember the logbook said, “If one engine fails make no attempt whatsoever to keep this aircraft in the air.” [laughs] Which struck me as ominous at the least of it. Anyway, finally the, do you want all this? Are you sure? The CO of that squadron said to me, ‘Look, will you go to London and fly a Beaufort out to us?’ And I said, ‘Ok, sir.’ But I said, ‘I’ll tell you this, sir. If I do go to London I probably won’t come back.’ He said, ‘What the hell do you mean?’ I said, ‘Well, I want to get on an operational squadron. I don’t want to fly Beauforts.’ I mean to fly Beauforts in operations against shipping would have been the absolute kiss of death. I mean, dreadful. So, he said, ‘Well, don’t talk to me like that,’ he said ‘Go back and bring the aircraft back.’ I got back to London and luckily my father had introductions in various high places. He introduced me to get me an interview at the Air Ministry where I went and saw a wing commander and I explained the situation to him. I said, ‘I’ve been doing all this stuff I don’t really enjoy. I want to get in to the, a real squadron.’ I said, ‘A fighter squadron if possible.’ He said, ‘We haven’t got anything in fighter. I’ll put you in Bomber Command if you like straightaway. We’re very short of pilots in bomber.’ I said, ‘Right. Put me in Bomber Command.’ So, that’s how I got into Bomber Command. Then I did the Bomber Command training which was superb. The training was absolutely superb. I had to start on Oxfords again because I had never flown in the UK. It’s a very different story. Flying in the UK is a different story from flying in Egypt. You know, you’ve got, you’ve got no landmarks. You’ve got to be able to read maps and in fact this is a different story altogether. So I did that. I got [pause] the interesting point of that was in my initial flying on Oxfords again in in in this country, the UK my flight commander was my old captain of fencing at Dulwich College. I just touched lightly on the fencing, you see. We were extremely good fencers with a sabre. We, we formed a team called the Gladiators. Three of us, and we toured the country and we beat everybody. Absolutely everybody. We were very very good. Anyway, that’s, that was that. So, where have I got to?
JS: You were talking about Bomber Command training.
BB: Bomber command training. Superb. From Oxfords went on to Wellingtons. Did more flying training on Wellingtons and then eventually got to a Conversion Unit to fly on the four engine stuff which was a different story altogether.
CU: Where, where was this training?
BB: This training on Wellingtons was at Lossiemouth. And after that we went down to Yorkshire to train on [unclear], and stuff at [pause] I’ve forgotten where it was. I must have it in here somewhere [pause] Record end. Here we are. Sorry. Do these gaps matter?
JS: That’s fine. No.
BB: I was in the Cambridge University Air Squadron as well. I’ve forgotten to mention that. And then Regent’s Park, Torquay, West Kirby, Heaton Park, Arundel Castle, Clairwood. We went to South Africa in a convoy which was very interesting with a lot of other boats. That’s Lyttelton, Wonderboom, [unclear] Pietersburg. They were the places I did night flying training in South Africa. So then SS Lancaster. RAF Gilgil [unclear] [Castries,] then up to 267 Squadron at Cairo West. And then, well then I did quite a long period on Bomber Command. We recorded all sorts of strange places. Do you want all the name of the airports? I can give you the list.
JS: No. We’ll scan the —
BB: Do you want to have a look at my logbook? It’s got them all in. And then I was on 77 Squadron until the end of the war in, of course in 1945. So I went to, I went to 77, 77 Squadron in, just before Christmas in ’47 so I was quite late. That was lucky because the losses were less. I think the Germans were running out of petrol I think and hadn’t got too, hadn’t got as many fighters as there used to be. So it wasn’t so, it wasn’t quite as dangerous I don’t think. Anyway, and we were in retrospect I’m not proud of what we were doing. We were bombing civilians. I mean you can see from the targets here it’s mostly cities. Names of cities. And I think in retrospect we were actually bombing civilians at Harris’ idea in order to frighten the German into surrender, which you didn’t do. Germans didn’t do. Didn’t find they were that sort of people so that didn’t work. Anyway, in 1945 it finally did work and that was the end of that lot, and then that was it really. I can’t think about, nothing else in the Air Force except that now I’m a member of the 77 Squadron Memorial Club which holds meetings in York. I don’t know whether you know about this. I’ll give, give you a lot of details about what we do in York. And they elected me. Last year they elected me president. So I said, ‘Well, I don’t mind being president. What do I have to do?’ And she made the arrangements, ‘Nothing at all. Just lend us your name.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s easy. I’m not too worried about that so long as I don’t have to do any work.’ And I haven’t done a damned thing. I go up there, have a couple of years as president and give them a talk. I’ve given them a couple of talks which they seem to enjoy and that was that. So that’s, that’s, that’s my career really. I think that’s about it.
JS: Good. Good.
BB: I’ll tell you all, now in between of course you can see from my brief survey which is I think with my photograph, RAF photograph I’ve been an international lawyer in the Middle East with Arabic dealing with most of my stuff in Arabic with Arabs. Bliss. Marvellous. I had a wonderful, I had a wonderful time. Absolutely wonderful time because I used to deal with the Arabs when they were really Arabs. They’re not Arabs now. They’re completely messed up. I don’t go there anymore, but when they were Arabs, it was a great life. I had a marvellous time and that’s another story. I’ve a story to tell you all about that if you like.
JS: Good.
BB: All sorts of stuff happened. Has happened in that lot but I mean that’s another story altogether. So here we are.
JS: Good.
BB: That’s where we are now.
JS: Looking back at your, at your time with 77 Squadron what, what, what I’ve read it was quite an international mix of aircrew.
BB: Oh yeah.
JS: That were on 77 Squadron.
BB: Yes. I think it was quite. Yes. Let me think now. My crew were mostly Scottish I think. I had an interesting point in 77 at one of our meetings that the descendents of one of my air gunners wrote to me and said, ‘Look, firstly thank you so much for getting our grandfather back safely.’ And I said, ‘That’s all right.’ [laughs]
CU: Her father.
BB: Her father. For getting her father. I said, ‘Well, it was me as well [laughs] Don’t worry about that.’ Anyway, here we are and they said, ‘Can we meet you?’ So I met them. These people up at one of the dinners we have. You know, the dinners we had. I told them about, I told them about certainly about one, I mean I can tell you all sorts of things about the episodes in the flying if you want.
JS: If you would do. Yes.
BB: I mean they said, I said, ‘You’re lucky to be here. I’m lucky to be here and so is your father,’ because I had the one episode. I don’t actually frighten. I don’t get scared. I’m lucky actually. But I had one episode in my life, which is the nearest I’ve ever been to death. We were bombing a place called Goch. I think it was Goch. Anyway, it’s in here and when we went there we missed the target and we firstly we were fired, fired by anti-aircraft battery from a Canadian. They should have known better but they got it wrong so they advised us to stay up. And then we went, missed the target on the way through. I think when you missed the target unfortunately you had to turn around and face everything coming the other way, and it was, you had to keep a sharp lookout you know otherwise and fair enough I was watching very carefully obviously flying back and suddenly a Lancaster came at me absolutely head on. I mean absolutely head on so I plunged the stick forward and thank God he must have been concentrating on the target. Normally, in that emergency he would have done exactly the same.
JS: The same.
BB: And then we would have blown up. No question. And luckily he didn’t see me. So I just, just missed him underneath. I mean absolutely head to head. So the crew hit the roof. It was [laughs] the language of the crew was very marked. I won’t repeat it but it’s very local stuff and I said, ‘Don’t worry chaps. We’re ok. Thank you very much.’ But that’s the one episode. And when I got to York and met them I told them about this. I said, ‘The luckiest thing you’ve ever had because you wouldn’t be here at all. Your father wouldn’t have been here at all.’ I remember him. Nice chap. Air gunner.
CU: I think he was your wireless operator.
BB: Sorry?
CU: He was your wireless operator.
BB: Was he? Was he not an air [pause] Yes. He was a wireless operator. You’re quite right. He wasn’t a gunner.
CU: But you had a story about him taking out the earphones or something.
BB: He used to do that as soon as he heard the flak. He used to hear, ‘I can hear the flak,’ and he would take his earphones out so he couldn’t hear it. Very sensible [laughs] There was no harm in flak. Flak never did any harm. A few holes in the aircraft but nothing to worry about. Flak was alright unless it was predicted. If it was predicted you were dead. But you didn’t get, you didn’t out of the flow. If you got out of the flow alone you would get predicted, radar predicted. Then you were dead. But luckily that didn’t happen to me. But anyway, yes that’s the one episode I still think about before I go to bed at night. It really was. It really was. That was a close call. That was a close call. Now, where are we getting to now?
JS: How, how, how did you get on with the rest of your crew?
BB: Oh, terrific. Splendid. I wasn’t as matey as I should have been I don’t think, in retrospect and I haven’t met any of them since. Just at the end of the war Halifaxes stopped of course but we were still fighting the Japanese so they, and then we converted as a squadron on to Dakotas. I haven’t mentioned this yet. I’ve been flying Dakotas in Transport Command so for me it was easy and I got on to that. And then I got diarrhoea, bad diarrhoea and luckily, luckily I escaped the posting to India. I’d had two and a half years in the Middle East anyway. I didn’t really need to go to India and again I think my father had a quiet word somewhere because I was [laughs] I was demobbed very early. So in 1946 right at the beginning I was let off. Got out. I resumed a very different career as you will see from my CV. Very different. So, there we are. That’s where we got too really. That’s about all the flying bit, I think. I now hate flying. I won’t go anywhere near it. If I [laughs] if I can keep away from an aeroplane I’ll keep away. I don’t like them. They’re not natural at all. They’re not, nothing like a bird. They are just nasty, mechanical devices. Anyway, that’s another matter. Shall we look at this and see what I’ve missed? [pause] Right [pause] Seems to cover it, I think.
JS: Ok. So the squadron was at Elvington. Is that correct?
BB: Yes it was. And we were at Full Sutton. We moved from Elvington. At Elvington I think it was the [pause], no. The French. The French followed on at Elvington. The French took it over and we then went to Full Sutton. It was at Full Sutton when I joined it. The French. Not my favourite characters. In bombing we were always briefed of course to fly at a certain height and if you were in a top height you were nice and easy. You were not going to get bombed on. If you were in the bottom of the line you could get bombed on, and I remember going over one, one raid and I said all right to [unclear] in the top lane. No problem. I looked up. Just before we got to the target bomb doors opened. I looked. There was a bloody French squadron all up above. They believe in it you see. The French don’t queue up [laughs] They said, ‘No. We can’t be, can’t be down there. We have to be — ’ [laughs] the bombs whistled down, went literally between my main plane and my tail plane. They always used to turn over on the way down. I never knew that until I saw them. But anyway that was a lucky business. The French haven’t been my favourite citizens ever since I must confess [laughs] Not, not cricket. Definitely not cricket. So, anyway that’s what happened. The French took over at Elvington and we went. We had Full Sutton. A nice place to be.
JS: What was Full Sutton like as a base?
BB: Very nice. Pleasant. Basic but, we were in Nissen huts of course. We were sleeping in Nissen huts. Nothing fancy about it but —
CU: You had your girlfriend’s in York.
BB: Yes. I had a girlfriend in York which took up most of my time when I wasn’t flying. Nice woman. She must have been, must have died years ago actually. Most people have [laughs] Oh dear. There’s not many left of my confabs as it were. Anyway.
JS: So, how did you get to and from York from Elvington?
BB: Well, I was never at Elvington.
JS: Oh, sorry. I mean, sorry at Full Sutton.
BB: No. I was at, I went straight to Full Sutton. Yeah.
CU: I thought you had a bicycle?
BB: Sorry?
CU: Did you not use a bicycle?
BB: No. I had a car. I had a car on the squadron. That brought back something. No. I don’t know what that was, something flashed by [pause] No. That’s about it I think.
JS: Thank you.
BB: Anything else?
JS: No. Thank you very much for that. That’s been, that’s been a really interesting history.
BB: I hope so.
JS: And some, some interesting thoughts in that. Thank you very much.
BB: Well, I don’t know, fairly explosive normally, most of them. Can I have the rest that we’ve got? The photographs.
[pause]
JS: That’s great. So you certainly had a a variety of locations and aircraft.
BB: Yes. Absolutely.
JS: To go in effect from Transport Command to Bomber Command and then back to Dakotas again at the end.
BB: Oh, absolutely. Quite a lot. Yes. The Dakota is a marvellous aeroplane. Absolutely fantastic. They’re still flying. The same aircraft. They haven’t varied it at all. Used to fly through sandstorms and never had an engine problem. Nothing. Marvellous. Marvellous aeroplane.
CU: You think Halifaxes are better than Lancaster as well.
BB: Oh yes, if you want to compare the two. The Halifax was a far better. A far better aeroplane from the crew’s point of view. Faster rate of climb. Much better aeroplane.
JS: I think, I think I’ve heard that from a number of —
BB: Really?
JS: Halifax crews, yes
BB: They preferred them. No question about that. There’s nothing. Anyway. Now, this was a thing they asked Association. Nickels. This was the latest one. Nickels, Nickels we used to drop on Berlin. On Germany you know.
JS: I looked.
BB: Yeah.
JS: I had a look at the website.
BB: Yeah, very good, very good.
JS: The Association website.
BB: Some very good stuff. Yeah.
JS: Quite, quite extensive. Great. Well, thank you very much.
BB: It’s very good actually.
JS: And I will just stop the recording.
BB: That’s a spare. You can take that one.
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 Bill Ballantyne
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
2019-06-14
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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ABallantyneWM190614, PBallantyneWM1901
Language
A language of the resource
eng
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. Transport Command
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Format
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00:28:02 audio recording
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
James Sheach
Description
An account of the resource
Bill Ballantyne was in his first year at Cambridge University and a member of the Air Squadron when war was declared out in 1939. Upon joining the air force, he was posted to South Africa, where he trained as a pilot on Tiger Moths. He joined 267 Squadron based in Egypt, and completed Transport Command duties by delivering supplies to the front-line, and returning wounded servicemen. He describes how his lack of fulfilment in this role motivated him to volunteer for Bomber Command. Ballantyne trained on Oxfords and Wellingtons at RAF Lossiemouth, before joining 77 Squadron, based at RAF Full Sutton. He recollects the events of an operation to Goch where, after missing the target they turned around and nearly hit a Lancaster head-on. He also describes preferring flying a Halifax to a Lancaster, the basic conditions of his Nissen hut, and visiting his girlfriend in York. He was demobilised in 1946 and resumed a career serving as an international lawyer in the Middle East. Ballantyne notes that in retrospect he is not proud of his role bombing civilians, and also recalls meeting the descendants of his wireless operator at a 77 Squadron Memorial Club meeting, who thanked him for returning their relative home safely.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tilly Foster
Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
South Africa
North Africa
Egypt
Great Britain
Scotland--Moray
England--Yorkshire
England--York
Germany
Germany--Goch
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1945
1946
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending revision of OH transcription
77 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
Halifax
Lancaster
love and romance
mid-air collision
military living conditions
Nissen hut
Oxford
perception of bombing war
pilot
RAF Full Sutton
RAF Lossiemouth
recruitment
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/495/17734/PCollerAS17010001.1.jpg
5ffaddc4352c6ac5f002c52ba619a674
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
Coller, Allan Stanley
A S Coller
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Coller, AS
Description
An account of the resource
17 items. An oral history interview with Allan Coller (1924, 1874018 Royal Air Force). Also a number of other items associated with the Air Cadets and his service in Sri Lanka and India including a scrapbook of photographs.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Allan Coller 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
AS Coller Scrapbook Page 1
Description
An account of the resource
Three annotated items:
Item 1 : Photograph of air raid shelter with pets
caption 1 'Air Raid Shelter constructed by a firm called "Troy" in 1938. Left [undecipherable] It was 16' deep with a poisen [sic] gas free escape hatch chamber.'
caption 2
'Just before 2nd World War
10, West Heath Avenue Golders Green London NW11
Some animals understand to keep together
Just before 2nd World War 1938
Pekenese [sic] (Chinky) Rabbit (Wilfred) Cat (Timy)
Taken near our air raid shelter'.
Item 2 is photograph of a group of air cadets on parade in a street. They are being inspected by a civilian in a suit and three officers. It is captioned 'I joined the Air Training Corps in Jan 1941'.
Item 3 is the cover of a Civil Defence leaflet. entitled 'Some things you should know if war should come'. Public Information Leaflet No.1, July 1939.
It is captioned 'The 2nd World War started at 1100 hrs on the 3rd of Sept 1939.'
Format
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One sheet from a scrapbook
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCollerAS17010001
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
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
A S Coller
Great Britain. HM Government. Lord Privy Seal's Office
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1938
1939
Air Raid Precautions
animal
civil defence
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/882/17778/PHorshamES1709.2.jpg
fcd0c7a93e74ad45d9a3311ffe18a224
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/882/17778/PHorshamES1710.2.jpg
43da710fe94b52dbf3e1c26678339428
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
Horsham, Eric
Eric Symonds Horsham
E S Horsham
Description
An account of the resource
14 items. An oral history interview with Eric Horsham (b. 1923), 9 photographs, and his memoirs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 102 Squadron from RAF Pocklington.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Eric Horsham and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-01-05
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Horsham, ES
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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
97 cadets and one officer
Description
An account of the resource
Copy of a photograph of a group of RAF personnel with no visible brevets. They are arranged in seven rows, with the front four seated and the last three standing. There are two markers at the left-hand side indicating the rows in which Eric Horsham (2nd from the left fifth row) and Ken Everett are positioned.
The second image is the same and is annotated '
56 sqd'n Borough of Woolwich ATC 1939
z- Ken Everett my classmate
* self 2ns left 5th row from front
(W/Co Halliwell Woolwich Polyn'k)'
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1939
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHorshamES1709,
PHorshamES1710
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
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1939
training
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Title
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Deverell, Colin
Colin Ray Edwin Deverell
C R E Deverell
Description
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An oral history interview with Colin Deverell (b. 1923). He flew operations as a flight engineer with 51 Squadron.
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IBCC Digital Archive
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2019-07-22
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.
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Deverell, CRE
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Transcription
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CJ: This is Chris Johnson and I am interviewing Colin Deverell today for the International Bomber Command Centre’s Digital Archive. We are at Colin’s home and it is Monday the 22nd of July 2019, and thank you Colin for agreeing to talk to me today. Also present is Colin’s daughter, Liz. So Colin perhaps we could start by you telling me about where and when you were born and something about your family please.
CD: Yes, well I was born in Thornton Heath, Croydon, on the 28th of November 1923, at number 13 Camden Way. It was a council house. I had a father who was on the buses as an inspector and a mother who worked jolly hard at home doing the washing and everything else in those days. I went to school locally, Elementary school, Ingram Road, that was quite close. It was quite a good school actually. And later on, I failed, I have to say I failed the grammar school, the exam for the grammar school, so I failed that and I went to a secondary school so that was up until I was aged fourteen, when I left. Okay. And then on from there, and on from there what to do as a job. This is the trouble with boys, they didn’t know what they wanted to do you see, but I was very keen on aircraft but at that stage you couldn’t get anywhere with aircraft but I went to, worked at a firm called Oliver Typewriter Company, Oliver typewriters – I have one upstairs actually - and I was making those and that was the best bit of engineering I did really, to learn how to, how to drill through metal, how to put a thread in a hole for a bolt and things like that and stamping out pieces for the typewriter, you know, all the arms that come down, everything like that. So that was, that got me into Imperial Airways, my father worked hard to get me in to Imperial Airways in some way and became a rigger, just an amateur rigger, you know, to start off. Well the reason I’d got there was because I had got all this information from the typewriters, engineering, and I learnt a lot from these aircraft, putting parts into the aircraft, doing this, that and the other, dogsbody, making coffee for the people that worked there, that’s what boys had to do and I watched other engineers soldering wires together and that sort of thing so I learnt from that you see, and that went on, until, well that was all these Handley Page aircraft, big bi-planes with four engines, fixed propellers that didn’t move at all and it flew at about four thousand miles, er four thousand feet at about a hundred and ten, hundred and twenty miles an hour and took two and a half hours to get to Paris. So the steward on board, they had stewards then, cooked them a meal, all of them a meal, they had proper meals. So that was a nice little trip for them at four thousand feet. Well that went on until the war started and I’m afraid it went out of business of course and I was there till about November 1939 and I was told well I’m afraid the apprentice had come to an end, so that was the end of that and I lost my job as well so I had to find something else. I searched round and a lot of little firms at Croydon aerodrome, lot of hangars down there, one of them was called Rollason Aircraft Services, and I went there and yes I got a job there, I was drilling and all sorts of things, working on bi-planes Hawker Hectors, Demons and Audaxes and all obsolete aircraft and that was a wonderful period. Of course the war was on unfortunately. So what happened, by July, July the 10th, 1940 the bombing started on airfields and Biggin Hill and Kempston and Kenley and all these got a bashing. Croydon got it on the 15th of August, 15th of August 1940 at 7pm in the evening. These Messerschmidt 110s came over and there’s a picture up there, and I’m sorry to say, well I was underneath an Airspeed Oxford, it’s a twin-engined wooden aircraft, now we had to get this aircraft out - this was seven o’clock in the evening - we had to get this aircraft out of the hangar by the morning because they were bringing some Hurricanes in that needed repairs, so I was underneath there with another chap doing some wiring when all these bombs came down. At the back of our factory there was a Bourgeois scent factory and about fifty girls got killed there, we lost about, there were sixty were killed or injured in Rollasons, so I was, I mean how lucky can I be [emphasis] to be underneath that aircraft, glass, metal came down, the glass went through the wood, it’s a wooden aircraft, through the wood, into the metal tanks, into the metal tanks to glass [emphasis], thick glass, yeah, so I think I would have died, I wouldn’t have been here if I had been outside. But I don’t know if you want more information on that but thing is, I was covered in muck and glass and stuff, you know, and severely dazed, the place was on fire, the little canteen had been bombed and there was a bottle of Tizer - I found a bottle of Tizer - and took the screw off and poured it over me head and I don’t recommend that to anybody because it’s very sticky! So I had a sticky head, so that’s my Tizer. Anyway, I had a new bike, my father bought me a new bike for two pound seven and sixpence, two pound seven and sixpence, and I thought to myself where’s my bike. Well this, you know it went on through the evening, we were told to go down to the air raid shelter and went down there and after a few minutes told to come up again, because the siren hadn’t gone, you know, before the raid. No one knew it was happening. Nobody, nobody on the gun, cause a Bofurs gun there, nobody there to operate it to shoot aircraft down. Anyway, so I got on, oh I found my bike leaning against the wall and it was all right so I cycled home and at that stage we were living in Thornton Road, Croydon, a little flat there, and when I got round there I saw my mother leaning out of the window actually, cause she knew the place was being bombed you see, she thought I’d have had it. I mean seven o’clock it happened, it was ten o’clock when I got home. Just imagine, how pleased she was to see me. Sadly for her we were bombed, the house was damaged quite badly and she died on Christmas Day in 1940, all the ceiling in the kitchen came down on her head and damaged her brain, so I lost my mother quite early in my life, which was very sad really. Anyway, I moved to another, to a friend of mine in Streatham, and that’s when I went to this new school, and then eventually. Sorry, I’m going back a bit here, but that’s when I left to go to erm, the, oh sorry, when I went, oh the yeah, sorry, after the raid we, they treated me very well – Rollasons - I went back to them, I was very dazed as you can imagine, being bombed as a boy, I was only fifteen and I went to the office they said and well we’ll keep you on pay for the time being and we’ll let you know what happens. So I went home again and eventually we were told we were going to Hanworth aerodrome in Middlesex, funny little aerodrome actually, it was just a sort of almost a private, just grass, you know. They had a few Fairey Battles there. Anyway, we still continued repairing Hurricanes, but they felt there were one or two bi-planes left over from Croydon, they put these on a lorry and I remember sitting in the cockpit of a, I think it was a Hawker Demon and went all the way from Croydon to Hanworth and I was waving to people as I went by like that, [laugh] and I think they thought it was quite funny. [Laugh] I mean it’s all obsolete aircraft. But you know, went back on to Hurricanes. How did we get there, you know, each day, as I was living in Thornton Heath still, in Thornton Road. They had put a coach on for us, from West Croydon station and any of us living there, took a tram for a penny, a tram in those days, for a penny, up to West Croydon station, went over and sat in the coach and it took us to this aerodrome, and at the end of the day they brought us back again, another penny on the tram back home. So that’s how it went on. That went on all the way through 1941 and I thought to myself I want to join, I’m going to join the RAF to get my own back, my mother died, you know, so I had a sort of grievance feeling about all this. So I went to the Croydon, the Croydon agency and they said well, we’re sending chaps down, down the coal mines as well as the army. I said no, no, I’m working on aircraft, I want something to do with aircraft, I want to train as a pilot. Don’t they all, she said, I remember, she said don’t they all! And there was a three month waiting list, okay, for, to train as a pilot, but she said we’re desperately in need of flight engineers, and they did have them on Imperial Airways actually, so it goes back a long way, on four-engined aircraft. So yes, okay, I’ll do that, so within the week I was called up. I was, I went to Lords Cricket ground, that was fun! “Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here” was the sign up there. We picked up all sorts of stuff there and we, we went to, were put into flats, in Viceroy Court which is just outside a zoo, so we could hear the monkeys laughing at us and we were there for a couple weeks, or something like that. We went to Torquay from there, Torquay and did all the physical training: clay pigeon shooting, physical training, running, sports, anything, you know, just to keep our mind off things. But I used to like the running, cross country running as I got used to that, you know. Clay pigeon shooting – I got good at that - swimming I was never very good at, but anyway we’ll pass over that won’t we. One of the things we had to do was go to the quayside there, and there was a place there, it was about the height of the ceiling down to the water. And the idea was to jump off there with a Mae West on you see, and to swim to the shore. I wasn’t very happy about that, you can imagine, though I did it and I managed to get to the shore, so that was fine, but I never have been a very good swimmer. Anyway, so I joined up and within a week I was, sorry, I’m getting muddled here, I went down to Torquay, that’s it, Torquay, and I was there for six weeks, did all these familiar things, the running and the sports and everything else. And then as flight engineers we had to train at St Athan in South Wales and we had to choose between a Lancaster, oh no, Stirling, Lancaster, Halifax and the flying boat. The flying boat, what was that?
