1
25
26
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/794/E[Author]BeltonSLS400724-01.jpg
66046aa35aa197698b1b2799f3899752
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
Belton, Spencer Lewis
Spencer Lewis Belton
Spencer Lewis Smith Belton
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. 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
Belton, SLS
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. Photographs, correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton (1919 - 1940, 581261 Royal Air Force). Spencer Lewis Belton flew as an observer/ bomb aimer with 144 Squadron from RAF Hemswell. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal after an operation to Wilhelmshaven in July 1940 and was interviewed about it by the British Broadcasting Corporation. He was killed 10/11 August 1940 when his Hampden P4368 crashed in the Netherlands, during an operation to Homberg. <br /><br />Additional information on Spencer Lewis Belton is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/101634/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Carr and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-20
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
(Dept. OA)
24th July 1940.
Dear Belton,
My very best congratulations on the award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.
Yours sincerely,
[signature indecipherable]
Sergeant S.L.S. Belton, D.F.M.,
NO. 144 Squadron,
Royal Air Force,
Hemswell,
LINCS.
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/.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-24
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
Title
A name given to the resource
Congratulation letter to Spencer Lewis Belton
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Letter congratulating Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton on the award of his Distinguished Flying Medal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
E[Author]BeltonSLS400724-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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
David Bloomfield
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
144 Squadron
Distinguished Flying Medal
RAF Hemswell
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1385/25518/SBakerDA19210428v20001-0001.2.jpg
bfceeda30964d216ccdf3aec48cc0031
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1385/25518/SBakerDA19210428v20001-0002.2.jpg
f306fb84e29bc1e4905d1be0c630c445
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1385/25518/SBakerDA19210428v20001-0003.2.jpg
dcd7d0024e66108d15658728fb7f6993
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1385/25518/SBakerDA19210428v20001-0004.2.jpg
cb45864444b63f56abcdf1b5bf48ec60
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1385/25518/SBakerDA19210428v20001-0005.2.jpg
7258d331d4e7afc5c9301f75f98d11b5
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1385/25518/SBakerDA19210428v20001-0006.2.jpg
69aa32c250c5560a6b53cb49da0b532f
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, Donald Arthur
D A Baker
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
2018-11-13
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
Baker, DA
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. Donald Arthur Baker (b. 1921) travelled from Southern Rhodesia to England in 1940 to join the Royal Air Force. Trained as a pilot in 1941 he was operational with 144 Squadron at RAF North Luffenham flying Hampdens. He was shot down on 5 November 1941 and remained a prisoner of war mostly in Stalag Luft 3 until 1945. He return to farm in Southern Rhodesia after the war. The collection contains letters to his mother throughout the war as well as other correspondence and documents including his prisoner of war log with photographs and notes.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by June Baker Maree and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
A DIARY OF DAD’S WAR TIME STORY TAKEN FROM LETTERS WHICH HE WROTE TO HIS MOTHER IN RHODESIA.
The letters were always addressed “My Dearest Mother” and signed off “Your loving son, Donald” We don’t really know why the letters were not addressed to both his father and mother. The letters were written on a fairly regular basis, every one or two weeks, and in addition to that he “wired” home regularly as the letters took between 6 weeks and two months to reach home. Once Dad was in the POW camp the news was mundane and occasionally censored. My impressions from the letters were his strong mindedness to become a pilot, get his wings and be a part of the real action in the war. He never mentioned what happened on the night of the 5th November when his plane was shot down, and anything about his rescue, capture and interrogation. Once the war was over he very seldom spoke about this time in his life, but I want to fill in the gaps, and piece together information to complete the story.
JUNE 1940
The first letter written to his mother was on the 8th June 1940 using Rhodesian Railway’s letterhead, from the Chief Accountant’s Office in Bulawayo. Dad was then just 19 years old. Obviously there had been talk of the war but not much serious thought given to it as he mainly wrote about his sport which at the time was “rugger” second league, and due to an ankle injury he had to give it a rest for 3 weeks. Dad’s social life was also the topic of conversation, having been to a cabaret, the first he’d been to for a long time and he enjoyed it as his partner was a bit of allright. [sic] Being a member of the Bulawayo Young Peoples club also provided some form of social life. And then his place of abode also cropped up “Shifted into the Sussex Hotel at the end of the last month. It is allright [sic] so far, but will soon tire of it I expect. My roommate has a wireless so we are quite comfortable. The room wasn’t exactly built last year” And then, as if an afterthought after he’d closed off, he told his mother that he had received his Certificate of Registration.