CJ: Sunderland?
CD: Sunderland, Sunderland. So it was three, four, yes, there were four we could choose from. I don’t know why, but I liked the idea of the Stirling: it had radial engines, I knew something about those you see, so I decided to train on those. So that’s what I did at St Athan, I trained on these Stirlings. It was, you know, a full day, a really full day, training and I was there, I was there for some weeks, I can’t think how long we were there now. Anyway that was in ‘40, ‘42, yes. The Stirling was a strange sort of aircraft really, it was all electric, all the other aircraft were hydraulic controlled and even the undercarriage you had wiring and a solenoid, which introduced a control there I think you’d call it and the flaps. We had fourteen petrol tanks and this was the flight engineer’s job, he had to look after those, all different amounts in each tank, you can just imagine. It was all levers and wheels, nothing, no buttons you know, like you have today and with the undercarriage the pilot switched the switch down, just as we were coming in to land, to get the undercarriage down. No, let’s start off by going up. So if we, the undercarriage was down obviously, we’d take off, the switch goes, switch up, and a lever up like that and the undercarriage should then come up, if it doesn’t the flight engineer would have to go back to the middle of the aircraft, to the control machine there and you had to wind the undercarriage up and it could be up to five hundred, five hundred turns! Yeah, so that’s, occasionally I did the flight in Stirlings, I had to just start it off. This is where you had to be careful, if you started it off, you see, and you said to the pilot try it now and he switched it up or down, whatever it is, the undercarriage, it would go round and round, and the handle and you’d break your wrist and some flight engineers did break their wrists doing that. So you had to tell the pilot: do not touch that switch till I tell you to! So that’s all, that was the operations. You’re in flight coming down, so switch down, lever down, undercarriage should come down, if not, put the switch back again, go back to the and wind it for a little while, then tell, take your hand away and take the handle out and tell the skipper to switch the, there, switch it down, [unclear] so it was quite a complicated business really, so I don’t think anyone recommended the idea of electric aircraft, but they’re all electric now, aren’t they, everything’s electric, even cars! So that’s what we had to do. It’s a very long, long aircraft. There’s an elsan at the back of the aircraft if you wanted to go to the toilet, but who would want to go all the way back there in the dark to the toilet and then be shot at by a fighter, sitting on the toilet so we never did use it, we found other means. It was fairly slow really, I mean we used to cruise at about a hundred and seventy miles an hour, whereas a Lancaster could do much more than that. And height, height was a problem: we could only go up to ten thousand feet, so anyone going to Tunis, Milan, which they did in the Stirlings, over the mountains of course, so ten thousand feet was about the limit really. And of course you took all the flak, you know, if it was Stirlings and Lancasters, as Lancasters we would be up there, we used to be up at seventeen thousand feet in a Lancaster, and the Stirlings were down here, ten thousand feet and they got loads of flak. They lost more Stirlings, including the number that actually flew, they lost far more Stirlings, so that’s the, that was my choice. We went to Chedburgh for training on the aircraft as the flight engineer, and the pilot and we had the instructors with us, we took off and did all that we needed to do at Chedburgh. And then eventually we were appointed to a squadron and on this occasion it was Wratting Common, which is quite close. I don’t know if you have, no, anyway Wratting Common was the place. Oh! Terrible place, it was all mud, it had been raining like mad and it was all mud everywhere and on one occasion I walked through the WAAF quarters as it was much drier and I was told off, oooh you can’t do that, mustn’t do that, ooh no! Anyway, the first operation we did was to the Frisian Islands, the Frisian Islands off Germany there, dropping mines, that was uneventful, came back. The second trip was to Kiel, Kiel Harbour, yup. And we had mines to go down there because the u-boats were in there, you know, and I think probably they hadn’t got the pens completely ready so I think we probably did knock out some of the submarines there. So that was the second. Now the third trip was to Lorient, l o r i e n t Lorient on the south coast of France. Lorient was a place where they had u-boat pens and they had built them there, and they were very, very thick concrete so how they thought we could, well we would, we dropped mines, we were hoping that the submarines coming back would hit one, I mean that’s what it was all about really, but the bombs wouldn’t have done anything to them. But what happened with us there, we nearly got the chop there, because off the island, I think it was about a mile, two miles, two miles off, there was an island called Isle de Croix, Island of the Cross, and our bomb aimer, he took over you see, when we were going to drop the mines, the idea was to go around the island, but we went over the island, quite low down actually and there were all these Bofors guns there, these, like onions, red hot onions on chains coming up each side of us. How they missed us I do not know! We got over the island safely and then we had to go round the island again, round [emphasis] the island and then drop these mines. But that was a close, very close, but that was what the sprog crews do, the wrong thing, you see, that’s why you always get the chop in the early days, I’m afraid. Now what did I do after that? I think we went on to Lancasters after that, we did a conversion, that was it at Tuddenham or Wratting Common. I’ve got an idea that might have been Wratting Common. The Stirling was taken off because the chop rate was so heavy; they couldn’t continue like that, and it didn’t carry much of a bomb load anyway. So that was the end of that. But of course they were in use quite a bit later on – I’ll tell you about that. So what we do we went on to Lancasters, which was what we really wanted really because we knew it was much faster, it went up much higher, seventeen thousand feet was quite usual, we thought we’d be out of the range of their flak, we hoped, so that was what we did. Actually I went to Derby with my pilot to do I think it was a couple of days on the Merlin engine, so that was quite useful and I did that without going on leave. Some went on leave you see, but I decided I wanted to learn something about the Merlin, so that was done, I came back. What was my first trip, was a – can you switch off a minute?
CJ: So what was your first operation when you’d converted to Lancasters?
CD: Well, it took us by surprise actually, it was Duisburg in the Ruhr. Course that was a very important area round there: they were producing aircraft, tanks and everything else. So on the 25th June ‘43 we went to the Ruhr valley, Duisburg which we knew would be heavily defended. We took off from about ten pm and made for the Dutch coast where we met some flak, fifteen thousand feet ahead of us we could see lots of activity in the air as we approached the Ruhr. The Ruhr was important for Germans because it was full of heavy industry and so we need to prang it hard. We had on board four thousand pound bomb, shaped like a large cannister, and ten one thousand pound bombs and loads of incendiaries. The Pathfinders were dropping their coloured flares and the Master Bomber told us to bomb a certain colour – I can’t remember which colour it was – anyway we were now approaching the target when all hell was let loose as flak and searchlights were each side of us, we could hear shrapnel hitting the sides of our aircraft, this is the dreaded moment as the skipper opened the bomb doors, at this stage we were unable to manoeuvre: we just had to keep straight and pray. Skipper says to our two gunners, Dave Maver and Ronnie Pritchard, watch out for any night fighters, not that we could do much about it at this stage. The bomb aimer now took over: left, left, steady, right, steady, at this stage the chewing of gum was speeding up, it was sheer terror. Bombs gone says Epi, our bomb aimer. Skipper closes bomb doors and our chewing reduced in intensity. Our pilot banks to starboard and loses height to get out of the way of searchlights and flak, this is another time when night fighters are looking for us. Our navigator gives a new course for the Dutch coast, but we do a dog leg, zigzags to avoid the enemy fighters. We were watching aircraft going down in flames which makes us all a bit nervy, well it’s not like a holiday flight to Tenerife is it! - I said in brackets - We saw a small aircraft to port and a bit above us but we did not think it had been, had seen, had seen us, this was a German aircraft we thought because just twin engines but then he suddenly disappeared, we were in thick cloud and it was raining. Let’s hope we don’t collide with another aircraft. As for me as flight engineer, I was trying to keep a fuel log in the dark and with all the activity going on it was not easy. I kept a note of throttle changes because that makes all the difference to the amount of fuel one uses, plus temperature outside at our height. As we had eight – I’ve got fourteen – as we had eight [emphasis] tanks I didn’t want one to go dry, causing an engine to stop and possibly create an air lock in the system: my name would have been mud. I also kept control of the engines in orders from my skipper. I’m able to tell you that we got back safely to base and I found out later that my petrol calculations were just about right, we landed back at four thirty am, that was six and a half hours. Just over four hundred Lancs and Halifaxes took part and we lost six point one percent of the force, twenty five aircraft. Later we understood that reconnaissance had shown that much of the industry in Duisburg had been destroyed. We lost one aircraft on our squadron. On 27th of June we were due to go to Cologne, so, on 27th June 1943 we were briefed to go to Cologne in the Ruhr, but it was called off at the last moment because of foul weather over target. We briefed again on 28th of June with a slightly different route to try and fool the enemy. Over the Dutch coast the Germans had dropped chandeliers to light up the sky and so we expected to be mauled by the German night fighters. We climbed to eighteen thousand feet hoping to avoid them, but no such luck, a fighter came up on our rear, probably an Me110, a twin-engined fighter. Ronnie, our rear gunner called to the skipper: corkscrew port skip which my pilot did immediately and we went down to ten thousand feet and came up again in the corkscrew to fourteen thousand feet. Tracer bullets had gone just over the top of us at the beginning of the corkscrew, but when we settled down at fourteen thousand feet, we felt we had lost him, a really nasty moment and very nearly the end of us. We pressed on to Cologne and ran in to thick cloud, the Master Bomber told us to bomb a certain colour and we couldn’t see them. we could see some fires below so we dropped out bombs and incendiaries on those fires and hoped for the best. We returned to England mostly in cloud and landed at about five am. We were shocked to learn that forty aircraft failed to return. The next three nights we were on shorter trips to France. Marshalling yards in Paris and a place called Wizernes where they were making these V2s I believe, if I remember rightly and it was heavily defended. Dusseldorf, went to Dusseldorf on 12th of July. Dudsseldorf was another heavily defended place, because all industry, and if you killed people down there, they were probably working in the industry anyway you see. It was a heavily defended town because of the amount of industry there. We went through the usual procedures briefing and a meal et cetera, I think take off was around ten pm. We met flak and searchlights over over France I remember, and even more so as we entered Germany. Our skipper told us, the gunners, to look out for night fighters as they were bound to be operating. Eventually we could see ahead the Pathfinder’s flares and as usual in the Ruhr, a wall flak and searchlights. As flight engineer I had to do several jobs at the same time: keep looking out of the cabin for the position of the searchlights, help the skipper with the engine controls, keep a close watch on the fuel we were using, and write up my log so that I would know when to change the petrol tanks; all this on twelve shillings per day, and as a bonus we were threatened by death at any moment. Ah well, I did volunteer! Yes, one of the raids we went to was Stuttgart, this was another heavily, sorry, have to cut that out, yes, we pressed on to Stuttgart and dropped our bombs on target. We bombed the coloured flares dropped by the Pathfinders, skipper did a sharp turn to starboard and nearly hit another Lancaster, it was only just a few feet away from us, as it climbed in front of us. We climbed to seventeen thousand feet in clear skies when suddenly Ronnie Pritchard, our rear gunner, shouted over the intercon: corkscrew to port skipper and down we went to twelve thousand feet. It was another case of an Me110 was still on our tail, so up we went to starboard and then down again to port. I think we’ve lost him. Another thing, this sort of activity was not good for ones stomach! And also try to work out the fuel we’d used, anyway, I did the best I could. But that was a pretty grim trip because we nearly crashed into this other Lancaster. Yeah, yeah. On 17th of August 1943 we were given a very important mission. Apparently our spy planes had detected some rockets at a place called Peenemunde, in northern Germany. It had been known for some time that the Germans had been producing hard water at Peenemunde, which is used in atomic weapons, but of course these weapons had not been produced by any nation at that time. But the future would have looked bleak if they had been able to carry on their research, the powers that he, told Bomber Harris, oh the powers that be that he had told Bomber Harris that Peenemunde must be obliterated. Almost six hundred bombers, almost six hundred bombers would take part and we expected heavy losses as we felt it must be defended. We flew by night of course, and the flight arrangement was as follows: two hundred Stirlings would go in first at eight thousand feet, followed by four hundred Lancasters at ten thousand feet. The Pathfinders would be there first, dropping flares to light up the area. By good fortune a feint was going on over Berlin, with twin engine Mosquitoes, the Germans thought Berlin therefore was the main target and sent their night fighters there. The Stirlings went in to Peenemunde and dropped their bombs, and then turned for home without any losses. the German night fighters realised their mistake and turned back to Peenemunde just as the Lancasters went in to bomb the place. I remember a great deal of chaos, as aircraft after aircraft was shot down. It was, [sigh] it was very unnerving to see so many Lancasters on fire, we dropped our bombs on the target and fled the area and got back safely. Forty Lancasters - actually it was forty two – forty two Lancasters were shot down that night, ten percent of the force. Analysis later showed the bombing effort had been reasonably successful. Spy planes would keep an eye on the place in case another attack was necessary. My squadron lost one Lancaster out of twelve despatched. On the next night we were on the flight list again. At briefing found we found subject was Bremen. Well, that was fairly cushy compared with Peenemunde. Yeah. At Peenemunde was a very important town for us to destroy because the V2s they were producing would have been ready before D-Day, and you can just imagine what would have happened if that had happened: the D-day wouldn’t have been possible, you know. As it was, on D-Day one never saw a German fighter because they mostly had been destroyed, but Peenemunde was the, the town to get, we never had to go back there because they moved the whole lot to somewhere else in Germany which we kept bombing later on, but that was the most important one for D-Day, was Peenemunde, okay. At a briefing on the 23rd of August 1943, we learned the worst, yes, the worst, yes, it was to be the first big night raid on Berlin, by six hundred and fifty Lancasters and Halifaxes. Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, had said that no foreign aircraft would be allowed to fly over the capital of the Third Reich, well we’ll have to see if he’s right. We were all rather depressed about this operation as we knew that Berlin was considered to be the most heavily defended of all German towns. We were taken out to the aircraft at nine pm and I remember we sat around the aircraft waiting for start up time and nobody hardly spoke a word. We took off at nine thirty pm and we would be amongst the first wave into the attack. Berlin’s thirty five mile area was dotted with lights, so that it was hard to distinguish the bursts of anti-aircraft shells below from the coloured markers dropped by the Pathfinders. The first thing we had to do was fly through a wall of searchlights, hundreds [emphasis] of them in colours and clusters. Behind all that was an even fiercer light glowing red, green and blue and over there millions of flares hanging in the sky, A huge mass of fires below. If this is Hell, then I have been there. Flak is bursting all around us at fifteen thousand feet, there is one comfort, and that is not hearing the shells bursting outside because of the roar of the four Merlin engines. We flew on and it was like running straight into the most gigantic display of soundless fireworks in the world. The searchlights are coming nearer now all the time. As one cone split then it comes together again. They seem to splay out then stop, then come together again and as they do there’s a Lancaster right in the centre. Skipper puts the nose down, more power he asks, and I increase the throttle and we are pelting along at a furious rate as we are coming out of the searchlight belt more flak is coming up from the minor defences. A huge explosion near our aircraft: it shakes like mad. Skipper asks everybody to report that they are okay. I thought that the aircraft must have been hit somewhere but everything seemed to be working as far as I could tell: engine revs okay, oil pressure okay, petrol gauge okay. Would we get out of this hell alive? Hello skipper, navigator here, half a minute to dropping zone, okay says skipper, bomb doors open, bomb aimer now takes over, okay, steady, right a bit, bombs gone, bomb doors closed, keep weaving skipper, lots of flak coming up, I tell him, going to starboard something hits us, but we don’t know what or where. I report to skipper that a Jerry fighter has just passed over us from port to starboard, our mid-upper gunner also reported a fighter, we keep going out of the main area of searchlights. I take a look at the furious fires below and masses of flak and Pathfinder flares, a mass of other Lancasters and other Halifaxes has to get through. Looking back we can see aircraft going down in flames, thank god we are out of the main firestorm I say to myself. Skipper through the intercom tells everyone to watch out for night fighters as they are bound to be active. I give my log a good check in as we couldn’t be short of fuel at this stage, but everything seems to be okay, the oil pressure was a bit low on two starboard engines, I wondered if flak had damaged them. I report this to our skipper, keep an eye on it he said. Away back over the Baltic, so different to the way we came. There seemed to be flak coming up from all over the place so we are not out of trouble. We knew there were fighters about as they were dropping flares. Suddenly Ronnie, our rear gunner said corkscrew starboard skip, down we went and I fell, I fell out of my seat and hit my head and was stunned for a bit. Up we came to port as tracer skimmed the side of our aircraft, Ronnie took a pot at the German fighter but I don’t think he hit him. We levelled out at eight thousand feet and we were now in cloud and we stayed in it to dodge the fighter. We came out of the cloud over the Channel, oil pressures on starboard engines were getting too low, so it was decided to land at Woodbridge, just on the border of Suffolk, it had a long runway for situations like ours. We landed at five fifteen am after a horrendous night. I thought that Bomber Harris might well obliterate Bomber Command as well as Berlin! Our aircraft had been damaged by flak, including two engines so it was unserviceable. We were taken by coach back to, was this, this is where we went wrong, this is says Wratting Common but it should be Tuddenham I think. The squadron lost another Lancaster, a total of fifty eight heavy bombers were lost that night, fifty eight, and so ended our first trip, and our last I hoped, to Berlin, the big city as it was called. Our aircraft would be out of service for a week, but we were given a new aircraft that had not been flown on ops. Our wireless operator Charlie Higgins didn’t like the idea as he was terribly superstitious, hence the rabbit’s foot in my pocket. Charlie had to come round to the new aircraft, or leave the crew. He came round to it. Right, now this is the crunch, our thirtieth and final operation, but what a momentous time it has been over the last few months: a lot of airmen have died. Once again we were briefed on 28th of August and we were out at the aircraft when it was cancelled. And so back to the de-clothing area, this was always very stressful and our nerves start to give us trouble by a slight shake and very noticeable when holding a cigarette. The 29th of August 1943 was to be our last trip and hopefully we will return. Briefing was at four pm, we all sat down and then stood up when the Group Captain entered the briefing room at four pm. The door then locked, he stood on the stage and said Captain answer for your crew, and beware if you’re not there, you’re in trouble, anybody not there would be in dead trouble. The curtain pulled back and lo and behold the target was Stettin, on the Baltic, a very long trip and so I’ll have to be very accurate with my petrol calculations. Stettin was a large port and apparently the Germans were bringing men and war weapons back from Norway to put to the war in Russia. The idea was for us to blast the ships in port and anything we saw moving. It was going to be a long night with full petrol tanks and loads of bombs, or, no incendiaries, just bombs. Take off at nine pm. Stettin was partly on the way to Berlin, but a bit further to the west and a somewhat longer trip, we hoped the Germans would think we were going to Berlin and send their fighters there. We went through thick cloud at first, but over Germany it was clear skies and we had to watch out for the German fighters. We got caught in searchlights but the skipper managed to weave and corkscrew out of them. Heavy flak, shrapnel shells hitting our aircraft, we dropped our bombs by the reflection of the water, so there were no Pathfinders for this raid. We managed to leave the area safely and flew into the cloud again where it was pouring with rain, better than being attacked by a night fighter when flying in in clear skies. Sadly our Squadron Commander, Squadron Leader Warner failed to return from this op to Stettin, a total of twenty three Lancasters were lost out of three hundred and fifty on the operation. And now my crew sort of split up for a time here, we went on two week post-operational leave. Now, after, I returned to Scotland after some leave and did several weeks as flight engineer instructor. One day, my friend Jack Ralph, a pilot, came up to me and said as his flight engineer had been injured, by shrapnel I believe, would I be willing to do, to be his flight engineer as he only had four operations to do. Jack was somewhat older then I was at the time as he was thirty and I was still nineteen and he had a lot of experience and had earned the DFC. Without thinking of the possible consequences, I said yes. Being so young I didn’t really see the dangers ahead, anyway that was my decision. Jack’s crew accepted me okay and that was the main thing. My first operational briefing with Jack was on 23rd of September 1943, Mannheim, a big industrial town, well in, that was the usual thing; fifteen Lancasters were lost there, and then Hannover, I think we lost an aircraft there. Turn it off just a moment. At this stage in my tour of operations – thirty two to date - I was becoming decidedly jittery, a nervous twitch perhaps. I felt I was getting to the end of what I could take, nevertheless I never showed this in my behaviour, but it was just that I felt it inwardly, after all I was still only nineteen years old. Us bomber chaps often wrote poetry, some have been published and at this moment I would like to quote one of mine. I found it amongst my papers a few years ago, and it was written by me during my tour of operations in 1943. It might seem a bit naive now but it was how I felt at the time. Viz: “What think you airman when you fly so proudly there in heaven’s sky? Do you exalt in your great might as you go onwards through the night? I think of death beneath my wings, and of the load my bomber brings. My spirit flinches from the thought, that of this carnage may come naught. I pray that soon the day will come when at the rising of the sun that man will offer man his hand and peace prevail throughout the land. I face up to my moments’ task, but three things God, of thee I ask: please help my flesh and mind to stand the strain and protect me Lord this once again. And if this cannot be your plan, give me the strength to die a man.” So that. I wasn’t sleeping too well at this particular time, and I had a sort of of foreboding about the future, it was only one more operation to do, strange how the mind works. On the morning of 18th of November, I woke in the usual way and had breakfast. I went to the aircraft and had a chat with the ground engineers. No problem with the engines, there were full tanks, two thousand one hundred and forty gallons and full bomb load. In fact I worked out that our full weight would be way [emphasis] above what it should be, but it was often like that. No chance of survival if we had engine failure on take off. Briefing was at four pm where we found that the target would be Stettin again, on the Baltic coast, a long hard journey ahead as you would know from above. I had been there before. Stettin was a very important town for Germany because it was the embarking point to Norway. Stettin was heavily defended by guns, searchlights and night fighters. At the briefing we found out that we were to use new tactics by flying low over the North Sea, under German radar with a moonlight night and then to sweep across Denmark and up to the Swedish coast and then down to Stettin, hopefully we were told we would hit Stettin from a different angle and take the Germans by surprise. As we left the briefing Jack said to me let’s hope they are right! Take off at nine pm. Fourteen Lancasters from our squadron would take part. We had our supper in the usual way and collected our rations: chocolate and chewing gum. We then collected our flying clothes, harness and parachute. The padre was there to wish us well and safe return. Well that was something to help me anyway. We were taken to the aircraft in the liberty van, as we called it, would take us in to Newmarket, it took us in to Newmarket when we were not flying. We got ourselves into the aircraft and made sure everything was in order. The skipper and I did what we called pre-flight checks, as nothing was left to chance. A very light was fired from the caravan at the end of the runway for take off. We queued up and then our turn came. Skipper opened up the throttles and then I took over to giving him full power as we were overloaded, we sped down the runway, hoping we would make it into the air-and we did. Skipper pulled the aircraft off the ground and did a circuit of the aerodrome, before speeding off and crossing at Cromer and then over the North Sea. We flew at five hundred feet towards Denmark. As we crossed the Danish coast e-boats were firing at us but fortunately missed. We were now on the way to Stettin, we saw one Lancaster crash into a windmill because it much too low. Before I continue I must mention something about Stettin. This town manufactured consumer goods, including cosmetics. At the end of 1943, there were still six million Germans employed in consumer industries. The Armament Minister, Albert Speer, his efforts to cut back consumer output were repeatedly frustrated by Hitler, personal veto. Eva Braun intervened to block an order banning permanent waves and manufacture of cosmetics. Apparently Hitler was so anxious to maintain living standards. Anyway back to our flight. After leaving Denmark we had to climb to fifteen thousand feet, because we were approaching the Swedish coast and they were neutral as far as war was concerned. We were using our new radar equipment – H2S – so our navigator was able to pick up the town of Stettin. We flew over the southern tip of Sweden and apparently the authorities complained about this to Churchill through the Swedish Embassy. We now flew south and I could see heavy flak ahead so I knew we would be in for a pasting. We could see the Pathfinders were there this time. flares and the Master Bomber was telling us to bomb a certain coloured flares. Suddenly we got caught in two cones of searchlights, but skipper Jack Ralph acted quickly and down we went to starboard and we escaped. But was a close run thing again. Flak was bursting all around. We dropped bombs okay on a mass of flames below us. We left the target area which looked like hell below. After a short time the flak seemed to quieten, so we knew night fighters were in the area. Suddenly a loud shout from rear gunner on the intercom, corkscrew port skipper, and down we went, but unfortunately the Messerschmidt 110 night fighter caught us underneath our aircraft. The tracer bullets through, ripped through the underbelly and caught our port inner engine, which caught fire. We also had a fire in the fuselage, just beyond the mid upper gunner. The hydraulic oil that feeds the turret had spilled into the fuselage and that was what was on fire. The turret in fact became useless. Skipper had brought the aircraft out of the corkscrew and levelled off at about eight thousand feet. The fighter did not follow us down. So, what were our problems at this stage of our flight? A – port inner engine on fire. B – fire in the fuselage. C – what damage had been done underneath us? D – mid upper turret not now working. C, sorry, E – losing height and another three and a half hours to home base. F – outside temperature minus forty degrees centigrade possibly too cold to bale out. G – if we are attacked again no chance of survival on three engines. H – have we enough fuel to get home? So the action we took was this: 1 – my skipper feathered the propeller on the duff engine. He operated the fire extinguisher in the engine fortunately the fire went out. All this has to be done within seconds of course. I attached an oxygen bottle and my mask and took a fire extinguisher with me. I found my way down the fuselage to the fire, which was looking quite fierce, especially everywhere was dark. I connected up my intercom and told skipper what I had found. Should we bale out he said? No, I said I think I can put the fire out – [wry chuckle] I had not brought my parachute with me from my position by the pilot! It was stacked up there. I didn’t think I had any chance of survival if the fuselage broke up anyway. Anyway I played the extinguisher on to the fire but it didn’t all go out. The aircraft was full of smoke but fortunately we all had our masks on and I used my official goggles for my eyes. There was some tarpaulin or something nearby and so I placed it on the fire but some of the flames shot up and I burnt both of my hands. I struggled with the tarpaulin and the fire went out. My hands were very painful though as you can imagine, but I wondered at that time whether the airframe had been weakened by the heat. I told the skipper what I had done and what I had, and that I had painful hands. Thank god you have put it out, he said. I crawled back to my station by the pilot. He was trying to keep the aircraft at eight thousand feet, we were then on three engines. Somehow or another I had to write my log to see how much petrol we had left. The navigator said he would be back at base, we would be back at base in three and three quarter hours, keeping in mind that the aircraft was slower on three engines, but of course only three engines were burning fuel. I worked out that our speed at that time, our height and more propeller revolutions and no more corkscrewing we would have thirty minutes fuel left on landing. My hands were now very painful but there was nothing I could do about it as we had no creams to put on them or water to plunge them in to. I kept thinking to myself, why did I volunteer for another four operations? Well, here we go, back to base. We were at eight thousand feet and flying through thick cloud and it is raining hard, we are all wearing our masks and goggles as there was still a lot of smoke in the aircraft. I wondered if any damage had been done to the aircraft framework. Was it weakened in any way? Best not to be negative, I must be positive about getting us back to base. The skipper was aware of the fuel situation, and kept the engine power to a minimum, keeping in mind that we only had three engines working. After two hours we came out of the thick cloud and all the buffeting, we were now over Holland and we could see lots of flak near the coast, so we needed to avoid that. A big aircraft flew near us and we thought it was another Lancaster, we hoped. Our navigator picked up a couple of towns on the new radar H2S, very useful because we couldn’t see anything below due to haze. I checked the fuel situation but it was difficult writing as my hands were so painful. The navigator told the skipper and myself that with our speed and outside wind we would be at base at about one hour forty five minutes. I began to sweat at that bit of information as it was longer than he had given some time before. Anyway, I worked out my fuel usage and then told my skipper that we had two hours twenty minutes fuel left so we should make it okay if something, if nothing else happened. But fortunately nothing else did happen, we got through the flak on the coast of Holland, and we were now over the North Sea headed for England and hopefully safety. Skipper got in touch with control, with the control on my squadron and told them of our situation. Would the wheels come down? We still didn’t know. Skipper was given emergency landing procedures so we crossed the East Anglian coast. We operated the landing gear and it came down okay and locked itself in the down position. In one hour fifty minutes we were down and so my petrol calculations were spot on. At this stage I was beginning to feel a bit faint what with the pain, considerable stress and smoke. When we landed most of the smoke disappeared. I got out of the aircraft at five thirty am, eight and a half hour flight and sat on the ground, exhausted. Skipper Jack Ralph lit me a cigarette, which was wonderful. Suddenly everything everywhere was quiet except for the singing of birds in some nearby trees, the dawn chorus. Two aircraft failed to return to our squadron out of fourteen at take off. Though later we found out that one aircraft had landed at another aerodrome due to damage to their aircraft. Thirty aircraft failed to return all told. I believe four hundred Lancasters went to Stettin. Jack Ralph’s tour off thirty had ended and I had done a total of thirty four operations. I was still only nineteen. What happened to me next? Once I was returned to base, well, I was then taken to the first aid area and my hands were cleaned. I was then taken to the hospital at Bury St Edmunds where I stayed for two days. My hands were treated there and it was found that the burns were first degree and so I wouldn’t need any skin grafts: that was the best news I could receive. I forget what they did, but I remember my hands being wrapped up with bandages and lint. Within three days I was back on the squadron, where I was put on light duties. The bandages were removed after two weeks and I believe, but my hands were very sore and still a bit painful, but being exposed to the air was going to be helpful. After a few weeks I received a call to see the Station Commander at certain time of day. My memory defeats me, I was a bit nervous about this, but of course I went. The Group Captain asked me about my hands, he said that I had done a wonderful job. Now I was told two wonderful things to cheer me up: first offered a commission in the Royal Air Force,, wow, me, an officer in the RAF. He told me all about it and what I would have to do as my extra duties. Also he said to go and see the Station Adjutant as he would give me all the details about buying my uniform and the money. He said I would have to start a bank account once I was an officer, just think of it, me born in a council house, I left school at fourteen and now I’d become an officer in the RAF. An even greater thrill was that I had been recommended for a decoration, namely the Distinguished Flying Medal, for helping to save the aircraft and enabling the whole crew to get back to England. That was definitely the icing on the cake. My skipper Jack Ralph was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross because he displayed leadership as he was an officer, I was a flight, yes I was a flight sergeant, I had a medal. I would meet up with Jack Ralph again in my career. Within a week I was up in London to buy my clothes. [Unlcear] Well I was informed after a time that they were wanting Stirling crews at Tuddenham, my old base. As you will have read above, I had already done some special duties during my tour and so I jumped at the idea and made an important, an appointment to see our squadron commander. He said I don’t know anything about it. Of course, of course that’s what they always say. Anyway he did check up and found it was true. I got an immediate posting back to my bomber station and I met up with my, part of my old crew, so I joined up with them. While there we got a couple of gunners, rear and mid upper, and a wireless operator. I told Doug and Dick about my adventure into the fire what I did on my last trip. I did some revision on the workings of the Stirling as I had not flow them some time. We also did some circuits and bumps. Early 1944 a briefing was arranged and I believe there were twelve crews all together. We were informed that we would have to do a lot of practice low flying over the Norfolk Flats – no hills anywhere - we were also told that the job would entail flying on moonlit nights and between five hundred and a thousand feet. Of course our particular crew had already done a few of these trips as we had already early in our tour so we knew what to expect. It was clear that D-Day was coming soon and so they wanted us, wanted to get as much more, as much equipment as possible to the resistance people, agents were being dropped in France at night from the Lysander aircraft. We started our flying practice during the day, low flying over the flats of Norfolk. We hoped that Dicks navigation and map reading would be as good as hitherto. Well he seemed to find his way around the flats okay. We did many days of this type of flying. I think they thought we were up there having fun, as for me I would have to get my petrol calculations right as I wouldn’t, it wouldn’t do to have an engine failure at five hundred feet, which is what we were going to have to do. We did low flying over long periods to get it absolutely right at night. The night came for us to do our first mission and operation. It was a full moon and clear sky on 21st of April ’44. The technique for crossing the French coast was to cross at, was to cross at eight thousand or nine thousand feet to avoid a heavily defended coast. When our skipper thought it was safe he descended to about five hundred feet. I must say that we actually went all the way down the French coast, not over Pas de Calais because the Germans were still there, so went down the French coast, round Cherbourg, down to Boulogne. It was just below Boulogne where we crossed. When our skipper thought it was safe, he descended to about five hundred feet so we’re over the coast and down we went. At five hundred feet however, all hell broke loose. There seemed to be a gun firing dead ahead and to our starboard. Skipper flung the aircraft to port and he couldn’t do much because we were so low down; we were hit on the starboard side and underneath. Fortunately the tracer was small calibre so not a lot of damage. But there was a hole in the starboard fuselage and a hole near the skipper’s foot. We think [clock chimes] we were hit underneath too, but we were all okay. To the port side of us we could see a Stirling being hit at very low altitude, maybe about two hundred feet and then crashed, fortunately the crew of that aircraft survived and were taken prisoner. Well we pressed on, very low level, as low as two hundred feet at times, towards the eastern side of France, near Lyon. We followed roads and rivers and contours of the land, we knew that we could easily get lost, and some crews did. We had a good navigator and I did a lot of map reading myself when I wasn’t watching the petrol situation, as I said before. I couldn’t let a tank go dry and an engine stall at two hundred to five hundred feet. Anyway, we arrived at the area and the next thing was to look for a torchlight shone by one of the French Resistance, Maquis. If they were caught by the Germans they were usually tortured for information about others and then shot and of course we would easily have been shot down and too low for parachutes. We found the light after circulating the area. I then went to the back of the aircraft and opened the trap door in the floor. On instructions from the pilot I pushed out the big boxes which were on parachute and as we were at five hundred feet they landed reasonably safely, I hoped. After that we made our way to the coast. That was another difficult part because if we crossed at five hundred feet, we could have been shot up by German e-boats which were all along the coast. Climbing to seven thousand to eight thousand meant that we would be easy prey for German fighter planes, but we did climb to eight thousand feet and got over the coast safely and we arrived at Tuddenham, our base, exactly eight hours later, but the undercarriage wouldn’t come down. We tried all the usual methods, like thumping the solenoid and pulling the wires, but nothing happened. I might have mentioned it earlier, just to say that as the Stirling everything, oh yes I have mentioned it by electricity, in the Lancaster it was hydraulics. The final thing to do was for me to go half way down the fuselage where there was a motor winding gear. I asked the skipper to switch off the undercarriage switch on the dashboard and then I started winding. I knew that if I had to wind it all the way down it would be five hundred and forty turns, phew! Anyway, I wound twelve times and I asked the skipper to trip the switch down and wonderful, the undercarriage started to descend and it went all the way down, and locked. What a nightmare, had it not come down and locked we would have had to belly land. We landed safely and we reported to briefing. We mentioned that a Stirling was shot down; it was reported later that it was David [unclear]. The ground engineers on our aircraft found that the undercarriage gears had been damaged by the coastal gunfire so we were lucky to get the undercarriage down. Well two nights later we were due to go again, when the moon was high, so.
CJ: So Colin, after your ten missions on Special Duties, what happened to you next?
CD: Well, I was an instructor for a time, which I got bored with; you had to have a sprog flight engineer. But by July, er, no, August, August 1944, these V2s and V1s were becoming a bit of menace. And so, they’re clever people, they said these are not operations, cause there are no German fighters about but what we want you to do is take over a sprog engineer to train him, and go behind a Mosquito. The Mosquito went in first, okay, he had this new radar called Oboe, and that was marvellous, picked out different places there, and when he dropped his bombs, the idea was we dropped ours. I think there were about four Lancasters at a time went with this Mosquito, and so that’s what we did. So we did that for, er, some time I think. I’m still on aren’t I? Yes. And then eventually that came to an end and I went back on instructors again. I went up to Leconfield, up in Yorkshire, goodness knows what I went up there for, cause I can’t remember I ever did anything! I came back again anyway, to Mildenhall. I was just really an odd bod, an instructor, that’s what I was and I was called an instructor. Oh, yes, eventually, before I went on to Transport Command, we had a, there were aircraft called a York, it was a passenger aircraft, and they wanted to find out what the centre of gravity was because of all the weight of the luggage and everything else on board. So that was my job, with a senior chap. We had all these, all these Yorks in a hangar, several of them, with the tails out, finding the centre of gravity. I can’t remember what I did now, but we found it and I think that did the job and I was made a flight lieutenant for a time, while I was on, to give me some authority. Wasn’t that nice of them! There we are, that’s what I did. But at the end, right at the end, two weeks before the end I went on Manna from Heaven. And there we are, I’ll show you a picture of that. And what we did, these little food parcels, there was sort of some rubberised, they were very good at doing things like that, I think it was probably Americanised, but rubber stuff and all these sweets, powdered milk, powdered egg and all that was inside each one of those. No parachute or anything like this. We were very low, I think we were two or three hundred feet when we went in, and they were warned to keep away because if one hits you it could knock you out you see. There’s another one coming in, another one back there. This went on for several weeks. It was known that some Germans were firing on the Yorks as they flew over, no Lancasters, we were on Lancasters then, Lancasters. They were firing on the Lancasters and the colonel was warned [emphasis] if you allow that to got on you’ll be up in court, you know. So I think it stopped after. The Dutch have never forgotten it. If you speak to a Dutchman now, they’ll tell you: the RAF did us a good thing. I think I’ve got something here from a Dutchman if you’d like to, hang on, here we are, shall I read it. After the war and after Manna from Heaven food parcels arrived, a letter from a Dutch person. “We shall never forget the nights when your squadrons passed us in the dark on the way to Germany, the mighty noise was like music for us: it told us about happier days to come. Your passing planes kept us believing in coming victory, no matter what we had to endure. We have suffered much but Britain and the RAF did not disappoint us, so we have to thank you and the British nation for our living in peace today.” So there we are, that was nice, wasn’t it. So I think -
CJ: So towards the end of the war Colin, where did you go next?
CD: In August of 1945, we as a crew of five with Jack as a captain, Jack Ralph, joined 51 Squadron at Leconfield, near Minster in Yorkshire. We were to have a period of training there on Stirlings, yes Stirlings, our old wartime friend. The powers that be were so short of passenger aircraft that they took the gun turrets out of the Stirling and put some seats down the length of the aircraft. The whole idea was to bring back servicemen from the Far East, including hopefully, some Japanese prisoners of war who had a dreadful time as prisoners. I think the Stirling had about forty seats, down the length of the fuselage with a galley for food and toilet facilities. The aircraft would fly at about eight thousand feet, no oxygen, and so it would have been quite cold and miserable. I remember saying to myself, that if the Japs don’t kill them, then perhaps the Stirling would. But at least they would be coming home and after the business of the Japanese camps I felt they would put up with anything. There was my crew, there were so many pilots back from Canada after training, and the war was over, and of course missing the war, authorities didn’t know what to do with them. Well many of them were trained as stewards, they didn’t like that really, to look after the passengers, to feed them et cetera and so we had one in our crew, but he wasn’t very happy about it. The time came for us to make our first overseas flight. We took off from Leconfield on 20th of August, and made for Stoney Cross, an airfield near the New Forest in Hampshire. We picked up all sorts of equipment, including a refrigerator which was fitted at the rear for use when we picked up passengers. On 22nd of August we took off for Luqa in Malta, which took seven hours thirty five minutes. On landing we were amazed at the bomb damage, we just wondered how they survived. We took off the next day for Castel Bonita, which was an airfield in Libya, North Africa. The temperature in the sun on arrival was one hundred and nineteen degrees Fahrenheit. [Laugh] Phew! We were able to have a quick look at Tripoli, and we were amazed at the number of ships sunk in the harbour. The ships were bombed when the Germans were there in 1942 ‘43. On the next day we took off for Tel Aviv in Palestine; this took us six hours thirty minutes. I was very impressed by, with Tel Aviv, a wealthy town and populated mostly by Jews from all over Europe. We had time to spend an afternoon on their lovely beach, but we were pestered by beach sellers who tried to sell us anything they thought we would wealth, they thought we were wealthy like the population. At that particular time there were battles going on in Jerusalem, so it was out of bounds to us RAF. Their troubles are still going on today, sadly. I mention above about the wealth in Tel Aviv, being a Jewish town, but just outside there was a village called Tel Avivski which was populated by Arabs, who were growing lemons and oranges. Their homesteads were very poor indeed, and what a contrast to Tel Aviv. The next day we took off for Basra, in Iraq which was very much in the news in recent years. The aerodrome was called Shaibah which was outside Basra. Shaibah was a terribly hot place. It was always between a hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit. It had a good population - of flies! The billets were poor and so it was a good thing we were only there one night. Tea had a peculiar taste and the food wasn’t terribly appetising. Have I painted a nice picture I say to myself. I must say that the people were very friendly and of course this was 1945 and maybe they aren’t so friendly today. Any airman ground staff could only stay in Shaibah a maximum of six months of the year because after some of them started to go mental called Shaibah blues. As flight engineer I had to supervise the refuelling of our aircraft. They used what they called a bowser and we just hoped it was filled with a hundred octane fuel to give us plenty of lift and power. At least we could get cold beer in the officers mess, just like in Ice Cold in Alex. The next day, 24th, we took off for Karachi. The badge I have on my, on my coat that I had on just now was bought in Karachi, in Pakistan although in 1945 fortunately it was still in India. The aerodrome was called Meri, Moripoor, this aerodrome was quite modern compared to Shaibah. We would be there for two days and so we had the opportunity to visit Karachi. I quite liked this town, but like all Indian town it was full of markets selling just about everything. Of course you never paid the price they asked and so quite a bit of time was spent bargaining with the vendor but he made you comfortable by giving you something soft to sit on then bring you a glass of coca cola which fell apart, no sarsaparilla, sorry, a coco cola or a glass of sarsaparilla, not so nice. I remember buying a pair of shoes which fell apart in a few days and an Indian wool rug which was very nice, I sold it at home for a good profit. The main street in Karachi was called Elphinstone Street, named after Lord Elphinstone who lived in Hastings and there’s a street named after him there too! This was the end of our first flight abroad which took us four days. On 27th of August we flew back to Stoney Cross, many passengers, mainly army personnel and they didn’t like the cold in the Stirling after being in a hot country, still I am sure they were pleased to get home at last. When we arrived back at Stoney Cross we found that we had been posted to Stradishall in Suffolk. This was, and still is, a pre-war RAF station and so at least we had food, accommodation and a batman. The batman, I had was shared with two officers in separate rooms. It was jolly good because he did lots of jobs for us, cleaning our shoes, looking after our laundry and making sure we had everything we wanted. The real benefits of being an officer! The downside was that we had to do Orderly Officer duties from time to time. One of the duties, one of the duties was checking on the food in the general mess. As I went on the Sergeant of the Day which called out ‘any complaints,’ usually there was silence but on one occasion one of the erks said, I have been given very little meat, sir. It looked very small so I got the cooks to give him another slice of meat. I think the erk had eaten quite a bit before I got it, got there. Of course the Orderly Officer was actually in charge of the RAF station when the Group Captain was away at night time too. So it was quite a responsible job if anything went wrong at the station. We had parties there, with plenty of girlfriends, lots of fun with booze. I think we’ll leave it at that now.
CJ: So on these long trips Colin, with Transport Command did you meet any interesting people?
CD: Well one of the people I did meet was at Cairo. We stopped at a hotel called the Heliopolis, Heliopolis Palace and I think we were on the third floor. Now, King Farouk, he somehow or other he didn’t like the British, I don’t know why, I don’t know why. But he would, you would see him belting through the streets in the middle of two guards in a jeep type of vehicle, you know and be crouched in there. We actually met him actually, at a reception at Helioplolis Palace and he sort of didn’t want to really say too much to us, us chaps chaps. He wasn’t a good leader, he liked pornography, he had loads of pornography, you wouldn’t believe it, stuff he had. Well eventually he was ousted of course, wasn’t he. I think it was Nasser came in after him, wasn’t it. He was dead scared of travelling around, he thought he’d be shot any moment, you know, they didn’t like him. So that’s King Farouk, I’ve met a king, okay.
CJ: So when did you leave the RAF Colin? And what did you do after that?
CD: Well I was there during that very cold winter and it soon after that actually. By May, May 1947, May 1947 I said farewell to my friends at Lyneham, I took the train to Preston in Lancashire and that was my demob station, okay. So I came out and there I am, and that’s what, various documents including identity card, ration book and some money, so that’s what I got for putting my life on the line. But still, it was better than nothing. I’ve now signed off from the RAF and I was given a sort of dowry, but I can’t remember how much it was, but I don’t think I was terribly rich. I came back to London to stay with my, an aunt for a time. I stayed at, I stayed with my grandmother in Beckenham. She had a son that was employed at the Standard Bank of South Africa and I was very friendly with him, because he played cricket and all that, in his job, and he said how about getting into shipping, the Union Castle Line near me, where I am, I know they’re looking for young men. I said yeah, that sounds interesting to me, shipping, well I don’t want to fly again and, and that’s what he did. I went up for an interview and I got the job. I think it was about two hundred and fifty pounds a year. [Laugh] I thought you see, I could train perhaps as a purser eventually and I wouldn’t mind going out to South Africa and stay out there for a bit as I was single, as easy as it was then. So that’s what I did and I started 15th May I think it was, 15th of May. First up yes, I would be employed in an office down, oh I was employed in an office down in the East India Docks for a time, Blackwall, yes, at a salary of two hundred and fifty pounds per annum. I bought a month’s season ticket on the Southern Railway at the cost of one pound fourteen shillings and that would take me from Elmer’s End to Beckenham or Cannon Street in the city. I used it seven days a week, I used it at weekends. Arrived at the office on the first day at nine fifteen am and met up with the manager at the docks office. Really old buildings, it’s real east, sorry about that, just chuck it aside, sorry. Yes, it was very, sort of worn out buildings there, everything was sort of archaic really, you know. Big, it had a big shelf to write on. And a stool. And if you’ve ever seen any Charles Dickens films, just like that really. Goes back to those days you see.
CJ: And what was your job there?
CD: Just as a clerk, to start with, just as a clerk, did a lot of writing, oh and I got the job of going down to the docks to meet the ships, with a senior man first, but then eventually I went down myself, to the West India Dock, King George the Fifth Dock, Queen Victoria Dock in London, don’t exist any more of course, and Southampton went down to Southampton. Yes. That was the most interesting part of being with the Union Castle actually, going down to the ships, so I enjoyed that. Now eventually we were hearing rumours you see, that oh they united with the Clan Line, that would have been a few years after and eventually we could see that the end of the line was coming because people were flying to South Africa and East Africa. We didn’t have an empire any more, you know, Uganda, Tanganyika and all these of places, so I decided I think I’d better change; I had two young daughters at the time and I thought I’d better think about changing. So I got a job with Beecham Research Laboratories in their offices. I did a few jobs outside in hospitals and took on that job, in Kent, that’s why I’m down here. I used to visit the consultants, so that was interesting. Yeah.
CJ: So after the war did you manage to keep in touch with any of your old crew?
CD: Yes I did. I was the secretary, we used to have reunions up at Tuddenham, Tuddenham and there’s a building there that we used to use, it was more convenient than Mildenhall really, although we used to go to Mildenhall. But I was the secretary, so I did the newsletters, it was great and yes, I was given a glass bowl at the end which is upstairs. And curiously those eventually died off and that’s very sad.
CJ: How do you feel Bomber Command veterans were treated after the war, for example by the government?
CD: We were treated very badly. We were treated very badly. Churchill never thanked us, he thanked every other, every other side of the war, Army, Navy, Coastal Command, but not Bomber Command, Fighter Command, but not Bomber Command, never Bomber Command, and yet he was the one that said early part of the war we will bomb every town in Germany and make them pay for what they’re doing to us. That’s what he said, you know, and that’s wanted us to do. But it all came to a head with Dresden, didn’t it. And of course that wasn’t Bomber Harris’ idea at all, he didn’t want to do it because it was too far for his crews, it’s really the Russian general out there. He, he told Eisenhower that the town was full of German troops and weapons, you see. And he said would you, could Bomber Command bomb the place. Eisenhower got on to Churchill and Churchill got on to Bomber Harris and Bomber Harris said well it’s just too far for my troops, I don’t want to do it. You’ve got the order to do it, you must find a way of doing it, so that they get there and back. That’s, you know, that’s the sort of attitude he had you see. So, it came about and of course it was found that it was mainly full of refugees rather than troops, so you know, but that’s the one, if you mention Bomber Command, that’s what people mention. What about Dresden, you know. But it’s no different to any other town, what about towns in England? And if he’d had his way V2s would have obliterated London completely. So yes, I don’t think we, it’s only since we’ve had the Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park that things have softened quite a bit now. People, when they hear I’ve been in Bomber Command are quite impressed, you know cause there’s not many of us about are there. So I think the attitude has changed a bit, but I was a great admirer of Churchill you know, during the war, he gave us that feeling of we were going to win, that’s what we wanted really, someone behind us, but he never stayed on at the end. I could never understand why really, never understood why. The Queen Mother always supported us and I went to the, the church in the Strand, what’s the name of that church in the Strand, I can’t remember it, anyway it’s the RAF, it’s the RAF church and it was Bomber Harris’ monument that was being built there, next to Dowding, the two of them there you see. And you wouldn’t believe it, all these layabouts were shouting at us: murderers. The Queen Mother she always supported us and said take no notice of them, I was standing right next to her, actually, take no notice of them. One chap there had got his uniform on, had red, red paint thrown over him you know, that’s how we were treated. Yeah. It was pretty grim really. And the police didn’t do much about it really, they’re just yobs he says, what can you do?