The next letter was undated, and starts off by apologising to his mother who was obviously worried about him, the reason being that Dad had forgotten to post the previous letter. Tobacco was fetching good prices that year in Rhodesia.
Talk of the war is now an important topic in the letter and the beginnings of his political interests starting to bud. “Yes things definitely seem to have taken a bad turn for us overseas. However, I reckon it will serve to make the British nation wake up as we seem to have felt before that we couldn’t help winning just because we are in the right. However I guess the Germans will have to put all they’ve got and a bit more if they reckon on conquering Britain in a month or two. Fancy France capitulating under the terms imposed by Hitler. However, I suppose they would only have been wiped out completely. I have been caught for part-time training. I only wish they would call me for the air force as I can’t imagine that I am helping by paying the occasional pensioner. A woman could do the job [underlined] nearly [/underlined] as well.” Douglas Legg, who had joined the RAF, was probably an influence in Dad’s life as he paid Dad a visit and said he was having the time of his life in Salisbury.
Work at the office was getting busy; the war increased the amount of work he had to do.
But still there other things he needed to tell his mother. This girl he used to write to in Nyasaland had written saying she was passing through on her way to the falls with her parents. “Well, they came last Thursday and stayed at the Grand. Apparently the girl became “society” after she left Umtali. She is only 17 but anyone would think she was 27 what with earrings, lipstick and rouge. The “old man”, a hang of a pompous guy of course had to have some drinks. In my best tone I said a shandy, but you can imagine my surprise when this kid says “gin & mixed”. I just pole-vaulted out of the door and was sick the next day. I was just out of my element.”
Lastly, it did not look like he would make it home for the Rhodes & Founders weekend because of the training scheme that had been implemented and public holidays were part of the deal.
[page break]
The letter that followed was written in pencil, undated, still using the RR letterhead. Granny had been down to visit Phyllis in Chipinga. The weekend following was R & F and it was just an impossibility to get home for that. One chap had seen the magistrate, adjutant and Colonel to get off but they weren’t having it. The General Manager had written and said Dad was being called up on the first July or soon afterwards. Dad had written to the RAF to request that he is drafted with recruits going overseas and he needed to train his replacement at work. “I am teaching a new woman to do my job so am pretty busy. It’s a hang of a job because she is new to the work and every little thing has to be explained an [sic] I am not by any means an eloquent orator”
Jack had written to Dad and also wanted his company for the R & F weekend but that was not going to happen.
Letter no. 4 dated the 13th July, marked the commencement of his military career. Written on plain paper, in pencil, the envelope marked “On Active Service” and posted from the No. 2 training Centre, Bulawayo meant that he was “doing his stuff”. His call up number was No. 778186. He had to report on Friday 12th July to the RAF and he was preparing to be sent either to England or Canada for training. “There is a big crowd of us in camp. I am n [sic] the second draft and we leave not long after the first, which is said to be leaving next Wednesday. We are said to be following them about 1 week afterwards but of course this is not in the least official but everyone says the same so I guess there must be something in it.” Dad was so hoping to go home for a visit first, he needed to bring his kit home and sort out one or two things like his insurance policy and money matters. He was bored in the camp as they did very little, only about 2 hrs drill a day and the rest of the day they just loafed. Issy and Horace were both in the camp with him. Granny had sent him £1 and about which he had to say the following “It will be more useful than ever now, as it is bitterly cold here especially sleeping on the ground. However it’s for a good cause and the fellows are pretty happy.” (I think Harold Wilson needed to be reminded of that when he betrayed the very men who fought so gallantly for England in the War.) Dad was so glad it was the RAF and thought it would be No 1 if he could have been sent to Canada as he never knew when he would see that country otherwise.
This was the last letter written from home soil, before sailing by ship approximately the 28th July 1940. There are no details about which port he sailed from or his voyage over, except that he had posted a letter from Cape Verde to granny, but that is not with the collection of letters that I have. I would like to find out some more information on the journey to the port and whether or not he saw his family before leaving.