CJ: But on the other hand I gather you’ve been honoured by the French.
CD: Yes, absolutely. I have also at our do on Tuesday night I said I want to send a toast to the President of France, President Macron. So I don’t know if he ever got the message but I you’ve read the letter, yes.
CJ: This is the letter that confirms that you’ve been made a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honeur.
CD: That’s right, Nationale, Legion d’Honeur. First introduced by Napoleon in 1802 and used extensively during the Battle of Waterloo, 1815. He used it for his highest gallantry award. So whether it’s still used as a high gallantry award I don’t know. It wasn’t used in the second world war because they gave in you see right at the start. But it was used in the First World War, yeah.
CJ: So what else keeps you busy nowadays?
CD: The garden! Try to. Well I belong to Probus. I belong to, I’m the honorary president, honorary president of the Royal British Legion, in Tenterden. Church too, I go to church so I made lots and lots of friends there. We have different little dos from time to time. I go to the day centre here on a Tuesday, that’s tomorrow. They come and pick me up, they have lunch there.
CJ: You’re living in Tenterden and there’s a heritage railway I think you had some involvement.
CD: Oh Kent and East Sussex Railway! Oh yes! I’d forgotten about that. In 1967, we came to live here in 1966 you see, and in 1967 well we heard that there was a railway coming along, didn’t know much about it then, down station road, so we thought we’d go and have a look and they had a couple of little engines down there, one was called Hastings and there was another one down there as well. And I went to the meeting, they had meetings to try to get the railway started somehow. Oh, the rows that went on! You know, between the secretary and the president, and the chairman, had different views from each other, you know. They were told: if you don’t get your act together you’ll never run a railway. Of course you wouldn’t, not like that. But eventually it all settled down but interesting meetings. I’ve still got [unclear[, upstairs, amazing!
CJ: You were volunteering on the railway, you were helping?
CD: Yes, I did a signals course in 1968 I think, ‘69 something like that, ‘69, nothing like what they do today, it’s much more. But then they said we really need somebody in the booking office to get it started, so course I’m married, two children, you can’t spend too much time. Anyway, I took it on. I ordered these little tickets, cardboard tickets as you push in the machine: boom boom. It puts the date on it, you know, that’s what it was. Quite cheap as well. At that stage, 1974 it opened, 1974. Bill Deedes came down, he opened it. Just went as far as Rolvenden, that’s as far as we could get. It took another two or three years to get to Wittersham Road. Ted Heath, oh yeah, he came and opened it, Ted Heath, yeah, and to Bodiam and Northiam, so it took many many years, it was quite a few years after. Opened in 1974, about ‘88 something like that I think, it got to Bodiam. The Lottery I think paid for it, paid for part of that between Northiam and Bodiam. But they were always short of money, you know, no matter what. A new boiler costs at least ten thousand pounds you see, for an engine, everything is so costly now, I’m afraid. So that was my job. So I did do things, I didn’t just sit at home doing nothing!
CJ: Well, you’ve certainly led an interesting life, Colin, and thanks very much for talking to us today.
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 Colin Deverell
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Chris Johnson
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
2019-07-22
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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ADeverellCRE190722, PDeverellCRE1901
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:38:13 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Colin Deverell was born in Croydon. Upon leaving school, he worked for Oliver Typewriter Company, where he gained engineering skills to become an amateur rigger for Imperial Airways, before finding employment with Rollaston Aircraft Services in 1939. His mother was killed in a bombing on Christmas Day 1940, motivating him to join the Royal Air Force in 1941 and train as a flight engineer. Deverell completed thirty operations based at RAF Wratting Common and RAF Tuddenham. He details the engineering differences between Stirlings and Lancasters and recollects the events of operations to Kiel, Lorient, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Peenemünde, Berlin, and Szczecin. He then completed a further four operations, filling in for a crew with an injured flight engineer. On his thirty-fourth operation to Szczecin, they were attacked and he burnt his hands extinguishing a fire on board. By 19, Deverell was promoted to flight lieutenant and awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal. In 1944, he undertook ten special operations that required low-flying to release boxes of equipment according to light signals from the French Resistance. In 1945, he took part in Operation Manna, before joining 51 Squadron to return servicemen from the Far East on converted Stirlings. Finally, he recalls his career following demobilisation in 1947, the treatment of Bomber Command, and attending reunions at Tuddenham. As the Honorary President of the Royal British Legion in his hometown of Tenterden, Deverell has also been awarded the Legion d’Honneur.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tilly Foster
Anne-Marie Watson
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Croydon
England--Suffolk
France
France--Lorient
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Stuttgart
Poland
Poland--Szczecin
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940-07-10
1940-08-15
1940-12-25
1941
1942
1943-06-27
1943-08-17
1943-08-23
1943-08-29
1943-09-23
1944
1945-08
1946
1947-05
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending revision of OH transcription
51 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
Bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943)
Distinguished Flying Medal
flight engineer
H2S
Lancaster
Me 110
Mosquito
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
perception of bombing war
promotion
RAF Tuddenham
RAF Wratting Common
recruitment
Resistance
searchlight
Stirling
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1169/18230/LTurnerAJ561939v1.2.pdf
43ed719a9a2d6da6738aa42b6be8b63c
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
Turner, John
Albion John Turner
A J Turner
Description
An account of the resource
<a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/228620/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a>116 items. Concerns Flight Sergeant Albion John Turner (1911 - 1939, 561939 Royal Air Force) who joined the RAF as an apprentice in 1927. After service as a fitter he re-mustered as a pilot in 1935 and after training served on 216 Squadron flying Vickers Victoria and Valentia before moving to 9 Squadron on Handley Page Heyfords in 1936. He converted to Wellingtons February 1939 and was killed when his aircraft was shot down on 4 September 1939 during operations against shipping at Brunsbüttel. Collection consists of an oral history interview with Penny Turner his daughter (b. 1938), correspondence, official documents, his logbook and photographs. <br /><br />Additional information on Albion John Turner <span>is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/228620/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBCC Losses Database</a><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Penny Turner 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
2017-05-29
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
Turner, J
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 Turner's pilot's flying log book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LTurnerAJ561939v1
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
Description
An account of the resource
Pilots flying log book for A J Turner, covering the period from 18 February 1935 to 31st August 1939. Detailing his flying training and pre-war flying duties with 216 Squadron and 9 Squadron. He was stationed in Egypt and at RAF Aldergrove, RAF Scampton, RAF Stradishall and RAF Honington. Aircraft flown were, Avro 504N, Fairy Gordon, Atlas, Hart, Audax, Victoria, Valentia, Heyford, Tiger Moth, Magister and Wellington. The log book finishes at the outbreak of the Second World War.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Egypt
Great Britain
Egypt--Ismailia (Province)
England--Lincolnshire
England--Suffolk
Northern Ireland--Crumlin
North Africa
Egypt--Cairo
Great Britain
216 Squadron
9 Squadron
aircrew
Flying Training School
Magister
pilot
RAF Honington
RAF Scampton
RAF Stradishall
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/507/18297/PDidwellRNW1601.2.jpg
0154fdf87579aa78b824932a12f55a05
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/507/18297/ADidwellRNW160719-AV.2.mp3
bb0a36e23929cf7e755d32f2c0056ac4
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
Didwell, Robert Norman William
R N W Didwell
Norman Didwell
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Didwell, RNW
Description
An account of the resource
5 items. Two oral history interviews with Leading Aircraftsman Robert Norman William Didwell (b. 1920, 637410 Royal Air Force) and three photographs . He joined the RAF in 1938 and after training as a rigger served on 99 Squadron equipped with Wellingtons at RAF Newmarket . Subsequently he served at RAF Boscombe Down before going overseas to the middle and far east with Transport Command.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Norman William Didwell and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
CB: My name is Chris Brockbank and today is the 19th of July 2012 and I’m in Leighton Buzzard with Robert Norman William Didwell, known as Young Did and we are going to talk about his experiences as a man on the ground keeping those valiant people flying. So what is your first recollection of life with the family, Norman?
RD: With the family?
CB: Yeah.
RD: Oh, we were a happy little family.
CB: Right.
RD: I had an older brother who was older than me. He was a regular soldier before the war.
CB: Right.
RD: And I had a happy childhood. I was well fed which a lot of them in the 1920s were not. I know a lot of people were starving but I was very lucky. My mother was a, started off as a kitchen maid in with Sir Henry and Lady Campbell-Bannerman who was the Prime Minister of England for the Liberal, the old Liberal party. They had a big castle at, just outside of Meigle and they had a big town house at 137 Cromwell Road. And next door to that building in Cromwell Road was 139 and who do you know lived there?
CB: Your dad?
RD: Lady Scott.
CB: Right.
RD: You know of Scott of the Antarctic but she married Sir Arthur Kennet who was a Liberal MP. So at the time of when Scott as you know, the great nationalist and a lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy, got the Distinguished Service Cross. He was about twelve when I was in my first three or four years growing up. So we go back a long way don’t we? And as I say I left school, got a job with the local grocers as errand boy and then I went in the Post Office as a telegram boy. Then I decided to join the Air Force [laughs] and then you’ve got it. I joined up at the end of ’38 and there you are.
CB: Ok. So where did you join the RAF?
RD: Where did I join?
CB: Yes
RD: Well, we used to, to join up you went to Kingsbury which was the Air Ministry. Then you went to either Uxbridge or Halton. If you were clever enough and you could join when you were fifteen at Halton as a boy apprentice and you did three years at Halton. Did you know that? Did you know?
CB: Yeah.
RD: Yeah. And most of the entries at Halton were very clever blokes. And some of them rose right up the top. If you go to Halton camp there’s photographs of those who started as boy entrants, boy apprentices and went right up the top of the ladder. Air rank.
CB: So the top six in any pass out went to Cranwell —
RD: Yeah.
CB: Right.
RD: ’32 and ’31 entry were two very good entries. They went, did both trades. Engine and air frame.
CB: Which one were you in?
RD: Hmmn?
CB: Which one were you in?
RD: I wasn’t. I never went to Halton.
CB: Where did you go?
RD: I did my training at Uxbridge. [unclear] training. You all did if you joined straight in at the age of eighteen or seventeen. Then you do a [slow] course. Now, the technical bit you do it at Henlow which was an old RAF station. It’s only down the road from here isn’t it? Henlow.
CB: Absolutely. Yeah.
RD: You get a few weeks at Henlow telling you the theory of flight. What an aircraft does etcetera etcetera and then from then on you go on. Then after I’d been, when the war broke out the second or the third day we moved from Mildenhall on the 2nd of August 1939 to Rowley Mile Heath and Rowley Mile Racecourse and took over the Rowley Mile Stadium where we all slept and eat and everything else and so we were in it from the start. Right. Now, we hadn’t been there three or four days and [Sticky Blue] said, ‘Any of you blokes have a driving licence?’ Well, fortunately, I had passed the driving test because my dad had an old twelve point horsepower Citroen. I’d passed in 1938 and got a driving licence and he said, I’d only been there a couple of days at Newmarket and he said, ‘Anybody here got a driving licence?’ So there was Dick Pike, who come from Leighton Buzzard and myself. He said, ‘Right.’ He said [laughs] ‘Flight Lieutenant Stanley is going over to Mildenhall. He’ll pick you up from the flight,’ he said, ‘And you’ve got to sign, do a test on a tractor.’ [laughs] Four tonne tractor.
[telephone ringtone]
[recording paused]
CB: Keen to join a squadron. So —
RD: Well —
CB: Just as a matter of —
RD: After I passed out —
CB: Yeah.
RD: You see.
CB: Flying marks for each.
RD: And you had a small course then of technical stuff but you were called a fitter’s mate.
CB: Ok.
RD: You [ran] the tools to the town and you did all the cleaning.
CB: Right.
RD: But you did learn what an aircraft was all about and how it flew and all the rest of it. So after that then for, from then, from May, from August 1939 ‘til February 1941 I was more or less a fitter’s mate and also in charge of all the petrol that came in to the Rowley Mile and one of the two drivers that drove the bowsers. And so it was interesting because I got to know all the crews. I got to know all the aircrew and everything. But you must remember this. From pre-war days, the outbreak of war ‘til February 1941 you know who the air gunners were don’t you?
CB: Army.
RD: Ground crew.
CB: Ground crew.
RD: Ground crew. You got extra sixpence a day if you passed a gunnery course. Wireless operators, yes they were automatically made, had to do the gunnery course but until they’d done that gunnery course which was to do a fortnight’s what they called summer training they didn’t get paid their sixpence a day extra for aircrew. Now, on the 14th of December 1939 it was a very frosty morning. At about 11 o’clock the sun came out and it was beautiful daylight and there came an order for nine aircraft to attack German shipping in the Schillig Roads of Heligoland. Well, they took off but when they got out over the coast and got over the North Sea the weather started deteriorating and they were down to six hundred feet when they got over the Schillig Roads. And then all hell broke loose. Fighters came up. Luftwaffe. There was two cruisers. I forget how many [unclear] there was a force of German about eight. So five aircraft were shot down over the Schillig Roads. Right. One of them was badly damaged. Anyway, the five that were shot down of the thirty airmen on board that were no known grave. Flight Lieutenant Hetherington, who was a New Zealander his aircraft was badly damaged and they didn’t see in the dark what the damage was and they lost a lot of fuel. But when he put his flaps down to come in on the circuit to land the starboard flap had been shot away. Bonk. That’s when you then got the posters in every Bomber Command station, “Check your flaps.” At least no less than two thousand feet so that to make sure there’s no damage to your flaps to land. So there was, and they’re all on there. I can name them now. I can remember them as well as if it was yesterday. Thirty of those men up there have got no known grave.
CB: This is the picture on the wall.
RD: Yeah.
CB: Of the squadron.
RD: Yeah.
CB: 99.
RD: Yeah.
CB: Right.
RD: Yeah.
CB: So what were they flying? They were all flying Wellingtons?
RD: The first Wellington squadron.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Flew them longer than any other Wellington squadron. Air Chief Marshall, Air Vice Marshall Baldwin who was [unclear] by my man himself long before Harris. Knew more about bombing than Harris did too. I can tell you that now and he was asked to take command of Bomber Command in the Far East and he said, ‘I’m taking 99 Squadron with me.’ They had already done, the first squadron to do a thousand sorties before they went to India and they did a thousand sorties in the Far East. And that’s what they ended up flying in the Far East was the B24. Consolidated bomber. On that picture up there. And that is signed. That big signature —
CB: That’s the Liberator.
RD: Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
RD: That big signature is Lucien Ercolani’s signature. Do you know who he was? Lucien, Lucien Ercolani was Ercol furniture. And of course, that aerodrome, I forgot the name of the aerodrome near high Wycombe he learned to fly as a young fellow before he ever got called up. But they, him and his brother both volunteered for the Air Force when war broke out. and of course, he had already got about a hundred odd hours in aircraft flying so immediately he was banged on to twin engines and what have you. And he was awarded the DSO as a pilot officer. Yeah.
CB: What was he awarded that for?
RD: And he got two DSOs by the end of the war and the Distinguished Flying Cross. That was flying Wimpies.
CB: Right.
RD: Yeah. And he was a great old bloke was old Lucien. We were very friendly him and I. He was president of our 99 Squadron Association after [pause] after Titch Walker. The famous Air Chief Marshall Walker. Titch Walker. After he died he took over as president and when his daughter wanted him to go and live with her near, up in Lincolnshire and he said he’d looked at this house, this residential housing so I was sitting there playing Bridge all bloody day I’ll go into a residential home because his wife died and he had a very nice home in one of the villages there and so he went into a residential home at High Wycombe. And I used to go and see him and when we used to have the two meetings a year for 99 Squadron Association I always used to go over and pick him up and that.
CB: So in this time you’re an air frames man.
RD: Yeah.
CB: And how was —
RD: I became an air frame, air frame fitter.
CB: Fitter. Right.
RD: Yeah.
CB: So what did you do as an air frame fitter?
RD: You were responsible for all the whole of the air frame and the hydraulics. The flying controls, wheels, tyres, brakes.
CB: And in being responsible for it what were you doing?
RD: Just signed the 4700 when you’d done your daily routine check. You made sure there had been no damage from the night before and you’d done it a hundred percent plus because you had got mates flying in those aircraft. In my period of the first, as I say from 1939 to early ’41 they were your mates. You all slept in the same, until they made them sergeant. Sergeant air gunners and sergeant wireless operators because then the four engine jobs came in and where our boys just got their trade pay and sixpence on top for air gunners they had, these chaps came in for a twelve week gun course, made sergeant and got eight shillings a day. But some of them wished they hadn’t.
CB: Because? Why did they wish they hadn’t?
RD: Because I’ll tell you what. Some of them really were shattered by it when they used to see their mates going down in flames of a night.
CB: This is in the early part of the war.
RD: I put in for, I put in for gunnery so I had to take the aircrew medical but I’ve got a wonky left eye. It wasn’t, it wasn’t up to standard of what they wanted. Now, funny enough my brother was the same. He had a wonky left eye but he shot, he shot at Bisley for his regiment the Kings Own Rifle Corps.
CB: Right.
RD: We both shot from our left shoulder because the right eye was good.
CB: It was ok.
RD: Yeah.
CB: So going back to being air frame fitter you are checking all the —
RD: Yeah.
CB: Items.
RD: Yeah.
CB: And —
RD: You’re responsible for all of the air frame and the hydraulics etcetera etcetera.
CB: What rank are you there?
RD: Eh?
CB: What rank were you there?
RD: Well, I started off as an AC2.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Aircraftsman second class.
CB: Ok.
RD: Then I got promoted to AC1. And then eventually I got promoted to leading aircraftman which is equivalent to a corporal.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Then I went on another course when I came back from overseas —
CB: Yeah.
RD: To advance to Group 1. And so I was then on the top pay for that particular trade.
CB: So what rank were you there?
RD: I was, I passed out as AC1 on the fitter course at St Athans after the war and eventually I got promoted to what was more or less lance corporal. LAC. But I spent, we had [pause] I was at RAF Oakington.
CB: Yeah.
RD: In the early ‘40s. Well, late ‘40s, ’46, ’47 time and we had an attachment at Gatow near Berlin and as you know Berlin was, came under the Russians as you know. The whole lot. The whole zone. They had the whole city but the Americans had [Tegel]
CB: After the war you mean.
RD: Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
RD: The Americans had Tempelhof. The French had Tegel. The Americans, no the Americans had Tempelhof, the French had Tegel, the Russians had the whole of Berlin and we British we had Gatow which was in Charlottenburg. So actually I had a very interesting twelve years. Spent time in the western desert.
CB: So this was —
RD: Spent time in Iraq. Time in Saudi Arabia.
CB: Fantastic.
RD: On the Persian Gulf.
CB: Let’s just get the sequence clearer then. So after your early time on the squadron which was the Air Force station was called Newmarket wasn’t it?
RD: Yeah.
CB: And then where did you go from there?
RD: I went on the course.
CB: Yeah. Which one?
RD: That was a course at Morecambe.
CB: Right.
RD: They’d got it a Air Force station up there.
CB: Yeah.
RD: It was for training flight riggers and engine fitters.
CB: Right.
RD: But it was a very brief course for us because we had already spent time as fitter’s mates. So we came back then and I got posted to funnily enough, amazing I got posted to experiments at [pause] oh dear, oh dear. It begins with a B doesn’t it?
Other: Boscombe Down.
RD: No. No. Down in [pause] you’ve got three. Three Air Force. They’re all in a line in in the West Country. It begins with a B. There’s a haven. There’s an Upavon. What’s the other one? Netheravon, Upavon.
CB: There are lots around there aren’t there so —
RD: Boscombe Down.
CB: Boscombe Down.
RD: I Went to Boscombe Down.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Yeah. And I was on a night fighter, experimental night fighter unit.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Which we had a Hurricane, a Spitfire and a early Mosquito.
CB: Right.
RD: And they were carrying out night fighting. All sorts of gadgets trying to muffle the exhaust flames you know.
CB: Oh, yeah.
RD: And different plans they tried and we had Squadron Leader Bragg and another flight lieutenant. I forget his name. And when there was air raids on Plymouth and Bristol and these places we used to have to turn out and off they went to see if they could shoot a few old Germans down. I believe Bragg did cop two. I believe he shot two. I don’t know what, I heard he got killed later in the war. Yeah.
CB: So the day fighters had a bit of a struggle in the night.
RD: Hmmn?
CB: The day fighters struggled in the night.
RD: Yeah.
CB: So the ones doing the shooting down were —
RD: They tried all sorts of gadgets with them.
CB: Right.
RD: Yeah. Yeah, but I wasn’t there long because we had a sticky night one night and it rained like hell and, I think it was a young flight lieutenant was coming in and we brought him in with our torches and he got in a patch there and it was stuck right up to the blooming axels on the undercarriage wheel. So we dig him out. So we dug him out and we missed our tea. What they called our supper really.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Actually. So we tried to get something cooked in the cookhouse. There was a sandwich and the station warrant officer walked in. Played hell with us. Played hell with us. ‘Look at the state of it.’ I said, ‘We’ve just dug out an aircraft out of the mud.’ We carried on alarming. It wasn’t long after I was posted overseas.
CB: So —
RD: I heard, I heard this bloody station warrant officer because most of them were ex-Brigade of Guards you know and a lot of them were Irish and they weren’t technical men. It was only later when the fitters became flight engineers when they finished their tour or two tours they became station warrant officers. That was a different set up altogether.
CB: So the original station warrant officer wasn’t necessarily an engineer was he?
RD: Oh no. Oh, they were [unclear]
CB: Yeah.
RD: Oh God, they were Guards.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Most of them were Irish and they didn’t like the English. Believe me. I tell you what. At one time you could shout out, ‘Paddy,’ and half the squadron turned around. Shout out, ‘Jock,’ the other half turned around.
CB: Not a lot of space for you.
RD: He’s going to sleep there [laughs] He’s so bored.
Other: No. I’m watching this.
CB: He’s watching. He’s watching a video.
RD: You’re not —
CB: No. [laughs] So —
Other: You’re featuring.
CB: When you finished at, well at Boscombe Down what were you doing there specifically?
RD: Well, looking after the air frame on a Hurricane.
CB: Right. To be sure that everything worked.
RD: Spit and the early Mosquito.
CB: Right.
RD: In fact, when we went, I went overseas and they turned Ferry Control, I went to Ferry Control and then it turned into Transport Command and it was when I was on attachment from Cairo, well from Transport Command, 216 Transport Command Group which headquarters was at Heliopolis just outside of Cairo. We used to go and do attachments all over. Landing strips all the way through to India. So you worked on practically every make of military aircraft there was including the Cairo to Karachi Flying Boat once a week.
CB: Oh right.
RD: When we was at Sharjah. Yeah, because that used to land in Sharjah Creek. Which was Dubai
CB: Yeah.
RD: Dubai. And then, it’s now Dubai it was a mud village when I was there. When we were there. Yeah. It was an interesting six years. It was an education the war actually.
CB: Yeah.
RD: It was an education. Yeah.
CB: So when you had finished at Boscombe Down when did you move and where did you go?
RD: I went, I went up to Padgate.
CB: Yeah.
RD: And the next thing I’m on the boat convoy out to the east.
CB: Yeah. And where did you go?
RD: Well, we left Liverpool.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Convoy. Went halfway around the Atlantic I think and landed up in Suez.
CB: Right.
[recording paused]
RD: Kilo-40.
CB: Right.
RD: No. Bilbeis. Bilbeis, I went. And that was on the Canal Zone.
CB: Yeah.
RD: And then I went up to the Western Desert to Kilo-40. And Kilo 40 then we were sent to, some of us, five of us went to Sharjah on the Persian Gulf. Then we went up to Habbaniya and we were there for a couple of months and then we went back up to the Far East.
CB: So when you were at Kilo-40 what, what aircraft were at that?
RD: The other, we had the Transport Command Conversion Unit.
CB: Right.
RD: We had a couple of Dakotas.
CB: Yeah.
RD: We had a couple of Liberators. We had a couple of Hudsons. Lockheed Hudsons. We had [pause] what was the other one we had? A Yankee. We had a Baltimore. Yeah. It was Conversion Unit from single engine people to twins and four engines.
CB: Right.
RD: Because this was before we landed in North Africa. Right.
CB: Yeah.
RD: So they were training these people.
CB: Before Operation Torch. Yeah.
RD: So as they converted to twin or four so that we could have a good bash at Mussolini and his lot from North Africa.
CB: So which aircraft were you dealing with or did you deal with —
RD: Every type. That’s the great thing about being in Ferry Control and Transport Command.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Every military aircraft that was built that went to the Far East came through the staging posts on that route.
CB: Yeah.
RD: So people who started off in Cornwall, at St Ives.
CB: Yeah.
RD: They, every build of typical military aircraft were be serviced by us blokes.
CB: Yeah.
RD: And they were, they sent them up. They used to be sent off at night when it was dark and the first stop on the staging posts was Gibraltar. Then that night they’d take off from there and dodge the old Luftwaffe to land anywhere they could near the western desert that we were still holding.
CB: Yeah.
RD: But then all the way right through Iraq. Right through Saudi Arabia, Karachi and then right into the Far East.
CB: So here you are in the desert. Were you, are you in a tent or what are you living in?
RD: We was in a tent.
CB: Ok. How many in the tent?
RD: Four in a tent.
CB: Ok.
RD: Sometimes six. And what we used to do they was what they called the UPI tents. You could just about stand up in them. What we used to do we used to put it, put it and then we used to dig a hole about three or four feet deep. Right. Put our kit bags and stuff up alongside so it don’t fall. So we could stand up in it practically.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Because when you were working on aircraft in the heat of the day and you can imagine what it was like when you got in the tent at night —
CB: Yeah.
RD: Or when you packed up your duties, finished work you hung your shirt on the old tentpole and it was solid with salt. We used to have to drink a pint of salt water every morning before breakfast and we used to have a pint at lunchtime and then late at night because the heat you lose all your salt. And then that of course turns. Can be very serious and some people who weren’t very strong they died of heat exhaustion you know.
CB: Did they?
RD: Oh God, yeah. There was quite a lot of troops and military died of heat exhaustion.
CB: What was the, was that because they weren’t covered up? Didn’t have enough water? Or what?
RD: Yeah. They just weren’t up to medically they weren’t fit enough to stand that kind of heat. I mean, I’m talking about you’ve got it here today, you’ve got thirty, haven’t you?
CB: Yeah.
RD: Can you imagine what it’s like at thirty eight degrees? And that’s what it was on the Persian Gulf. We could look from Sharjah village, we could look across and see the coastline of Iran.
CB: Right.
RD: It’s just twelve miles.
CB: Is it?
RD: And Dubai where we, we Sharjah was about ten miles from Dubai. We used to go and service the Flying Boats when they came in there. Especially the main one that used to run every day from, once a week from Cairo to Karachi. Right. So, you know, it was when you see Dubai today.
CB: Yeah.
RD: And the [unclear] family what they own.
CB: Yes.
RD: You want to see their place in Newmarket. Or just outside Newmarket. On the road into, on the whatsit road out of Newmarket. You want to see it. With the gold painted drapes and all their, yeah.
CB: Yeah.
RD: And by the way strict Muslims. You want to see them with the, yeah the models. Yes. Yes. You should. We’ve got a monument at Newmarket just outside the entrance to the members and owner’s entrance to Rowley Mile, right and you’d be surprised what the owners have got there. Little special places and that. What they call their [pause] what do you call it? Their, like a, it’s a big room with a bar and everything. You’d be surprised at the booze and the [unclear] family because one of the caretakers I knew when I was visiting. I always used to say if I was going to Newmarket I was going to look at our Memorial there at Newmarket and you’d be surprised the booze in there. And some of the young ladies of the town, you know. Oh yes. This business of Muslim you know. Yeah. Treacherous as hell. Have you had any —
CB: So —
RD: Have you had any news from Arabia that they’ve had these terrorists playing hell?
CB: Yeah.
RD: No.
CB: No.
RD: They haven’t. No. So who’s bloody well financing them through their arms then?
CB: Yeah.
RD: Got it?
CB: So you went from Sharjah to Karachi. Did you go on to Karachi?
RD: No. No. No.
CB: You didn’t. You stayed in —
RD: We, these, these places was you started off from, the aircraft used to fly from St Ives, Cornwall.
CB: Yeah.
RD: All types.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Going to the Far East.
CB: Yeah.
RD: And there were staging posts right the way through the route. I mean it wasn’t a day when you could take off a day and fly five thousand miles without stopping?
CB: They had regular stopping points.
RD: Yeah. I mean the Wellington only held four hundred, err seven hundred and fifty gallons of fuel.
CB: Right.
RD: Right. But that only gave them about nine hours flying at the most and they weren’t flying at five hundred miles an hour like these modern day jets. So they’d got to land somewhere to refuel. So that’s why they set up these staging posts.
CB: How long, how long were you out there? So you also went to —
RD: Altogether I was —
CB: Habbaniya .
RD: I was, I was over three years I was overseas.
CB: Ok.
RD: But you listen to this. Do you know if you served in India you did five years in India?
CB: Did you?
RD: Yeah. And shall I tell you something? You might not have known about this but do you know there was a mutiny in the RAF at the end of the war in India? No? A lot of people don’t.
CB: So what caused that?
RD: Wait a minute. Six of those leaders went to prison.
CB: Did they?
RD: Yes. They got eighteen months hard labour.
CB: What were they reacting to?
RD: Well, they’d been and done their five years. The war broke out but they didn’t bring them home. Not the ground crew.
CB: Right.
RD: And they had to do another five years ‘til it was all over. No. A lot of people don’t know about this do they?
CB: Right.
RD: No. That was all hushed up. No. As a friend of mine called [Ted Fowkes] who was ground crew with me and a I knew him for a few years we always seemed to end up at the same place. He said to me not long before he died, he said, ‘You know, Norm,’ he said, ‘The whole bloody lot of us in the military, officers, the lot we should have formed our own political party.’
CB: After the war.
RD: Yeah. He said, ‘And this country wouldn’t be in the state it is now.’
[redacted]
CB: Can I just take you back to the desert? So what was it like? You’re in a tent. What’s the temperature?
RD: All depends what part. If you’re in Egypt and Iraq.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Saudi Arabia was the worst. Sharjah was the worst.
CB: Right.
RD: Now, the landing strip at Sharjah is now the main road in Dubai.
CB: Right.
RD: Now, Lieutenant Colonel Hutchinson was a political officer from the Indian government where he’d served in the Indian Army but he was a Sandhurst trained man.
CB: Right.
RD: Fought in the Boer War. Was a DSO and a military medal and he used to come and have a chat with us when he used to visit Sharjah because he had to, you know pay them the, he used to come with his accountants and pay box —
CB: Yeah.
RD: From India because they paid were paid in rupees.
CB: Yeah.
RD: And he was sitting there one night on an empty four gallon [unclear] and chiefy, Flight Sergeant Benson said, ‘What’s going to happen now we’re again in North Africa?’ So he said, ‘Well, under here,’ he said, ‘Is a lot of wealth.’ He said, ‘And when the oil concession runs out in the early ‘50s they will take it over.’ He said, ‘And believe you me flight sergeant,’ he said, ‘They will make a fucking,’ that was the word, ‘A fucking hell of a life for the white people and the Christians.’ Now, that was his words. I can say because we looked aghast, you know.
CB: Yeah, I bet.
RD: When he said it.
CB: Can I just get an idea of what a standard day was like? So starting off when you’re in North Africa because of the heat what time did you get up and do your work?
RD: Well, you wanted to get up, you’d got to be up at 6 o’clock.
CB: Right.
RD: And it was reasonably cool then to get the engine started, to get the crew in but it was in the afternoon when the poor buggers were landing in the heat of the day they’d flown probably eighteen hundred miles, fifteen hundred miles between the two, the staging posts. They were, they were ringing wet. Ringing wet. They used to get out and we had water [unclear] . They used to, the Arabs were paid to bring water from wells. What they called these water [unclear]
CB: Yeah.
RD: They were a porous great big, a great big bowl on legs and it was porous so the cool breeze if you’d got a breeze kept the water cool.
CB: Right.
RD: At first you had to pump [laughs] then they’d pour it over themselves. And we used to get burned too with metal aircraft very often.
CB: On the plane?
RD: Yeah. When we were doing our interior. To fill up, to fill up the petrol.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Especially at Sharjah where we hadn’t got the facilities we only had the four hundred and fifty gallon bowsers we used to have old blankets. They issued old blankets so as when we were standing there on the main plane filling up it didn’t burn us through our feet. Especially on the metal aircraft
CB: Yeah. Yeah.
RD: So it was an education.
CB: I bet. So you you’d start at six. Then what time would you give up doing the work in the day?
RD: Well, by the time we got the aircraft off —
CB: Yeah.
RD: Tidied up everything, refuelled, we used to get Arab labour at Sharjah.
CB: Right.
RD: Four gallon petrol cans that had been brought down by a steam, a post from Basra. A Dutch ship it was actually, a tramp steamer. They used to bring the four gallon tank. That was unloaded into those, brought to the shore and then it was all donkey carried up to the base and we had sacks of these four gallon tanks of petrol, of aviation fuel and so it was, it was blooming hard work all the time. It was when you’d got the bowser pumping, you were standing on the main plane in the heat.
CB: Yeah. With a funnel.
RD: Yeah.
CB: With a funnel.
RD: With a funnel, yeah. With a chamois leather and a —
CB: So how much spillage would there be when you were trying to pour these?
RD: Quite a lot. Quite a lot. Quite a lot.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Yeah.
CB: It was hot.
RD: You’d got to be very careful when you were refuelling aircraft.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Very careful.
CB: Could you get spontaneous combustion from the surface of the plane? Off the petrol.
RD: Well, I’d never seen it happen and I never heard of it happening but my golly when one pranged it went up very quickly. I’ve seen some bad crashes. Seen some bad crashes.
CB: And these are the old cans.
RD: And when you get in, get in these wrecks.
CB: Yeah.
RD: See the state of the person who’s been killed or the one who is seriously injured.
CB: Right.
RD: You never forget it.
CB: No.
RD: You don’t.
CB: So did you, was this on the airfield or because you went out to crash recovery?
RD: Well, it, it happened very often on take-off or landing.
CB: Right.
RD: You see we had that night on December the 14th 1939, on the Thursday night when they were just coming in at about half past four or five o’clock time. It was dead. Really black. I mean it was December and I was filling up one of the bowsers as we’d been there about a month when they brought in a twenty thousand gallon tank. Put us in a proper supply because before that two of us were driving backwards and forwards getting filled up from Mildenhall dump. At Rowley Mile there was no such thing was there? So they had to put a twenty thousand gallon big tank above ground.
CB: Yeah.
RD: And it was camouflaged paint and I was filling up and it was just dark and they’d got their landing light, not their landing lights but their navigation lights were on and as they got down on the ground then there was no such thing as electric lights and that. A flare path was was nothing else but paraffin. What they called beehive.
CB: Yeah.
RD: Soaked in paraffin.
CB: Yeah.
RD: And there was an airman looked after two. Started off at one end for the first seventy five yards and it was a hundred yards, a hundred yards, a hundred yards. So you got seven blokes looking after the flare. That’s ground crew blokes and you got the team at the front and sometimes they used their landing lights because in the starboard wing of the Wimpy there were two lights that came down like car lights, you know. And it was very dangerous on the flare path because I’ll tell you for why. Sometimes if there was a cross wind you’d got to duck a bit quick or you’d get your head chopped off with the low flying aircraft I’ll tell 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
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Interview with Robert Norman William Didwell. Two
Creator
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Chris Brockbank
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2016-07-19
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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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ADidwellRNW160719-AV, PDidwellRNW1601
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Format
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00:42:37 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Robert joined the RAF at the end of 1938 when he was 18. He flew with 99 Squadron, spending three and a half years overseas. Robert recalls how his older brother was a regular soldier before the war in the 1920s, and his mother was a kitchen maid. From August 1939 to February 1941, he acted as a first mate and oversaw all the fuel that came into his station and got to know all the air crew. He describes how on the 14th December 1939 there was an order for nine aircraft to attack German shipping across the North Sea. He states that they struggled with the weather and how five aircraft were shot down and one badly damaged, and 30 men lost their lives. He was a fitter airframe and in charge of the hydraulics, wheels, tyres and breaks through daily routine checks. He describes how he could not be an army medic due to his bad left eye not being up to standard. He eventually achieved the rank of lance corporal. After his early time on the squadron at RAF Newmarket, he went on an engineering course and was then posted at RAF Boscombe Down. He was also stationed overseas in Egypt and the Persian Gulf. He describes how many soldiers died of heat exhaustion while stationed there.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Suffolk
England--Wiltshire
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
North Africa
Egypt
Persian Gulf Region
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1938
1939
1940
1941
1939-12-14
Contributor
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William Evans
Julie Williams
99 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
ground personnel
RAF Boscombe Down
RAF Newmarket
shot down
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
Turner, John
Albion John Turner
A J Turner
Description
An account of the resource
<a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/228620/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a>116 items. Concerns Flight Sergeant Albion John Turner (1911 - 1939, 561939 Royal Air Force) who joined the RAF as an apprentice in 1927. After service as a fitter he re-mustered as a pilot in 1935 and after training served on 216 Squadron flying Vickers Victoria and Valentia before moving to 9 Squadron on Handley Page Heyfords in 1936. He converted to Wellingtons February 1939 and was killed when his aircraft was shot down on 4 September 1939 during operations against shipping at Brunsbüttel. Collection consists of an oral history interview with Penny Turner his daughter (b. 1938), correspondence, official documents, his logbook and photographs. <br /><br />Additional information on Albion John Turner <span>is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/228620/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBCC Losses Database</a><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Penny Turner 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
2017-05-29
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
Turner, J
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
A man two women and a baby sitting on a bench
Description
An account of the resource
On the left a baby in white dress and bonnet sits in a pram. On the left a woman with jacket wearing glasses holds the baby. In the centre Kaye Turner wearing check jacket. On the right John Turner wearing jacket, tie and hat. Adults are sitting on a bench with a wall behind at t he corner of a building. On the reverse 'Hilda, Kaye, John and Penny, Summer 1939'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1939
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PTurnerAJ1727, PTurnerAJ1728
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
-
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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
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
D.W.D
Born 31.1.15 at The Elms Peartree Avenue Bitterne Southampton
Education
1915 – Sept 1923 Miss Jane Mary Neale Nurse
Miss Dorothy Mary Blake Governess
Sept 1923 – July 1928 Newlands Seaford Sussex
Sept 1928 – March 1933 Charterhouse Godalming Surrey
May – July (incl) 1933 Mdme La Comtesse de la Rive
St. Avertin, Tours, Indre et Loire, France
October 1933 – June 1936 Trinity College Cambridge
Law Tripos Pts I & II
October 1936 – September 1939 Articled Clerk to Solicitors Messrs Stephenson Harwood & Tatham 16, Old Broad St. London E.C.3.
R.A.F
13.VIII.34 Joined Reserve of Air Force Officers Class AA2 (P.O. on probation)
Trained mostly at Hamble ATS. Avro Cadets [inserted] & B2 [/inserted] and Hawker Harts and variants One annual flying training at Hanworth Some ground training in London One attachment to RAF Calshot
1.2.38 Transferred to RAFVR
13.VIII.39 Appointed for a second 5 year term
[page break]
2
RAF (continued)
3.9.39 Mobilised and posted to RAF Evanton (Scotland)
No 8 Air Observers School later No 8 Bombing and Gunnery School.
Target Towing on Henleys
27.4.40 After applying to go on ops posted to No 2 S.F.TS (Service Flying Training
– 9.8.40 School) Oxfords
10.8.40. Posted to RAF Harwell No 15 Operational Training Unit – Wellington
– 19.9.40 Joined up with crew incl P/O Ken Lawson & P/O Gordon Woollatt, Sgts Bell [indecipherable word] Frankie Bullen & Lewis (N.Z.).
20.9.40 Posted to R.A.F Mildenhall No 149 Squadron.
– 7.3.41 Wellington ICs.
31 Ops
Dec 1940 Acting Flight Lt.
6.1.41 Engaged
Jan 1941 DFC.
8.3.41 Detached to Air Ministry for British Purchasing Commission, New York.
Went there by convoy in a Dutch Boat. Sent from New York to Montreal [deleted (P) [/deleted] (by train) to C.P.R . Air Services Ltd (Atfero). Ferried Hudson V to Gander Newfoundland (8 June) and thence to Prestwick 14 June.
19.6.41 Married to J.D.
Sent back to RAF to take a Wellington with special tanks out to USAF – Took aircraft to Kemble July and stayed with Bathhursts at Cirencester. Then to Nutts Corner North Ireland – Joyce joined us – then on 6 August to
[page break]
3
Reykjavik Iceland. Saw Churchill – signing Atlantic Charter with Roosevelt. 21 August to Gander Newfoundland. St Hubert Canada and on 27 August to Wright Field Dayton Ohio U.S.A. – over Niagara –
6 September took Hudson III to Gander and then to Prestwick.
26.9.41 Posted to 57 Squadron & then Methwold. After 5 abortive raids & one or 2 prangs went sick with flying strain (& fright). Posted to S.H.Q Feltwell (20.XII.41) in hospital at Ely and Littleport. 24/12/41 – 30.1.42.
Sick leave 31.1.42 – 27.2.42.
Lost acting rank of S/L & reverted to F/L.
9.3.42. Posted to H.Q 3 Group at Exning – Tactics Officer
Recovered acting rank of S/Ldr
15.7.42 Posted to No.15. OTU Harwell (G/C Fogarty) for instructing duties at Hampsted Norris on Wellingtons (W/Cdr T Rivett Carnac) – 1 Operation (10.9.42).
18.1.43 Posted to No 156 Squadron P.F.F at Warboys (W/Cdr T Rivett Carnac) – Navigator Ken Lawson
6.3.43 Flight Commander & W/Cdr.
23 Ops. D.S O. 15.5.43.
21.6.43.Posted to 3 [inserted] 100 [/inserted] Group as W/Cdr Air 1 (or DSASO) [inserted] Faldingworth Bylaugh Hall 1. [deleted] Ops [/deleted] Op in Beaufighter as passenger on [/inserted] instruction (20.XII 1943
12.6.44 Posted as W/Cdr C.O. 192 [inserted] (SD & BS) [/inserted] Squadron at RAF FOULSHAM
23 ops – 17.7.45. Bar to DSO
V.E Day 8.5.45.
22.8.45 192 Squadron Disbanded Flying Wing Radio Warfare Establishment
6.9.45. Posted to H.P 100 Group as W/Cdr Ops
1.10.45. Posted to 100 P.D.C Uxbridge
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
David Donaldson's CV
Description
An account of the resource
Service history of David Donaldson including postings, promotions and awards.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Donaldson
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Frances Grundy
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
Three handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BDonaldsonDWDonaldsonDWv10001, BDonaldsonDWDonaldsonDWv10002, BDonaldsonDWDonaldsonDWv10003
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
England--Norfolk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
100 Group
149 Squadron
15 OTU
156 Squadron
192 Squadron
3 Group
57 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
fear
Hudson
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
pilot
RAF Evanton
RAF Feltwell
RAF Foulsham
RAF Hampstead Norris
RAF Harwell
RAF Methwold
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Warboys
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882-1945)
training
Wellington
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Culkin, Jean
J Culkin
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. An oral history interview with Jean Culkin, née Dodds (b.1924), photographs and documents. The collection also contains an album of photographs and newspaper cuttings. Jean Culkin grew up in Sunderland and worked in a reserved occupation. Her husband, John George Mackel Culkin, served as ground crew.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Jean Culkin and 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
2017-09-13
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Culkin, J
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
B0574910 Warrant Officer J G M Culkin
Royal Air Force
Born 14th May 1923
John George Mackel Culkin in Sunderland (East End) County Durham
Father – Thomas William Culkin
Mother – Ethel Jane Elizabeth May Culkin Nee Mackel
Schools
Moor Board School, East End Sunderland
Sunderland Technical College (Scholarship)
Royal Air Force
1938
Joined 6th September as an Enlisted Aircraft Apprentice (38th Entry) at R.A.F. Halton, Buckinghamshire.
14th September posted to Apprentice training to R.A.F. Cosford, Shropshire, 1(a) Wing for full R.A.F. Technical Apprenticeship and further technical academic schooling.
1939
3rd September war with Germany was declared.
Posted back to 3(a) wing R.A.F. Halton to finish shortened apprenticeship training.
Passed out as Aircraftman 1st class, but he was under 18 years of age so was not eligible foe “Mans service”.
1940
29th June – posted to No 4 Group H.Q. Hesslington Hall, York. Found to be a non a/c establishment. After a cup of tea was sent to no 4 Group Bomber Command Communication Flight, Rawcliffe Lane, Clifton, York.
Flight manned by Class E reservists and World War 1 personnel.
Aircraft on flight strength;
Avro Tutor 504K, (Lynx engine).
Percival Proctor, cabin with side by side seating.
Miles Mentor, cabin with side by side seating.
Miles Magister, open cockpit tandem seating.
Flight aircraft used by staff officers from No 4 Group (Bomber Command) on visits to No 4 group airfields. Notably R.A.F. Leeming, Topcliffe, Linton – on – Ouse and Dishforth.
Apprentice J G Culkin became a popular airman to take around on site visits to look after aircraft and to do the starting drills. Eventually most staff officers took an interest in showing him how to fly and allowing him to take the controls for most of the flights. He became a very good flyer.
2nd July re-classified as Aircraftsman 1st Class and now qualified to carry out the duties of Fitter 2(Engines) on all R.A.F. aircraft. Working on flight and visiting aircraft including Westland Lysander, Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, de Havilland Albatross (passenger General Sir Alan Brooke), Bristol Blenheim and Botha and Handley Page Hereford.
3rd December posted to No 35 Squadron, R.A.F. Leeming, Yorkshire. First squadron to equip with Handley Page Halifax bomber. Squadron had one prototype aircraft. Shortly after arrival squadron moved to R.A.F. Linton – on – Ouse and received it’s full quota of aircraft. It quickly became operational.
1941
1st March sat and passed trade Test examination and promoted to Leading Aircraftman. Now heading modification team, working on such projects as fitting all squadron aircraft with propeller de-icing systems, modifying air intakes and engine controls.
Station bombed on several occasions – Station commander killed. Aircraft damaged by fire bombs.
14th May, now 18 years of age, commenced mans service.
10th July promoted to corporal. Very proud. Very, very young for the rank, was posted to R.A.F. Middleton St George, co Durham, to new squadron no 76, fine unit good record.
Flew with squadron to Tain in Scotland with full bomb load. Waited several days for weather to clear for the squadron to bomb German pocket battleship Tirpitz in Trondheim Fiord, Norway, hard work long hours.
J G Culkin now in charge of a maintenance crew responsible for one of the Halifax bombers.
1942
Bad time, charge, summary of evidence for Court Marshal – failing to carry duty as N.C.O. I/C anti-paratroops patrol and leaving arms and ammunition unguarded. Proceedings quashed by 4 group H.Q. this was in view of my work record. Not really my fault all due to administrative error which should have excused me being on full time guard duty commitments. Spent 14th May (my birthday) under close arrest. Thankful when it was over.
10th July all squadron aircraft and selected crews and personnel took off in the early hours for a mission in the Middle East. I was on of them. Planned to fly and land at Mersa Matruh in North Africa via Gibraltar.
Took a few days to service the aircraft and load bombs. Fly back to base by flying over Southern Italy and bomb the Italian fleet at Taranto. Over the alps and back to base – total tour 16 days. Result – landed Ismalia, Egypt – all four engines cut out on landing. Not even a smell of fuel in any of the tanks. Refuelled and flew on to Acqui in Palestine. Eventually joined by rest of squadron, two aircraft lost on journey – all aircrew safe.
[account ends]
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Jack's life and service up to 1942
Description
An account of the resource
A memoir by Jack of his life before and service in the R.A.F. up to 1942. Has his comments on postings and events up to 1942.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jack Culkin
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Typewritten account
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Memoir
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SCulkinJ19241214v10002-0001, SCulkinJ19241214v10002-0002, SCulkinJ19241214v10002-0003, SCulkinJ19241214v10002-0004
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
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.
1938
1939
1940
1942
1942
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Buckinghamshire
England--Durham (County)
England--Yorkshire
35 Squadron
4 Group
76 Squadron
ground crew
ground personnel
Halifax
military discipline
RAF Halton
RAF Leeming
RAF Linton on Ouse
RAF Middleton St George
-
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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
Culkin, Jean. Album
Description
An account of the resource
64 items. An album containing photographs and newspaper cuttings from her husband John George Mackel Culkin's service as ground crew in North Africa and Italy, and Hong Kong post war.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
John George Mackel Culkin
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
Culkin, J
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
Service life
Description
An account of the resource
Four photographs, first five young men sitting in a trailer, wooden barrack huts in back ground, reverse captioned '1939, R.A.F. Cosford nr Wolverhampton, 38th entry Apprentice Wing, Day, Astley, Self, Pete Smart, Porrit, O'Neil. Joined R.A.F. Sept 6th 1938'.
Second is of Jack in civilian clothes leaning on a wooden fence, stone building in background, reverse captioned 'Locking village, Weston - S - Mare, Somerset, August 23rd 1946, just married'.
Third is Jack sitting on stone wall in civilian clothes, path, garden and buildings in background, reverse captioned Weston - super - Mare 1948'.
Fourth is Jack in civilian clothes with rural background, reverse captioned 'Locking village, Weston - S - Mare, Somerset, 23-8-46, just married.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1939
1946-08-23
1948
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four b/w photographs on an album page
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCulkinJ17010361, PCulkinJ17010362, PCulkinJ17010363, PCulkinJ17010366, PCulkinJ17010367, PCulkinJ17010368, PCulkinJ17010369, PCulkinJ17010370, PCulkinJ17010371
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
England--Shropshire
England--Somerset
England--Weston-super-Mare
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1946-08-23
1948
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.
RAF Cosford
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/743/19914/MCleggPV[DoB]-150701-01.pdf
ad71298fb0817912eaa5f8dc06dc121c
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
Clegg, Peter Vernon
P V Clegg
Description
An account of the resource
Eight items and five sub-collections. Main collection contains a log of Pathfinder operations from RAF Wyton 1943 -1944, histories of the Avro repair facility at Bracebridge Heath, and Langar, a biography of Squadron Leader David James Baikie Wilson, biography of Squadron Leader Lighton Verdon-Roe, a book - Test Pilots of A.V. Roe & Co Ltd - S.A. 'Bill' Thorn, and two volumes of book - Roy Chadwick - no finer aircraft designer, Sub-collections contain a total of 29 items concerning the Aldborough Dairy and Cafe as well as biographical material, including log books for Alan Gibson, Peter Isaacson, Alistair Lang and Charles Martin. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1772">Aldborough Dairy and Cafe</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1768">Gibson, Alan</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1769">Isaacson, Peter</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1770">Lang, Alastair</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1771">Martin, Charles</a><br /><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Peter Clegg and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2015-07-02
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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. 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.
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Clegg, PV
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[Underlined] THE AVRO
REPAIR
ORGANISATION [/underlined]
I) Bracebridge Heath.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Peter V. Clegg. [/underlined]
THE AVRO REPAIR ORGANISATION
INTRODUCTION
In 1939, prior to the start of WWII, with a growing number of Avro Ansons in RAF use, and the imminent equipping of RAF bomber squadrons with the new Avro Manchester, A V Roe and Co Ltd decided to establish a repair depot well away from its production facilities in Manchester. It was logical to look at a site near the operational airfields where their aircraft were based, and so a management team was sent across to Lincolnshire to find a suitable place close to the city of Lincoln – where a supply of labour could be guaranteed – and the depot was established at Bracebridge Heath, just south of Lincoln and close to RAF Waddington.
The organisation being set up was to comprise two main Divisions – the first one being the operation of a Repair facility for practically all the sections and assemblies of the Avro aircraft in widespread RAF service – and the second being the control and administration of groups of Avro engineers, known as ‘Contractor’s Working Parties ‘ or ‘CWP’s’ (later just called ‘Outworking Parties’), who were set up on every RAF base where large numbers of Avro aircraft operated.
When Avro aircraft suffered from Category ‘A’ damage (ie the repair was beyond the RAF unit’s own capability) the CWPs on the base took over, and requisitioned the necessary spares from Bracebridge Heath (and the factory in Manchester if necessary), and repaired the aircraft in a hangar allocated to them with the help of RAF engineering staff.
Where the aircraft suffered from Category ‘B’ damage (ie repairs on site were not possible, and the aircraft had to be dismantled for transport) the various sections of the Avro Ansons, Manchesters and soon Lancasters, were sent back on RAF ‘Queen Mary’ trailers to Bracebridge Heath for com[inserted] l [/inserted] ete overhaul and then for re-assembly.
When Bracebridge Heath first opened in late 1939, Ansons were initially dealt with there, the various sub-assemblies arriving by road, being completely stripped and rebuilt. Usually these were then taken down the A15 a mile or so to RAF Waddington, where a large Avro CWP was given the use of Hangar 1 for the duration of the War and re-assembled them there. RAF pilots from the base would be asked to test-fly them when ready, and pass them as fit for Service use again.
As the new Manchester heavy bombers went into service at Waddington with 207 Squadron from November 1940 and operations began over Germany in February 1941, the Avro CWP’s rapidly increased in number to cover all the RAF bases involved, and at the same time the size and complexity of the Manchester meant that Bracebridge Heath could not itself cope with the overhaul of all the components. Thus a number of other firms were asked to assist in repairing various parts of the bomber.
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Soon, the increasing number of Category ‘B’ Manchesters and (from March 1942 onwards) Lancasters meant that Avro’s needed to open another suitable depot in the area, where complete Lancasters could be rebuilt rapidly from all the overhauled components, and put quickly back into service.
Thus it was decided to open such a facility at the newly-built RAF bomber station at Langar, Notts, in September 1942, controlled from Bracebridge Heath, where sections of Lancasters could – as at Bracebridge – be stripped down and repaired, but assembly of the complete aircraft could also be carried out on a small production line system. For this, all the components would be sent there from the many works now engaged in Lancaster repair.
Coincidentally 207 Squadron (of Manchester fame from Waddington) now re-equipped with Lancasters and moved into Langar in September 1942, the same month that Avro’s new works opened there. The history of this Avro site, embracing as it did an absolutely vital role over the next three decades, and yet a largely unsung success to the outside world, is now recounted here with the help of some of the surviving men and women who so conscientiously worked there between 1942 and 1968.
PART I
THE BRACEBRIDGE HEATH WORKS
The site chosen by Avro’s for their repair workshops and for the control of the CWP’s, was an old Royal Flying Corps (RFC) aerodrome at Bracebridge Heath, just 2 1/2 miles south of Lincoln on the east side of the A15 road, but more importantly, just one mile north of the large RAF bomber base at Waddington.
With a cemetery on one side, and a lunatic asylum on the other, the field at Bracebridge Heath had developed in the Great War as a landing ground (called Robey’s Aerodrome) where the Lincoln firm of Robey & Co began to build aircraft under licence (Maurice Farman Longhorns) later joined by Clayton and Shuttleworth Ltd (another local firm) building Sopwith Camels and Triplanes there. Short seaplanes were also built under licence.
In 1917 it became No. 4 Aeroplane Acceptance Park, where newly-built aircraft were flight-tested and accepted by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), and six permanent brick and wooden lattice ‘Belfast’ hangars were built, together with a variety of temporary buildings.
The aerodrome closed in 1920 , and the six stoutly-built RFC hangars were used between the wars by the Lincolnshire Road Car Co (the local bus company) and other firms in the motor or engineering trades.
2.
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[Map of Bracebridge Heath and environs indicating Lincoln one mile to the north, showing the Avro Repair Works and the Road between Avro works and ARF Waddington (along which some aircraft were towed). Waddington airfield also marked]
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[AVRO Photograph of Bracebridge Heath, showing the Belfast Hangars]
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[Diagram of A.V.R.O. Bracebridge Heath site showing the layout of the facilities]
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As these substantial hangars were still in good shape at the start of WWII, Avros decided to requisition three of them for their new Repair Organisation, and took up occupation in May 1941, gradually expanding to other buildings on the site as the war went on.
Site Layout
The layout of the Avro site can be seen in Diagram 1 (not to scale). The No. 1 hangar was divided into three sections, being in effect Belfast hangars No. 4-6 of the original RFC aerodrome (their hangars 1-3 were in an identical block parallel to and on the north side of this, and the Lincolnshire Road Car Co retained use of these throughout WWII for use as a bus depot).
A security fence was built around the new Avro site, to segregate it from the bus depot and the other buildings were added as the War progressed.
The interior layout of No. 1 hangar is shown in Diagram 2. Both of these diagrams were prepared from memory by Frank Harlow who worked there from 1945 to 195 [deleted] 0 [/deleted] [inserted] 8 [/inserted] 1958 reflect the layout of the site just after WWII.
Frank recalls:-
“No. 1 Hangar was typical of the hangars of the Great War period, buttressed brick end walls and interior brick arched walls supporting wooden lattice-work curved roof trusses, in this case giving three large, clear, uninterrupted areas.
No. 2 Hangar, the Stores Hangar, and Canteen were all new buildings built during the War.
The diagram of the layout of No. 1 Hangar gives a general idea of its arrangement. All these different items were not necessarily being worked on at the same time but over an extended period.
No. 2 Hangar was almost exclusively used for the repair of Category ‘B’ Ansons after the war- all different marks.”
Personnel
When the works opened, the senior managers and personnel were drafted in from Avro’s Chadderton and Woodford factories, and many of the workers were recruited from towns like Hull, Derby, Coventry and Birmingham. Cyril Greenwood was one who came down from Hull to work there just after Avros opened, and at the age of 19 went to work in the newly built No. 2 Hangar.
At first No. 2 Hangar was used for stripping down Manchester bomber assemblies, and in particular the mainplanes – when repaired, the assemblies were sent back to RAF bases where the Avro CWPs put the whole aircraft back together again.
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[Underlined] Frank Harlow [/underlined]
[Hand drawn diagram of the Avro BBH Site plan N.T.S.] [Underlined] Diagram 1 [/underlined]
[Page break]
[Underlined] Diagram 2 [/underlined]
[Underlined] NOTE:- ALL THESE AREAS OF ACTIVITY WERE CHANGED AROUND TO SUIT THE WORK AVAILABLE [/underlined]
Frank Harlow
[Underlined] SUPERVISORS AND MR. THOMASON HAD OFFICES ABOVE THE TIME OFFICE [/underlined]
[Underlined] INTERIOR OF No 1 HANGAR [/underlined]
[Page break]
No. 1 Hangar (Belfast type from WW1)
[Photograph of a hangar]
[Page break]
Soon, the Manchesters were replaced by Lancasters, which arrived in ever increasing numbers for the rest of the war.
The first overall Works Superintendent was Mr C L Hatton, who was drafted in from being Superintendent in charge of Avro’s Experimental Dept at Ringway Airport. He was in charge of both the Bracebridge Heath works, and the growing organisation of Avro working parties at RAF stations (CWP’s). Before long, he would also be in overall charge of the second Avro repair factory, set up at Langar, Notts.
The day-to-day running of Bracebridge Heath – the aircraft repair, and the stores side – was in the hands of Mr Thomason, and the Chief Inspector was Bill Sturrock.
Later on, ‘Snowy’ Langton succeeded ‘Charlie’ Hatton as overall Superintendent, and by then he needed a Deputy, Mr Dowell.
One of the early workers to be sent across from Manchester was Mr V A Savory, who was the AID Inspector, and his tall figure, always seen to be walking slowly around, was familiar to all for many years. He walked slowly because of the injuries he had received when he escaped from the crash of the R101 Airship at Beauvais in France.
Cyril Greenwood came from Hull in 1940 to work at Avros at Bracebridge Heath. He stayed until the repair of aircraft on site finished in 1958, but his first impressions of the job are interesting:
“In those early days we travelled to Avros by bus. At one time the bus company had a strike, but the Air Force and Army stepped in and provided us with various vehicles to get us to work!
We worked seven days a week from 07.30am sometimes until 19.00pm, including overtime. We had one weekend off once a month, and I was then able to go home to Hull. There were always long waits at railway stations and always crowded trains. I constantly got caught up in the bombing raids on arrival. The City of Hull took a very great battering.” (The Avro works did shut completely for the normal summer and Christmas Holidays.)
“In Lincoln, I suppose we were rather lucky, we had a share of German raids but no comparison to other places. (Rather surprising, seeing we were surrounded by aerodromes!) My first visit to Lincoln was to find lodgings, which I was to share with another Avro worker, who also came from the same city. He was a very good artist, he drew various caricatures of members of the staff (I still have one of our foreman, although it is now rather dilapidated). Sadly, he died quite young of meningitis.
My wife started work on ‘nights’ at Avros, dismantling the aircraft. All the screws, nuts and bolts which were attached to the all the wiring, had to be undone and kept for
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renovation. When she decided to work ‘days’, she was put on a bench near me, where she was itemising and recording various spare parts all the time.”
Ken Mumby started work in 1942 at Bracebridge Heath and remembers:
“I started at A V Roe after working as an Electrician on East Coast Radar Stations, when the Manchester bombers were still flying. I only worked on Lancasters at Bracebridge Heath and also at Waddington before going ‘outworking’ to various sites. At Bracebridge Heath we had all the sections – nose, front section, centre section and rear section, etc. I was on the Electrical Section and in many ways it was so different to the modern day aircraft (we had to deal with the entire aircraft wiring in those days!)
I have vivid memories of a Manchester bomber in the early days, being towed on the A15 (minus wings) to Bracebridge Heath to be worked on … would be only about a one mile journey. I never saw a Lancaster being towed on the A15 and they were not done so, to my knowledge. At B [inserted] B [/inserted] H many girls cleaned aircraft with ‘Tricolene’ and were given a pint of milk a day to counteract the effects of fainting, etc!”
In those early days there were two main functions at Bracebridge Heath – Salvage (of damaged parts) in Hangar 2, and Repair of all the different sections in Hangar No1 (the 1914 block). Many girls were employed in the Salvage unit recovering various components and instruments, etc.
There were other girls taken on in Hangar 1, like Mary Chambers in 1941, who was placed in the fabric repair section. She remembers working first on Anson wings and tails, recovering them with fabric and doping them afterwards. Soon, Manchester tails and the [deleted] r [/deleted] n Lancaster parts arrived, to be recovered. Occasionally odd objects like some of the special bomb doors for 617 Squadron’s aircraft appeared at the works for repair. May also remembers that when Rolls-Royce Merlin engines arrived at Bracebridge either before, or after repair, the fitter who took charge of these were usually from Rolls-Royce itself. Large lorries and trailers would take refurbished parts from Bracebridge down the road to Waddington when ready, or to other RAF stations, and later, to Langar.
As the number of crashed and damaged Lancasters rapidly increased, neither Bracebridge nor the new Avro works at Langar (opened in September 1942) could keep pace. Thus, other companies were brought into the Avro Repair Organisation including Brush Electrical at Loughborough and Northampton (wing sections in particular); the LMS Railway works in Derby (centre sections, etc.); the Bailgate works in Lincoln (nuts, bolts, rivets and pipes, etc.); Avro’s own Yeadon factory (bomb-doors, etc.) and so on.
Outworking Parties in WWII
Keny Mumby was put on a ‘Contractor’s Working Party’ soon after starting at Bracebridge in 1942. He remembers:
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“While ‘outworking’, I worked at about 20 or so RAF Stations in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, a lot of them Satellites, repairing damaged ‘Lancs’ from various raids. It was much more interesting than being in the Factory, and an interesting incident occurred when I was sent to Linton-on-Ouse (Yorks). As I approached the aircraft on dispersal, I didn’t think the aircraft were Lancasters at first because they had radial engines (Hercules). I am given to understand that they were one of the few Squadrons in England with the Mark II Lanc.
I also spent some time at Scampton with the ‘Dam Busters’ Squadron. At first we knew nothing of the planned Dams Operation. We had no idea, except that we saw the Bomb well modification to take the ‘spinning bomb’, and ‘Lancs’ flying about 30ft above us whilst we were at dispersal points working on other aircraft.
Whilst working at Syerston near Newark and at other sites, when night operations were taking place, we were not allowed off the ‘drome until all aircraft were over our coastline – which meant an hour or two’s delay in waiting for 25/30 aircraft getting airborne and away. This was in case there should be any ‘Fifth Columnists’ amongst us!
Most of the sections of the Lanc used to be delivered from Bracebridge by 60 footers (a common sight down Cross-o-Cliff Hill and along the A46 out of Lincoln, to the various ‘dromes and Satellites). This was the general means of transport I had to get to jobs. At other times we were taken by car, often by a Crash Inspector. I recall being taken to Woodhall Spa by an AID Inspector one day to work on a Lanc which had to have 2 starboard fuel tanks fitted. All I had to do was to connect up the fuel gauges and pumps, and the Inspector went to the other side of the airfield to look at another crashed Lanc. He didn’t take long, because the main spar was twisted and reduced to salvage, ‘Cat. E’.
Sometimes I went to ‘dromes further afield in Yorkshire, and on one occasion to an American base where we had to stay several days and lived in the Mess with the Servicemen. At other times, if it meant several days work we would go to the local Police Station for accommodation.”
Ernest Bradley was another Avro employee who started at Bracebridge in 1942, and was soon put into the Outworking Party down the road at RAF Waddington:
“I was in No. 1 hangar working on the Engine staff. I loved it because we could see the aircraft taking off on Bombing raids, and count them next morning when we came to work and believe me I saw some very gruesome sights. Any damaged aircraft came to us for repairs. I remember going into one Lancaster that came to us. I arrived at work one morning and it was parked outside the hangar, and had some holes in the wings and body. I climbed inside to check it out and the first thing I saw was a shoe saturated in blood and then I saw that the rear turret had a mass of bullet holes in it. It also had blood stains all over it, a very nasty sight, but of course we were at war. I saw an odd aircraft now and again that had belly landed, but were considered to be ‘write-offs’.
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Working on repairs it was common place that at least one worker had to go up with any aircraft repaired. It could be anyone of the workforce. At the end of the war, after working on an ‘Avro Lincoln’ it was due to be tested, and to stop any sabotage (the real reason) someone had to go up with it. I remember we completed this aircraft and I was having my tea break when the ‘Boss’ came in. He said to me: “Go over to the Parachute Hangar and tell them you need a Parachute”. I said: “What do I need one for?” He said “You will be going up at one-o’clock with the aircraft you have just worked on. The pilot will be down shortly”. The aircraft was duly taken out of the hangar ready for testing. Everyone looked about it, saying: “I wouldn’t go up in that for all the money in the world”. Another said: “It won’t get off the ground”, and “Glad it’s you not me!” After tea break a pilot officer came up to the aircraft. “Is this the one for the Test Flight?” The Boss said: “Yes, its ready and this chap will be going with you”. Even the pilot said to me jokingly: “If you have to bail out you will probably fall out of the parachute!” (But he did say he was only joking). A few of the workers standing outside on the tarmac said: “It’s been nice knowing you ‘Charlie’”, but I liked it when we got airborne. The pilot stood me behind his seat and said “Hold on to it!”
Tom Bourne, who worked at Avros as an aircraft fitter, firstly at Newton Heath in 1936, then Chadderton just before WWII started, was selected to be posted to Bracebridge Heath in 1940, as the new Repair Organisation began to expand. He poignantly remembers:
“We were housed in an old, First World War hangar, not far from RAF Waddington, home to 44 Rhodesia Squadron, who later took delivery of the new Lancaster bomber which was to take part in the daylight raid on Augsburg, Germany – and which resulted in Squadron Leader John Nettleton being awarded the VC.
After working at Bracebridge Heath for a while, I joined a small outworking party and made my way to RAF Skellingthorpe near Lincoln to repair a Lancaster damaged the previous night, while on a raid over Germany.
On reporting at the main gate, I was issued with a pass and entered a different world, where aircraft were taking off and landing every second. The sound was deafening. My party was directed in the general direction of our aircraft, which was on the other side of this huge airfield.
We started off walking round the perimeter, and were soon overtaken by a Lancaster trundling round to the take-off point. This was closely followed by another so we stood aside to let it go by.
This one stopped, with a squeal of brakes and the rear gun turret swung round, and the ‘Tail-End Charlie’ fired his four Brownings into a sand pit put there for this purpose. He was just clearing his guns, which was a normal procedure – although no one had told us! It caused some amusement with the cockpit crew, who had a good laugh at our expense.
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Following that, a tractor pulling a train of live bombs zig-zagged its way past. We decided it would be better if we walked on the grass!
We eventually reached our dispersal and safety! It was my first sight of a fully operational bomber and a Lancaster close up! As it had been on a bombing raid over Germany the previous night everything was in place – the ammunition racks leading to the gun positions were full of live bullets, all of different colours, denoting their particular use. One in every ten was a tracer – then came incendiaries, armour piercing and to make up the ten, the ordinary bullet.
On entering the aircraft, I could feel the atmosphere – the smell of sweating bodies, disinfectant from the ‘Elsan’, gunpowder and stale breath. The interior was still warm from the previous night’s operation. We read the damage report and finally got sorted out. The NAFFI [sic] van sailed by un-noticed, until it was too late!
At the end of our first day at Skellingthorpe, we trudged back round the perimeter, which was by then relatively quiet – all the aircraft were on their dispersals, being ‘Bombed-up’, ready for the coming night’s ‘OP’.
This was my first experience of a Bomber Station, and one that would be repeated many times over the next three years.
Lincoln was surrounded by Bomber Stations. From our digs in the High Street we could hear the different squadrons all starting their engines, one by one, until the air trembled with the noise! It would then go quiet, when they all assembled at the take off point. Then, one by one, they would open up and charge along the runway, the Merlin engines perfectly in tune. When the wind was in a certain direction they flew directly above our digs, their navigation lights winking in the night sky, disappearing above the clouds. Within minutes all the noise would be gone, and a deadly silence would descend. A large percentage of them would never return.
Next morning, after eight or nine hours airborne, the lucky ones could be heard circling above, awaiting their turn to land. Some had been shot up, others had wounded aboard, who would be met by ambulances, and stretchered off to the hospital on the station. We never made friends with the aircrew – there was never any time. They were here today and gone tomorrow.
This was a sample of life on a typical Bomber Station. Damaged aircraft were repaired, aircrew replaced, hearses, bedecked with flowers from grieving relatives, mingled with tractors pulling their loads of death. Bicycles by the dozen were being ridden in every direction, mainly by WAAF’s, who played a large part in everyday life on a Bomber Station.
Bomber Stations such as Scampton, Waddington and Skellingthorpe, all used Lincoln Cathedral as a beacon, on their return across the North Sea.
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In the hangars, a section was always reserved for ‘Old Bangers’, formally the pride and joy of aircrews, who had failed to return after a raid. If ‘OPs’ had to be cancelled, they would pile into them, and chase down the country lanes to their favourite watering hole. Here they drove the usually quiet locals mad, with their antics. After all, they had such a short life – every moment was precious – and if their lives were extended by spending a night in the ‘nick’ so what? Once a ‘Tail-end Charlie’ with staring eyes recounted when on the previous night’s raid, he opened up on an enemy fighter. It was only the presence of a Staff Sergeant that saved him from being a resident in the local ‘nick’! – you were always warned that ‘Careless talk costs lives’.
Every so often these ‘Old Bangers’ would be auctioned off to the local dealers, who would, in turn, sell them back to the new intake. They would eventually end up in the hangar to be auctioned off once again and so on.
There were the odd times when a little light relief helped to ease the tension. Once I was seated in my favourite W Op’s seat in the aircraft at dinner time while I watched the antics of two RAF officers, who rowed out in the middle of a static water tank. One of the officers stood up and pointed a pistol upwards. By the time he had plucked up the courage to pull the trigger, the pistol was pointing across the road and the contents ended up draped over the telephone wires. The two officers finished up in the bottom of the dinghy, laughing their heads off. It seems that the object was a new type of distress signal – a rocket propelled kite, to be used by aircrews who had ditched in the ‘Drink’ (come down in the sea) after being hit over the target. This was a common occurrence in the days of 1,000 bomber raids.
In those hectic days, as our lads were returning, so the Yanks were format [deleted] t [/deleted] ing above, on their way to bomb in daylight raids. On the nights when our lads were at home they met up at the pubs in Lincoln, with the Yanks. There was never any trouble, just high spirits. The Yanks were all six or seven feet tall – and usually commandeered all the city pubs. They, of course, had the money. They were also very generous and would buy anyone a drink!”
The war ends
As WWII came to an end Frank Harlow arrived at Bracebridge to work for Avro there. He recounts:
“The passing of time may have dimmed my memory, but I will remember the day I started work at A V Roe Bracebridge Heath – it was May 7 1945. The next day, May 8, was VE day and was declared a holiday.
I was one of a group of RAF tradesmen in 1942, given the opportunity to volunteer to work on aircraft production, initially for a minimum period of six months – after review it was decided to leave us doing this vital work of national importance. In the first place I
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was directed to Coventry, to work on the production of Bristol ‘Hercules’ engines, later in 1945 I was directed to work at Avros at Bracebridge Heath.
My impression on entering the gates was that it looked like a big scrap heap – bits and pieces of aircraft were dumped everywhere! Many times, however, this heap of junk yielded a vital item (not available in stores) to complete a job. Eventually, during the next couple of years the yard was gradually tidied up.
Inside the hangars things were more organised. I was placed with a group repairing Lancaster D3 and D4 sections which took up one side of hangar No1. On the opposite side was a fabric section mainly doing work on Ansons, ‘rebagging’ fuselages and recovering control surfaces and doping them. On the far side was a detail section making various items (ie brackets, ribs, etc., which were made of sheet metal, requiring cutting out and bending or folding), as and when needed for both ‘Outworking Parties’ and inside shop use. Also in this hangar, spaces were found for working on Lancaster fins and rudders, a drawing store, a tool stores and a spray bay.
Across the concrete yard another hangar (No. 2) at this time dealt mainly with repairs and re-building of Ansons, and employed quite a large woodworking gang.
Next to this was a large stores hangar dispatching sections and parts of aircraft daily to many destinations.
During the first couple of years while I was at Bracebridge Heath, some special jobs came along for attention, like a York for General Smuts of South Africa, a Lancastrian ‘Aries’ for polar flights and an Avro 504N for restoration.”
With the War over, Lancaster repairs continued for a time but Yorks, Lancastrians and then Lincolns began to appear in small numbers. Later, Ansons needing ‘Cat B’ repairs began to appear in continuous order, some landing at Waddington and actually being towed up the A15 on their wheels by a company tug. The tug also took some Lancasters on their main wheels – but minus their outer wings which were removed in Hangar 1 at Waddington. These Lancasters were on a one-way journey to be completely broken up at Bracebridge – hence the untidy ‘dumps’ that Frank Harlow saw on his arrival.
Ron Morley, who worked at Bracebridge from 1946 to 1958, firstly in the Engine Bay and later in Inspection, also remembers seeing the Lancaster’s – minus outer wings – being towed up from RAF Waddington along the A15, and on arrival at BBH, someone would operate the undercarriage lever, and the great aircraft would sink slowly to the ground. Men with blow torches would then move in to complete the scrapping.
A York or two were also towed up to Bracebridge with mainplanes removed, overhauled and towed back to Waddington for test-flying, but most Yorks (including that of General Smuts) were dismantled and re-erected in Waddington’s Hangar No. 1 – by now only half of which was needed by Avro’s outworking party there.
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The number of personnel working at Bracebridge (both in the works and with the Outworking Parties) had risen to some 1,582 at its peak in 1943 in WWII (approximately 1,100 being on day shift and 480 on night work), but soon after the war finished and Lancasters were no longer needed, the total workforce dropped to some 623 for the repair work on Ansons, Yorks and Lincolns.
The list of Category ‘B’ Yorks and Ansons repaired at Bracebridge Heath or Waddington by Avro after the War, as far as is known, is shown in Appendix ---
Cyril Greenfield remembers how, just after the end of the war:
“I was sent to ‘Waddington’ Aerodrome for a while. There we worked on the Yorks, servicing and refitting them. One of these belonged to Sir Winston Churchill (LV633 ‘Ascalon’). Field Marshal Smuts was another whose plane we refitted there (MW107). A pair of binoculars belonging to him which were said to be valuable went missing, and consequently we all came under suspicion and were all questioned about the loss. Eventually, they came to light again. We also serviced Mountbatten’s York and gave it a 100 hour service.
Back in the factory at Bracebridge again, Lancasters were now stripped of their turrets and other armament and were able then to be turned into passenger planes, some of which were sent to Argentina. We built wing tips and various parts for the Shackletons, including some sold to South Africa.
The Anson was another type we worked on, and I remember Sir Stafford Cripps (amongst other VIP’s) visited the factory and shook hands with me, saying he was very interested in what we were doing.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time and work at Avro’s and was so sorry when it was closed.
I made some good friends there, some have since passed on, some I still bump into.
I also met my wife there and (I might add) we have now spent 52 years together!”.
Frank Harlow remembers the transition from War to Peace at Bracebridge Heath:
“In my time, I remember that Ansons were towed along the A15 from Waddington to Bracebridge Heath.
Larger aircraft needing major over-haul etc, were taken apart at Waddington and elsewhere where outworking parties were based, the various sections and sub-assemblies being sent to BBH. In the event of major damage and repair it could mean replacements being taken from stores to help speed up the turn-around of aircraft.
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Complete assembly of Lancasters was not done at BBH, Outworking gangs being R.G.
Being responsible for this at Waddington and other RAF bases.
At BBH, salvage, repair and refurbishment of various sections and sub-assemblies of the Lancaster was one of the main jobs until some time after the war.
When they were finished, checked and inspected they went into stores to form a pool of serviceable items. For instance, my first work at BBH was on D4 sections under chargehand Mr Charlie Rogers. Up to 20 D4s would be on the section at any one time, they were completely stripped out, repaired, resprayed and turned out as good as new. Other sections were similarly organised, working on D3s, D2s and D1s, bomb doors, fins, rudder, etc, emphasis being placed on where the shortages were greatest. I well remember once that main planes were the top priority.”
Frank remembers the various people in charge at Bracebridge in the early 1950s.
In overall charge of Bracebridge, the Outworking Parties and Langar, was ‘Snowy’ Langton. His duties included travelling regularly to all these sites to sort out problems and keep in touch with the personnel.
Langton’s deputy was Mr Thomason, who ran the Bracebridge Heath works and devoted all his time to this.
The Chief Inspector was Bill Sturrock.
In No. 1 Hangar, Mr Rastall was in charge of the Detail Section. He was a ‘master of improvisation’ and worked wonders with the simplest of tools.
Mr Lawson – one of the earliest employees at BBH – was the Chargehand on various fuselage sections, while ‘Charlie’ Rogers was the Chargehand on the D4 sections.
Frank Vamplew was Chargehand on the mainplane sections.
“In No. 2 Hangar”, Frank remembers, “where the Ansons were undergoing repairs, Mr Andrews, Mr Brown and Mr Hutchinson supervised the work with Mr Pratt in charge of the woodworkers (‘chippies’). At one time in No. 2 Hangar, when the Electrical Section was based there, Mr Lance Wingard was in charge. The Hydraulic Section was also based in this hangar, but I cannot remember who was in charge.
Ron Morley also remembers the transition from War to Peace at Bracebridge Heath.
“I went there after the war and did not see an Anson for some time, as the factory was engaged in the demolition of Lancasters. Eventually the Ansons started coming in for Repair and Reconditioning, etc. I worked first in the Engine Bay, preparing Engines for the Lancastrians and Yorks. Then I joined the Inspection Dept. and soon found
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Myself in the Inspection Office, where I took over the job of Quality Control Inspector, which included the acceptance of Aircraft items for repair on Contract Loan, and issuing the details in the appropriate Departments for action. At that time I had about 20 Departments to inspect, and had to issue Reports on them each month (including Waddington, where we had half a Hangar where Lincolns were repaired). I don’t recall the exact date when the Ansons started to come in, but it was part of my duties to go to Waddington to check the Modifications embodied and to draw up a list of Appendix ‘A’ items (such as Radio Equipment, Clocks, Instruments etc) – in short, all Air Ministry Equipment destined to be replaced when the Aircraft returned to the RAF.
When I returned to BBH I had to prepare lists of my findings for the various Depts before the necessary work could be commenced. This particular work was not always as easy as it might seem – for instance one day our Transport Dept took me to Waddington in the snow and when I rang for them to collect me they said the road was blocked. I was the only one there at this time, so decided to walk back via the main Sleaford Road, which was the nearest, so I set off across the aerodrome where the wind was so fierce that it was blowing most of the snow in my direction. Luckily I had my ‘clapper board’ which I held in front of my face. I thought it was like Amundsen going to the Pole! When I reached the main road, the snow was quite deep, but it was only another half a mile and was I glad to get back!
My job latterly concerned the collating of all Modifications, etc, and typing them into the Aircraft Log Books and submitting them to the AID for perusal and signature, prior to the Test flight and despatch. I rarely saw the Test Pilots, but was informed of their arrival from Manchester or wherever.”
Developments in the 1950’s
Frank Harlow remembers how the 1950’s began to bring changes to the work at Bracebridge.
“Early in the 1950’s space was cleared for the building of the experimental delta wing 707 aircraft. Two were built, a 707A and 707C. When completed the aircraft were towed along the A15, which runs past the depot, on to Waddington airfield, and flown off from there. I did quite a lot of work on these aircraft, and recently after over 40 years I saw the 707C again in Cosford Aerospace Museum!
Various members of the supervisory staff had an interest in the building of the 707’s, in particular a Mr Taylor. I worked closely with him on several occasion during this period. Later, due to his recommendation I was transferred to the Machine Shop to the job of marker-out.
Meantime work was still continuing on Ansons, and Lancaster sections. About this time a small Machine Shop was set up at one end of the Stores Hangar, its main function being machine ‘one-offs’, or small batches of ‘priority’ and ‘urgent’ items. I had about eighteen months working there as a ‘marker-out’.
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As near as I can recall in 1953/54 a small Drawing Office was established, to which I transferred from the shop floor. The Drawing Office”, Frank remembers, “ was originally established to take over the work concerned with the development of the Vulcan, as Chadderton’s Drawing Office was getting swamped with work on the new Avro Supersonic developments of the Vulcan – the Avro 730 and later, 732. But cancellation of these projects in 1956 left BBH with DO capacity to spare. At this time at Langar work was proceeding on an order for the South African Air Force for Shackleton MR3 aircraft with tricycle undercarriage. The drawing office at Bracebridge Heath became involved with much of the work to do with modifications to these aircraft. This meant frequent trips to Langar, producing the necessary ‘on-the-spot’ sketches, and instructions for work to progress.
It was not unusual by the mid-50’s to see various sections of Lincolns, or Hunters undergoing repairs etc, but work in the repair hangars then tended to ease off.
Mr Stobart, often called ‘Tubby’ was in charge of the newly installed machine shop, while Peter Lodge came to BBH to set up the Drawing Office, and interviewed me when I applied to be transferred to his department.
The sections of Hunter fuselages I saw at BBH were new items in Primer paint only. I think they were sent in for modification, and returned to store.
Not having an airfield at BBH, flying and flight-testing did not take place, hence there was hardly any contact between personnel here, and the test-pilots at Waddington or Langar.
Equally, the Out Working Parties at Waddington, Scampton and elsewhere had very limited contact with the workers at BBH, in the normal routine.
I finally left A V Roe’s in 1958, after 14 happy years.”
Some funny stories were told of the towing efforts up and down the A15 road between Bracebridge and RAF Waddington. Ron Frost, who was born in Hamble and worked in Detail (and later the Jig & Tool Section) at BBH from 19 [deleted] 3 [/deleted] [inserted] 4 (1949) [/inserted] 9 to 1962, collected these from the monthly meeting of ‘Avro-ites’ who still meet on the first Thursday of every month in Lincoln, to talk of the old days:
“’Ron’ Dickens was the aircraft tug driver who carried out this task, and his friends remember that in order to swing on to the road from the works there was little room to clear the wingtips, due to a telegraph pole in the way. A chap had to unwind the turnbuckles supporting the offending pole to get past. This was standard practice until one day there was a cry from up the post – it appears they had missed seeing the GPO engineer up the post doing his job! Another story was told, that one day a large car met them head on, while towing an Anson on the A15. The car driver challenged their
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authority to be on the road with an aircraft in tow. The answer was: ‘We have been doing this for years’. The reply was: ‘Well, I’m the Chief Constable, so get permission from me in future!’”
The 707s
Five of these small delta wing research aircraft, built to provide data for the Vulcan bomber programme, were flown between September 1949 and July 1953, the last two being assembled at Bracebridge Heath and test-flown at RAF Waddington.
The first of these, an Avro 707A (WZ736) was actually test-flown at Waddington by Sqd Ldr Jimmy Nelson, AFC on February 20th 1953, and the second, an Avro 707C (WZ744) was test flown at Waddington on July 1st 1953 by Sqd Ldr Jack Wales, DFC.
Ron Morley remembers that there was a works dispute on at the time that one of these was waiting for its first flight, and the entire Inspection Dept was recruited to get it ready for flying.
Donald Broomhead, in the Wing Dept remembers working on making wing ribs for the 707s and John T Woods recalls:
“Eventually I made some of the patterns, being a cabinet maker by trade, for the prototype 707A aircraft. I have many memories of the days at Bracebridge Heath, including when the first 707 was towed up the Sleaford road to Waddington Airfield for its first flight, and one wing tip hit a tree! On another occasion, the 707’s undercarriage would not lock down.
Many of the machined parts of the Vulcan airframe controls were made in the machine shop at Bracebridge Heath. At this time I was a machine shop inspector, and I remember the difficulty we had with the aileron bearing housings!”
Bracebridge’s versatility
Len Binding joined Avros at Bracebridge Heath at the beginning of February 1946. He had served with the RAF in India during the War and was a brilliant airframe restorer. It was he who had discovered the glue in the wooden Mosquito wings was perishing in the humid Tropics, and had them grounded – thereby saving pilots lives.
He listed the chronological order of events as the 1950s and 1960s passed by at Bracebridge:
“With the war over, surplus Lancasters were being cut up for scrap in the open areas between the hangars when I arrived there.
Avro York and Lancastrian
In hangar C1, an Avro York and a Lancastrian were under-going major repairs. The fuselages were split at the transport joints and the sections fitted in their respective
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[Photograph of men around a prototype Vulcan aircraft] Avro 707A, WZ736, built at Bracebridge Heath, being towed up the A15 to Waddington Airfield to be flown by Sqd Ldr Jimmy Nelson, AFC.
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bogies. When structural repairs were complete and the sections re-assembled, the fuselages, complete with centre sections and undercarriages, were fully equipped and tested.
With the co-operation of the police, the aircraft, less mainplanes, would be towed from the factory along the A15 road to the boundary fence entry point at RAF Waddington. Factory personnel working on the station carried out fitment of mainplanes, outstanding work and finals.
Other departments at the factory were repairing York mainplanes – tailplanes – fins – ailerons – elevators and rudders. This work rapidly increased during the Berlin airlift.
Major repairs to a second Avro York followed, along with various sections:- (D1 and D2, [deleted] ) [/deleted] also [deleted ( [/deleted] D4).
Avro Anson (All Marks)
Major repairs and overhauls to Avro Anson aircraft commenced in B1 Hangar, followed by the manufacture of Anson metal tailplanes, mainplanes and centre sections in C1 Hangar. The Ansons were completed at Bracebridge Heath, then towed to RAF Waddington via the usual route.
Lancaster Spares
Various Lancaster fuselage sections, including undercarriages, wheels, tyres and brake units were serviced for the Argentine Air Force, which had bought a number of used Lancasters. This was part of the spares requirement.
Avro 707A and 707C
It was decided to build an Avro 707A and a 707C at the Bracebridge Heath factory, which included all the relevant sub-assemblies and the majority of details. Main jigs were installed for the assembly of front and rear spars, mainplanes, centre section, rear fuselage and fin, but the nose assembly was built at the Woodford factory and equipped at Bracebridge Heath. Wooden fixtures were used for the other major sub-assemblies.
Final assemblies and functions were carried out at Bracebridge Heath. The aircraft were then towed to RAF Waddington via the usual route, where finals and flight-tests were carried out.
A Slight Deviation from Aircraft!
During a slack period at Bracebridge Heath, C1 Hangar got involved with the manufacture of ‘Choc Ice Cream Machines’, which not only coated the ice cream with chocolate, but wrapped the final product!
Hawker Hunter Fuselages
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Quite a large number of crated Hawker Hunter fuselages were forwarded to Bracebridge heath [sic] for modifications. Jigs and the necessary parts were manufactured on site, and when modifications were embodied, the fuselages were re-crated and returned.
Shackleton MR2 and MR3 Aircraft
Jigs were installed for the manufacture of:
Outer mainplanes, inner mainplanes, fins, rudders, tailplanes, elevators and bomb doors.
Shackleton and Lincolns
Other departments carried out repairs similar to those mentioned above, plus fuselage sections.
Argosy AWA650 Freighters
The manufacture of the Argosy freighter was allocated to various sites. The Woodford factory task was the centre section. Bracebridge Heath’s task was to build the inner and outer wings.
A meeting was held at the Chadderton factory to discuss the programme, which I attended with the works superintendent from Bracebridge Heath. Pre-drilling had caused many problems in the past, so at my request they agreed to leave the rib flanges undrilled. However, I lost the battle regarding the tank bay inner skins, which were delivered pre-drilled.
I don’t know who produced the wing spars, but they had to be ‘returned to sender’. The booms had been produced from an incorrect material specification.
Eventually we received another set of front and rear spars, and so commenced building the inner wings. Although progress was good, it was impossible to meet the completion dates. The Armstrong Whitworth delegation was not satisfied, they wanted the workforce doubled. I think the theory was: ‘If the job took one man one hundred hours, a hundred men would produce it in one hour!’
The pre-drilled holes in the tank bay inner skins were not in line with the rib flanges, so blank skins had to be made and the workforce had to be increased to satisfy Armstrong Whitworth.
The inner mainplanes were removed from the jigs and put in transportation bogies before final fitment of the inner tank bay skins, in order to commence work on the second set. It became obvious to me that problems would arise and the job would take longer to complete.
Frank Wilson, the design engineer covering the queries and problems could see the humorous side of the job and wrote the fictitious Drawing Query Form below (Frank later became the Project Designer for the 748 aircraft). On my retirement, I went to see
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Frank Wilson at Woodford and he said: ‘Lenny, I’ve got something for you’ and gave me the Drawing Query Form that I had not seen since 1958!”
Works expansion
By the early 1950s, Bracebridge had acquired much needed extra facilities, as Len Binding recalled:
“In Hangar B1, jigs were installed for the manufacture of Vulcan engine access doors, and to keep up with the demand, a night shift was introduced.
Bracebridge Heath factory also by now had:
- A small but very efficient Design Office and a comprehensive Drawing Stores, complete with drawing printers.
- A large MOD store
- An average size Machine Shop was set up at the time we commenced to build the 707A and 707C, which proved a great asset. Outside contracts for machining soon began to flood in.
There was also an excellent Instrument Test Room and like the Machine Shop it was not short of outside contracts for overhauling and testing.”
The actual repair of aircraft and production of new ones (eg the 707s) all finished in 1958, however, leaving only the component repair and overhaul sections in operation and the control of the Outworking gangs – which by now had all kinds of varied tasks to undertake.
Outworking Parties in the later years
Bracebridge Heath’s Outworking Parties covered work at RAF and Naval Stations an also airports on the following aircraft: Lancasters, Lincolns, Shackletons, Vulcans, Victors, Nimrods, Phantoms, the Argosy, 748 and Andover (which included the ‘Queen’s Flight’ at RAF Benson and the VIP Flight at RAF Northolt).
The work included repairs (some were extensive), modifications, servicing and occasionally major inspections.
Len Binding, as one of the Foremen at BBH, was soon involved with the Outworking Parties and listed some of the tasks he was engaged on over the next 30 years or so from the HQ at Bracebridge:
“Shackleton Aircraft Grounded (July 1959):
In July 1959 the Shackleton aircraft were grounded at home and abroad until ‘Special Technical Instruction 69’ was embodied.
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Outworking Parties from the Bracebridge Heath factory carried out the necessary work on the applicable RAF stations in the United Kingdom. An inspector and I flew to Singapore to advise on the embodiment of the above mentioned Special Technical Instruction with 205 Squadron personnel at Changi and Seletar. Another team covered the aircraft in Malta.
The work involved the removal of the removal of the inner mainplane trailing edge, to expose the rear spar; then the removal of the web-to-boom attachment bolts and dowels in the area, measuring approximately six to eight feet outboard of the inboard edge of the rear spar bottom boom. The holes had to be cleaned and inspected using intrascopes, and all results were recorded. All web-to-boom bolt holes were then opened up to 1/32 oversize, and new oversize bolts and dowels fitted.
On my return from holiday, the next task was to commence changing the bottom spar booms of 205 Squadron aircraft, not only on the inner mainplanes but also on the centre section. To do this, quite a lot of equipment had to be removed from the fuselages.
We were allocated a hangar at Langar and commenced the removal of engines, bomb doors, inner and outer mainplanes, fuel and oil tanks and landing gear (undercarriages). All electric cables, etc had to be released and withdrawn from the rear fuselage and stowed in the centre section. The fuselages were split at transport joints (centre section front and rear spars) and the sections located in their respective bogies.
The inner mainplanes were transported to another part of the group for modification.
Centre section bottom booms were removed, using safety raiser and skates to take the weight after the web boom bolts had been removed and also to assist in withdrawing it.
The old booms then became the drilling patters for the manufacture of new replacements.
Then we had to re-fit and line up the pre-drilled holes of the new boom with the existing holes in the web, so that satisfactory drilling and reaming could commence. (Broaching equipment was not available.) When the booms were finally bolted to the webs, re-assembly then commenced.”
Channel Airways HS748s:
On August 15th 1967, at the grass airfield at Portsmouth, Hampshire, heavy overnight rain the previous day had made the grass very slippery and in the course of landing there, two of Channel Airways new HS748 Series 2 airliners each skidded when braking after touchdown.
Both aircraft damaged their undercarriages and one (G-ATEH) skidded through the boundary fence onto Eastern Road outside, blocking it.
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An over-enthusiastic Chief of Police ordered a tractor to tow this 748 clear of the traffic, back onto the airfield and in doing so the wire hawser of the tractor cut through the rear fuselage and rear pressure bulkhead – “like cheese-wire through cheese”, as Len Binding said.
He was invited to take a team down to repair G-ATEH and – as part of the usual procedure – they built a cover around and over the affected ends of the 748s on scaffolding, to enable them to work underneath in a dry atmosphere.
Len remembered:
“Our hangar was comprised of scaffolding covered with corrugated iron sheeting, and we used old railway wagons for our office and stores. We had very efficient central heating!”
(He was later congratulated by the Air Registration Board for an excellent repair to both aircraft.)
“Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd – Kanpur Division (Period 1966 to 1967):
Preparations to carry out a modification programme on Venezuelan 748 aircraft were just about complete, when I was asked to take over in India because the team leader had been flown home seriously ill. (He later died within a month or so of his return to Great Britain.)
India was an enjoyable experience, but I wanted to be more involved and also with different aircraft. However, the company flew me home for my 25th wedding anniversary and then tried hard to get me to return (but they could not persuade me).
Andover C.Mk1 (Avro 780):
At RAF stations Abingdon and Thorney Island, repairs and modifications were embodied on the above aircraft, including ‘The Flight Data Recorder’ and the rial installation of height encoding altimeters.
Andover C.C.Mk2 (Avro 748):
At the ‘Queen’s Flight’ at RAF Benson, various teams worked there embodying modifications and carrying out repairs. Similar work was also done on the VIP Flight at RAF Northolt.
748 Aircraft XA-SEY at Miami Airport (1968):
The repair consisted of replacement of cracked bottom skins and a reinforcing plate in the vicinity of the main undercarriage. This required the removal of the main undercarriage and pivot members.
The 748 aircraft was owned by Fernando Barbachano. He was quite a character, and very generous. On completion of the aircraft repair, Barbachano offered the team a free
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week’s holiday on the island of Cozumel, including the return fare to the island from Miami. Payment for drinks would be the individual’s responsibility. Two members of the team accepted the offer, and had a wonderful time!
Belgian Air Force 748 Aircraft at Brussels Airport:
Fuel leaks had occurred at wing access panels, caused by over tightening panel attachment screws. To rectify, all panels and frames were replaced.
748 Aircraft G-ATAM – the Company Aircraft leased to Philippine Airlines (October 1968):
Preparations for the lease of Avro’s own 748 aircraft G-ATAM, were carried out at Langar. The new registration was PI-C1020.
Towards the end of the lease, PI-C1020 was damaged at San Fernando Airport, situated on the West Coast of Central Luzon.
Philippine Airline employees repaired the aircraft, under the instructions of our Bracebridge Outworking Party.
AW Argosy Freighters (June 1969):
A hangar was made available at De Havilland’s works at Downsview, Canada for the repair of Argosy aircraft which had developed fatigue problems in the bottom boom if the front spar (inner wing), at the root end joint, port and starboard.
When building the Argosy wing, all holes were produced to BS 1916 H7 fit, whereas the Shackleton wing was to Newall Standard ‘A’ fit.
Simulated tests on replica joints proved the Shackleton joint was superior.
We experienced great difficulty in removing the bolts and bushes, but the breakthrough came when we warmed the spar boom and used liquid Nitrogen to shrink the bushes. The root ends were then cleaned, including the removal of stress corrosion. Reinforcing plates and shackles were re-plated at De Havilland’s. The holes were opened up to Newell Standard ‘A’ fit and oversize bolts were fitted. The main boltholes required oversized bushes to be fitted.
Blackburn Beverley Freighters:
At RAF Abingdon, a working party carried out a major inspection and a modification programme on the Beverley freighter.
Vulcans on various RAF Stations:
Bracebridge Heath had working parties on Vulcan stations at Finningley, Scampton, Waddington, Coningsby and Cottismore [sic], working on modifications and ‘Category 3’ repairs.
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The ‘Rapid Start’ modification programme commenced at RAF Coningsby. Other stations were involved later. (November 1969)
The work on ‘Blue Steel’ was mainly carried out at RAF Scampton. (October 1971)
I visited RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on two occasions, once to advise 103 Maintenance Unit on repairs to a Vulcan that sustained a bird strike and had caught fire. The second time I went out with a small team to deal with corrosion problems.
Vulcan Fatigue Modifications (1001 and 1013):
The aircraft had to be jacked up and roughly levelled using the star plate, then finally rigged using a dumpy level and sighting rod. The trestles were positioned at the respective points and adjusted during the rigging procedure. At this stage the wing tips needed to be raised 1 1/2 inches so the root end wing joints were in the no-load condition.
Modification 1001 consisted of the removal and replacements of the front bottom wing root forgings port and starboard. (The forgings have four legs, one leg mates with the bottom boom of the mainplane, the other with the bottom boom of the centre section, the other two legs fit into the transport rib, one vertical the other one aft.)
Modification 1013 comprised the removal of shackles and reinforcing plates from the remaining wing root forgings, port and starboard, that were not covered by Modification 1001. The shackles and reinforcing plates were sent to the Chadderton factory for checks and replating. When re-assembled, all joints got cocooned.
To gain access to all root end joints to front and rear spars top and bottom, the following had to be removed or partially removed:-
Engines, jet pipes, intake skins and jet pipe tunnel skins. The outer top and bottom skins port and starboard of the centre section were peeled back sufficiently to gain access to the root end joints.
Extensive drill and reamer kits were required, complete with pilot and slip bushes, plus ‘Delapina’ honing equipment.
The holes were to Newall Standard ‘A’ fit with a honed and polished finish – hole sizes were 5/8 inches to 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
Hardened steel reinforcing plates were fitted both sides of the booms and produced a sandwich of hardened steel – light alloy – hardened steel. Great care was needed when honing, not to produce a barrel shaped hole. The equipment used for checking were internal micrometers and dial test indicator.
The transport rib bottom boom had to be cut back to allow the removal of the old forging. This was replaced by steel shackles, when fitting the replacement.
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Although the main bolts through shackles, reinforcing plates and booms were relatively easy to remove, special extractors were required for the removal of the remaining bolts holding the forgings to the aircraft.
Due to the hight tolerances on these holes, temperatures could and did affect fitment of bolts.
We carried out these modifications at RAF stations Waddington, Coningsby and Finningley.
Vulcan B.Mk.1 XA911 at RAF Waddington:
During a flight over the North Sea, Vulcan B.Mk1 XA911 suffered a bird strike in one of the port engines, which ingested the birds, coughed and blew up. The debris from this was sucked into the adjoining air intake, causing the second engine to go the same way.
One turbine disc smashed through the engine casing, cutting two engine access doors in half.
The inboard engine rib 63.5 was damaged. The centre engine rib 113.5 was sliced in two.
The outboard engine rib 162.5 was extensively damaged and required special drawings for the repair, also special equipment for blending out and polishing of the bottom boom, which took many hours of tedious work before the repair could commence.
Turbine blades had been flying around like shrapnel, some going right through the port wing fuel tanks. One piece went through to the outboard tank and then through the mainplane front spar web.
Repairs were carried out to most port mainplane ribs and the recuperator bay. A number of intake skins, expansion joints and jet pipe tunnel skins had to be replaced.
Bird strikes have caused similar damage to other Vulcan’s, but not quite so severe.
A modification was introduced much later – the fitment on titanium shields to protect the engine ribs.
Vulcan ‘butchery’ at RAF St Athan (1970):
Design and Stress Departments asked for a perfectly serviceable Vulcan aircraft to be taken out of service for research purposes, before agreeing to extend the life of the fleet. A drawing was produced, indicating how the aircraft should be cut up.
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Ken Smith, the Vulcan Project Designer, arranged a meeting at the Woodford factory to discuss the requirements with personnel from an RAF maintenance unit who were going to take on the task. I was also asked to attend this meeting.
However, after studying the drawings, the RAF representatives requested the company to do the work, and so it was given to me to do!
The Vulcan selected for this ‘butchery’ was the first B.2 production aircraft, XH533.
Phantoms:
When Vulcans moved from RAF Coningsby, they were replaced by the Phantoms. The predominant work involved modifications, although the working party was involved with a couple of ‘Category 3’ repairs were also carried out at HMS Heron at Yeovilton, and HMS Daedalus at Gosport.
Nimrods:
The major work at Kinloss and RAF St Mawgan included modifications, corrosion problems and occasional ‘Category 3’ repairs.
At RAF Wyton there was a modification programme only.
Ghana Airways 748 Aircraft at Accra Airport (May 1971):
Ghana Airways personnel were manoeuvring the aircraft from the hangar when the damage occurred. The hangar door grazed the aircraft in the area of the pressure head and static plate.
We carried out a small skin insertion repair and replaced both the static plate and pressure head.
Dan Air 748 Aircraft repaired in the Concorde Aircraft Hangar:
At Charles de Gaulle Airport a Dan Air 748 aircraft made a bad landing. The nose landing gear was torn from the nose wheel bay structure. During preparation for the repair, corrosion was found at Former 252F, and further aft. It was obvious a galley had been fitted in this area, but the floorboards had not been properly sealed to prevent spillage seeping through and collecting in the fuselage bottom structure, which caused the corrosion.
Avro York at Staverton Airport:
The curator of ‘Skyframe Museum’ obtained an Avro York aircraft that originally belonged to ‘Skyways of London’. He requested Avro’s, Hawker Siddeley Aviation and Titanine (the paint manufacturer) to respray the aircraft gratuitously, and to make it look like Churchill’s aircraft (LV633 ‘Ascalon’)
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Titanine agreed to supply the paint and Hawker Siddeley Aviation agreed to supply the labour. We had a drawing of Churchill’s aircraft showing the square windows. So by masking the round windows, and by careful spraying, we achieved the desired effect.
Varig 748 at Porto Alegre – Brazil (March 1972):
At the request of Varig Airlines, Peter Grimley and myself flew to Porto Alegre in Brazil to carry out a survey on a badly damaged 748 aircraft. A pilot under instruction was doing an asymmetric take-off, and to correct a fault, power was applied – but to the wrong engine – and the aircraft dropped one hundred feet and pancaked! I would like to have repaired it, but after a meeting with the engineering director in Rio it was decided to write it off.
In appreciation for our services a conducted tour of Rio was laid on, including a hotel adjacent to the Copacabana Beach!
The President of Ecuador’s 748 at Guayaquil, Ecuador (October 1972:)
The President’s VIP 748 Series 2A (FAE 001) was severely damaged by an ‘Andes Airline’ DC-6 aircraft that was being taxied by their Chief Engineer. He was immediately arrested and imprisoned for sabotage, however, several weeks later he was cleared of the charge and subsequently released.
Jim Hayworth, the Assistant Chief Stressman, and myself travelled to Guayaquil to assess the damage, and after a meeting with the Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana (FAE) it was decided to produce a section of the starboard wing in the jig at Chadderton, which we then spliced to the existing undamaged part of the aircraft.
Colombian Air Force (FAC 1103) at Bahia Solano (July 1973):
My first visit to Bahia Solano almost ended in disaster when we developed engine trouble during our flight in a DC-3 aircraft flying from Bogota. The aircraft lost height rapidly over the mountainous jungle of Choco. Thankfully we just made the airstrip.
A radio fault on board prevented communication with Satena Airline’s headquarters, so on landing, Bahia Solano’s short wave radio was used to contact them. The call sign was ‘ALCATRAZ’! Four hours had elapsed before contact was made, and by then Solana assumed we had crashed, so they instigated a search, using five aircraft.
The spares required for the engine did not arrive until the following day, so we had to stay overnight at the shanty Hotel Bahia. That evening we sat down for dinner on benches at tables that did not look particularly clean. When the first course arrived it was ‘Fish Head Soup’. I realised then I would have to get food and water flown to us weekly from Bogota, and also obtain a cook!
That evening I met Michael G A Hill, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow – (Becado) 1972. He was carrying out a typographical study of Colombia’s Pacific Mountain coast. During our conversation, the subject of communications came
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[Photographs of a damaged aircraft with men inspecting damage] The President of Ecuador’s Avro 748 before repair.
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up and it was then he advised me to use the Morse facility, even though Satena and Company agent, Robert McAllister disagreed. Michael’s advice was to ‘print all messages clearly, do not write’. This turned out to be good advice, as the operator could not read the message but understood the letters.
The compressor unit supplied was unserviceable, so Satena sent a replacement. It ended up with both units being strapped together so the engine on one unit drove the good compressor on the other. Our troubles were not over. Within a few days, the unit’s petrol tank disintegrated, and we had to improvise, using a bucket and plastic tubing. The next things to go wrong were the units engine bearers. The only material on site was light alloy extrusion, so I used that, but made two sets of bearers which allowed us to complete the task.
The damage to the 748 was extensive, the undercarriage struts, beams and brackets broke through the mainplane top skin and also through the shroud and jet pipe.
Twelve months after repairing FAC 1103 at Bahia Solana, I received a newspaper cutting from an employee of Satena Airlines, showing a 748 crash in the Columbian jungle. It was FAC1103 again! Only this time it was terminal – the 748 had taken off from Bahia Solano again, and hit a nearby mountain top, killing all 32 passengers and crew on board!
The crash was found to be due to pilot error. To clear the mountain the procedure was to do a circuit of the airfield to gain height. However, the pilot was in a hurry to get back to base to clear outstanding paperwork, so on take-off, he sat the aircraft on its tail and opened up the engines thinking he could clear the mountain and save time. As you can see, he failed!”
Len Binding was at Woodford with ex-Chief Test Pilot Jimmy Harrison (by now Product Support Manager) at the time the news of the Columbian 748 crash came through. Jimmy said there had been a flash in the sky before the crash, and Len remembered that Satena often carried aviation fuel about in drums, to replenish the local supplies at the remote airstrips. Len had noticed once that a can had been leaking on board one his [sic] flights in Columbia, and the passengers sometimes smoked near them! He wondered if this might have been a cause in this case.
“The President’s Aircraft (FAE 684) Severely damaged at Cuenca, Ecuador:
As the President’s aircraft was approaching Cuenca, ground control advised the pilot not to land due to the atrocious weather conditions. The captain decided to land, however, and on touch-down, the aircraft aquaplaned and was heading for a sheer drop at the end of the runway. He managed to slew the aircraft around and into a ditch.
Jim Haworth and myself flew to Ecuador to assess the damage. From the photographs I took we could establish what materials and spares were required, as well as tools, drawings and ground equipment.
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[Photograph of an aircraft being repaired] The Avro 748 of Lineas Aereas del Caribe being repaired at Merida, Mexico.
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Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT) 748 Aircraft:
Jim Haworth and myself travelled to St Vincent in June 1977 to survey a damaged aircraft (VP-LIW) which turned out to be the old Channel Airways aircraft (G-ATEH) that I repaired at Portsmouth Airport. On completion of the survey, I received a telex to travel to Bogota to meet ‘Airclaims’.
At Antigua in November 1979, I carried out a modification programme which included ‘Ground Proximity Warning’ and Direct Measuring Equipment (DME).
Satena 748 Series 2A (FAC 1101):
On arrival at Bogota in June 1977, I made contact with ‘Airclaims’ who asked me to do a survey on a Satena 748 (FAC 1101) at Arauca Airport.
The damage was mainly confined to the nose-wheel bay structure, skins, equipment and nose-wheel undercarriage. There was also some damage to nacelle fairings and main undercarriage doors.
748 (VP-LIW) at St Vincent:
I returned to St Vincent to repair the above aircraft (ex-G-ATEH of Channel Airways) which was extensively damaged. The undercarriage struts, side load beams, downlock beams, brackets and undercarriage pivot members were forced into the wing. A lot of debris went through the mainplane top skin and through the shroud and jet pipe. The only parts serviceable of the inboard and outboard engine ribs were the top beams. Which gave added problems with alignment. The centre engine rib was scrap.
Incidentally, Johnny Briggs, an Avro Engineer, married Jan, an Air Stewardess with ‘Leeward Islands Air Transport’. Her father, Frank Delisle, owned the airline at the time.
748 Aircraft at Georgetown – Guyana (November 1977):
Problems existed with the flying controls and control locks on the aircraft. It only took a few days to rectify, thank goodness. (The climate there took some getting used to.)
748 Aircraft at Longue Pointe de-Mingan (April 1978):
Mingan is situated on the northern bank of the St Lawrence River in Canada and when I arrived there the settlement was snow bound. The pilot of Northern Wings (Les Ailes Du Nord Ltee) had a ‘white-out’ on landing the aircraft. The crash had extensively damaged the fuselage and had also damaged the nose-wheel bay. We built a wood and glass greenhouse building over the entire nose of the 748 amongst the deep snow drifts, and worked under cover.
Bundesanstalt für Flugsicherung at Frankfurt Airport:
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[Photograph of an aircraft being worked on under a shade] Repairing an Avro 748 of Philippine Airlines at San Fernando Airport. The children are having a Christmas Party!
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We were allocated a fabulous unused hangar at Frankfurt Airport, which not only had overhead lighting, but also strip lights along the sides. The hangar doors were power operated. For the company who eventually purchased or leased the hangar there were other facilities that included a large built-in restaurant, kitchen and showers. We appreciated the showers [inserted] – [/inserted] after all, we were not used to such luxury!
We carried out a large modification programme on two of their seven aircraft (all used for radio calibration work).”
This is the end of Len Binding’s list of ‘Outworking’ jobs that he was concerned with, but other Bracebridge teams naturally worked on many other accident repairs during these years, at sites all over the world.
Assistance with test-flying
‘Jock’ Donaghy was the name of the pilot who lived at Waddington, and helped Peter Field-Richards out in test-flying the Ansons rebuilt at Bracebridge after ‘Cat B’ repairs.
He is believed to have been in the RAF and flown Sunderlands during the War. When the war was over, he obviously had difficulty getting a job at first and joined Avros at Bracebridge Heath as a fitter. Ron Morley, an Inspector there, recalls how ‘Jock’ carried a tool box around with him with only two items in it – a large spanner that was useless (as it had a broken end) and a hammer whose pane had also broken! Perhaps it was more of a gesture!
Later on, when numerous Ansons were being rebuilt, Jock’s flying experience was approved by Peter Field-Richards and he was allowed to test fly most of them from Waddington.
Jock was obviously used to over-water navigation – he apparently left it to the Flight Engineer to let him know where he was during the local test flights from Waddington. Ron Morley remembers that Jock always seemed rather remote – a bit of a day dreamer – and every Thursday and Friday he would head for the local fish and chip shop in Bracebridge village. On one notable occasion, when Jock started his car to get back to the works, his steering jammed and he couldn’t turn the car to the right. So he managed to get back by always turning left – sometimes more than a complete circle!
When the Anson testing was finished, Jock kept his hand in at flying, in various other jobs. He was tragically killed some years later, while reportedly flying an ex-WWII German aircraft back to the UK, when the aircraft ditched in the sea, killing his second wife (who was acting as navigator). He left a son.
Out-of-hours activities
Some of the Bracebridge Heath veterans began to engage in their own aviation activities as a hobby, out of work time.
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Thus, the Chief Inspector, Bill Sturrock (who was killed years later in a motor car accident while on holiday in South Africa) had a pilot’s licence, as did Jeff Cox and Jack Robie.
Lee Binding was also a member of the group and they used to repair and maintain light aircraft and crop dusters, Austers, etc, at several sites around Lincoln/Leicester, including a hangar at Wellingore, another at Grantham and another on the A46 north east of Lincoln. Bill Sturrock (who had learned to fly in Canada in the RAF) flew the aircraft after they were repaired. After Bracebridge, Bill Sturrock went to Avro in Manchester to become Customer Service Manager, after a spell in Mexico for HSA as a Sales/Service Representative.
The Avro 504
May Chambers from the Wing Dept remembers the time that she worked hard to re-cover and dope the wings and fuselage of a veteran Avro 504N biplane at Bracebridge sometime in the 1953-56 era. This 504N (D7560) had been shot down in the Great War and repaired and put on show in Hull Museum. It was a genuine A V Roe built machine, and in WWII German raids on Hull had damaged it again. Hence Avro agreed to restore it once more, and when completely renovated it was sent down to the Science Museum in South Kensington.
In the photograph (taken by the ‘Lincolnshire Echo’) May Chambers and the head of the Wing Dept, Arthur Wood, are seen with some of the staff who so beautifully restored the 504N.
The ‘Dambusters’ film
When the famous film was made about the ‘Dambusters’ raid by 617 Squadron, featuring Richard Todd as Wing Commander Guy Gibson, VC, DSO & Bar, DFC [deleted] and [/deleted] & Bar, the Avro staff at Bracebridge Heath were given the task of building the ‘bouncing bombs’ for the filming.
John Woods and another ‘chippie’ there remember making these, and fitting them to the surviving Lancasters at ARF Scampton. (At that time, the bombs were still on the Secret List, and those built by Avros were of a spherical shape – not cylindrical, like rather large depth charges, which later turned out to be the correct wartime shape.)
John also helped to renovate the interior of the Avro company ‘hack’ Anson (G-AGPG) which had a VIP interior for flying Directors and customers about. John and the other ‘chippies’ French-polished the interior mahogany fittings and renovated all the wood work.
Bracebridge in later days
After the repair and rebuilding of whole aircraft ceased in 1958, Bracebridge Heath occupied a site of approximately 9 1/2 acres, and remained the Headquarters for the Manchester Division Repair Organisation, with a labour force not down to 223. It
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[Photograph of a group of people standing in front of a biplane] The Avro 504N renovated at Bracebridge Heath for the Science Museum.
[Photograph of three men and an aircraft being towed on a road] The Avro 707A being towed to Waddington.
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embraced the Ministry of Defence CRSP store (Contractors Repair Supply Procedure), the British Aerospace Standard Part Store, and a Design Department, but still retained the facility for the repair and overhaul of some aircraft parts.
Stores Organisation
The Stores Organisation included the largest airframe Ministry of Defence CRSP Stores in the United Kingdom, having a floor area of some 67,449 square feet, a British Aerospace Standard Parts investment Stores occupying more than 9000 square feet, and a General and Tool Stores occupying almost 4000 feet.
With some justification Bracebridge claimed that the Stores Organisation was one of the most efficient in the British Aerospace Aircraft Group.
Military Spares
The buying and supply of military spares (CRSP) meant placing orders through and on behalf of the Ministry of Defence for the repair and major refurbishing of main components for aircraft produced by all factories within the British Aerospace Aircraft Group. Such spares were also made available to a number of outside companies recognised as approved sub-contractors.
BBH also assisted the Royal Air Force in maintaining their operational requirements and the factory’s Contractor’s Working Parties continued to undertake major repairs in the field.
Investment and General Stores
The purpose of the British Aerospace Standard Parts Investment Stores was to hold all surplus stock items which had been bought commercially, or manufactured in economical quantities and were surplus to immediate contract requirements. All factories within the British Aerospace Group drew holdings, where available, from Bracebridge which were held for immediate issue on request, obviating the problem of ordering excessive build-up of stock within group factories.
The visual display unit located in Stores Records, supplied up-to-date information on the Company outstanding orders and stock – also items on Ministry of Defence orders. The progress of these items being manufactured on the shop floor were able to be monitored, enabling promises to be obtained from Production Control by Progress Department. This ensured an efficient turnround of spares. Issue of available spares on priority requests were invariable [sic] completed between 12-24 hours and ordinary issues between 24-48 hours (as transport permitted).
The General and Tool Store supported working parties (CWPs) operating in the United Kingdom and overseas – also the bay servicing and repair unit at the depot.
Bracebridge carried out these vital functions for Avro (later British Aerospace) for the next 24 years after 1958, finally closing down completely at the end of September 1982.
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The old No. 1 Hangar built for the RFC is now owned by a haulage firm, and the walls still seem in good condition, although the roof and wooden doors are looking dilapidated and the building stays empty. No. 2 Hangar and the Stores building are occupied by the Dalgety Group, and are well maintained. No evidence remains of the heroic work that went on here in WWII to keep badly damaged Lancasters flying, nor of the decades of post-war achievements in repairing all kinds of Avro aircraft.
May Chambers, who worked there from 1941 to 1968 and claimed the customary gold watch for 25 years dedication and service, still says that people seemed so much kinder to each other in those days and everybody cared so much more than they do now – and they were the happiest days in her life! You can’t get a much better epitaph than that, for a remarkable company!
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APPENDIX 1
A V ROE & CO LTD – ‘BRACEBRIDGE HEATH WORLD SERVICE ORGANISATION (previously the ‘Avro Repair Organisation’)
PRINCIPAL PERSONNEL AND DEPARTMENTS
I) In mid-1950s:-
a) ← [Underlined] HQ at Bracebridge Heath, Lincoln [/underlined] ) Caps
[Underlined] Chief Superintendents (in sequence): [/underlined]
1. → C (‘Charlie’) L Hatton
2. → F (‘Snowy’) Langton
[Underlined] Financial: [/underlined]
Mr Dowell
[Underlined] Chief Inspector: [/underlined]
‘Bill’ Sturrock
b) ← [Underlined] Repair Depot at Langar, Notts: [/underlined] ) Caps.
[Underlined] Superintendents (in sequence):- [/underlined]
1. → Robert Ingrid
2. → ‘Phil’ Lightfoot, and his Asst Supt W.G. Cooke
3. → C Oatway
4. → ‘Johnny’ Smallwood
[Underlined] Secretary to above: [/underlined]
Indent all names etc. → Mrs Forster
[Underlined] Sheds 1 & 2 – Senior Foreman [/underlined]
→ Ron Eaton
[Underlined] Sheds 3 – Senior Foreman [/underlined]
→ Ernie Beatles
[Underlined] Sheds 5 & 6 Senior Foreman [/underlined]
→ ‘Dad’ Harold Walker
[Underlined] Shed 7 – Senior Foreman [/underlined]
→ Harry Houghton
[Underlined] Flight Shed – Senior Forem [deleted] a [/deleted] en Flight Test Engineer (in sequence) [/underlined]
1. → George Arthur Norman
2. →’Paddy’ Armstrong
3. → Roy Browne
[Underlined] Other Personnel: [/underlined]
Indent → [Underlined] Senior Foreman – [/underlined]
[Page break]
Shed 6 (Spray Bay) – Ernie Cooke
Shed 5 (Detail Section) – Sam Wilcox
← [Underlined] Departmental Foremen – [/underlined]
Engineering – ‘Doug’ Fletcher
Instruments – J Nightingale
[Deleted] Instrument] [/deleted] ‘Nobby’ Clarke
Heavy Gang – T Shepp[deleted] a [/deleted] erd
Crane Drivers – Mr Clarke
← [Underlined] Other Staff [/underlined]
Tank Shop – L Needham
Shed 5 – (Hydraulics) F Abthorpe
[Deleted] - (Hydraulics) [/deleted] C Kelly
- (Internals) B Brewer
- (Electrics) Bill Brumby
[Deleted] – (Electrics) [/deleted] Ted Prior
[Deleted] – (Electrics) [/deleted] J Johnson
Shed 6 – (signwriter) Mr Mapletoft
Shed 7 – (Fuel & Oil Bowsers) A Kirk
[Deleted] –(Fuel & Oil Bowsers) [/deleted] H Prigeon
Control Tower – (Electrics/Radio) T Corfield
Main Stores
- (Drawing) Miss E Bint
- (Tool) Miss N Cowlishaw
Canteen
- (Manager [deleted] s [/deleted] ess) 1. Miss Piddington
2. Mrs Gri [deleted] m [/deleted] nnals
- (Cashier) Miss E Spencer
[Deleted] - (Cashier) Miss E Spencer [/deleted]
Works Engineer
- (Maintenance) Stan Rogers
- (Electrical) Jack Calver
Site – (Transport) Paddy Ryan
- (Fire Tender) A Moor
- (First Aid) Nurse Smart
- (Security) J Spencer
- (Gardner) Eli Tucker
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← [Underlined] Aeronautical Inspect [deleted] or [/deleted] ion Dept (AID):- [/underlined]
Mr Barr
C Collins
Alec Messenger
‘Taff’ Davis
Mr ‘Dickie’ Bird
Victor Savory (R101 Survivor)
← [Underlined] Avro Inspection Dept:- [/underlined]
Chief Inspector – J Yarwood
Asst Chief Inspector – J McCirdy
Inspectors –
‘Johnny’ Smallwood Les Willis A Sills
D Fairhome B Finlay ‘Tiny’ Wright
A Dale S Walker W Pride
‘Jock’ Cameron P Haynes ‘Bud’ Abbott
D Allen Ken Allen ‘Dixie’ Deene
G Smith ‘Ted’ Robinson B Radcliffe
‘Bill’ Williams ‘Sid’ Dawes E Hopkinson
T Keene J F [deleted] o [/deleted] irth D Warren
E Sheppard ‘Paddy’ Russell J Wor [deleted] i [/deleted] mhall
T Jenkins H Fletcher S College
D Roberts C Smalley J Farmer
A Powell L King C Perkins
‘Bob’ Graham Mr Pritchet ‘Johnny’ Bull
H Platt ‘Don’ Grieves Doug Culley
Tommy Liffe
Planning Dept
- Mr Moorhouse
- ‘Pete’ Hughes
Drawing Office – Mr Flannery
Time Keeper – H Beard
Police Supt – Joe Spencer
II) [Underlined] Changes in above by 1967: [/underlined]
Johnny Smallwood became Works Superintendent (from Avro Inspection Dept)
Ted Andrews became his Asst Works Supt
Doug Fletcher became Senior Foreman – Shed 2 (from Foreman – Engineering)
Muriel Brown became Canteen Manageress
Neil Cunning [deleted] ham [/deleted] ton bec [deleted] o [/deleted] ame [deleted] s [/deleted] Works Engineer
Jack Wright became Asst Works Engineer
Alec Farmer became Police Supt
George Norman became Senior Foreman – Trials Installation (TI) Hangar.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Avro Repair Organisation. Bracebridge Heath
Description
An account of the resource
A history of the Avro Repair Organisation at Bracebridge Heath. Aircraft with Category B damage were disassembled and taken to Bracebridge for repair. Contractor’s Working Parties repaired Category A damaged aircraft on their station using spares requisitioned from Avro.
On the picture of the Avro 707 being towed along the A15 towards Waddington, the men on the Clarktor 6 towing tractor are, from left to right: David Coney, J.H. 'Bert' Thomason and 'Ted' Andrews. The truck driver, mostly hidden is Ron Dickens. Following the aircraft is an Austin Somerset Avro company car.
Creator
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Peter V Clegg
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
Richard Coney
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.
Format
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46 typewritten sheets with annotations
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCleggPV[DoB]-150701-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
1941
1943
1945
1946
1949
1950
207 Squadron
Anson
Lancaster
Lancastrian
Lincoln
Manchester
RAF Langar
RAF Waddington
service vehicle
Shackleton
tractor
York