JOURNEY TO ENGLAND BY SHIP AS A RECRUIT FOR THE RAF
The address on the next letter dated 26th August 1940, reads as follows: DA Baker, RAF no. 778186, Rhodesian Air Contingent, C/o The High Commissioner for S. Rhodesia, Rhodesia House, 429 Strand, London WC2. Dad was stationed at Bridgenorth, Sulop, [sic] Shropshire. He had probably been off ill as he started the letter saying he was feeling fit again though he had not really got his voice back. (Probably picked up flu whilst travelling on the crowded ship.) “I haven’t started on any Air Force work yet. We are just doing marching and a spot of musketry now and again. We were all injected against Typhoid and Tetanus or something like that last Saturday. However apart from a fairly stiff arm it did not affect me at all. We were given 48 hours Light Duty after it so had quite a loaf. We all had to go for a shoot today. The distance was 25 yards and we were given 25 shots to blaze into the target. The chaps here reckoned the Rhodesians could shoot well enough so they did not take our scores. Consequently the fellows were shooting the props and knocking the targets down.” Dad had been to Wolverhampton but found things expensive, rationing made some things difficult to find. Cigarettes (decent ones) were 1/6 for 20 but Dad obviously had a good stock of them as he had bought 500 on the boat for 12/6. The beer in England was not to their liking.
“People here are very hospitable to Colonials and make us very much at home. The fellows in camp are not so keen on us as they reckon we are rather a “tough” and ungentlemanly crew. Of course
[page break]
there is a general feeling of sort of superiority having come 7000 miles and all that sort of thing. We are all looking forward to getting to our squadrons as this camp is getting on our nerves because actually it is only a camp to instil discipline and all we seem to do is march, spit and polish and clean up our knives and forks and plates, but we are getting used to the last part as we had that on the boat” … “Must get my wings on my chest or some badge as I really couldn’t just stay down on the ground and polish plugs …
We were all very proud of the uniforms the first day, but there are so many men in kit that it has worn off.”
The planes flying overhead at night and air raid sirens seemed to keep everyone awake at night. Dad started to make contact with relatives, Uncle Jim and the rest of them up there in Scotland and was planning on a visit. Family news cropped up in the letter as Harry and Betty were married and his best wishes were bestowed on them.
The next letter was not dated, but presumably written a week or so after the last approximately the 1st September 1940. Written on blue writing paper with ink pen. Dad still had not received any of his mother’s letters since leaving Rhodesia. He had received mail from Aunt Ella and Aunt Bess (Somerset). “They seem to think I am one big hero coming all this way to join the Air Force and all that sort of stuff. We are supposed to be leaving this camp anytime from now to go to a training school. We hear the Germans every night, supposed to be raiding the Midlands towns and they all seem to pass pretty near here. Am getting quite used to being “droned” to sleep” “Had a bit of fun in a bus the other day. A pal and I were speaking Afrikaans and we heard everyone saying we must be Polish. You can imagine their surprise when we spoke to the conductor in perfectly good English. When they heard we were Rhodesian, they didn’t half make a fuss of us. Everyone here seems to think that colonials are just the cats pyjamas, in particular the girls.”
Still no news from the relatives up north, but expecting to hear from them soon.
We are supposed to be leaving this camp anytime from now to go to a training school. A lot of Rhodesian have already left for their respective centres and am also keen to start on something new as we do nothing but drill here from morn till night. We hear the Germans every night, supposed to be raiding the Midlands towns and they all seem to pass pretty near here. Am getting quite used to being “droned” to sleep” Air Raid sirens still an annoyance, but also such a dismal sound. The All Clear sounded a lot better. They knew when German planes flew overhead because they had did not have [sic] a steady roar “but comes in intervals”. Bombs had been dropped fairly close by at 3 am one morning and some people were killed. For entertainment the lads when [sic] into Wolverhampton to watch a “bio” and a bus ride but because of they had to be in at 9.30 and the bus ride was an hour to get back, their night life was severely curtailed.
On the 9th September Dad wrote that he was pleased to have had some mail from home at long last. He had begun to think that there was no more British merchant Navy, the letter took so long! Dad was thrilled to have been accepted as a pilot but was waiting in anticipation for the Medical Test, which was to follow in two days time. “I sincerely hope I pass (Medical) as I am looking forward immensely to get a crack at these bally Nazis that we hear every night. It is most annoying to lie in bed and just listen to them and not be able to do anything about it. However will just have to put up with that for another five months and then maybe I’ll get a chance to do something as a pilots course takes at least that long … The Empire relies on me to turn the tide”
It was obvious from his letters by now that Dad wanted to be part of the action and did not enjoy doing things like foot drill on the square every day. Only the aircrews were left in the camp, all the Rhodesians having been drafted to various stations. The weather was now beginning to get pretty cold; winter was just around the corner.
The next letter was written on the 16th September 1940 on blue stationary, still stationed at Bridgnorth. He was very pleased to tell his mother that he passed his Medical for a pilot and was now waiting to be posted for training. Good news – 175 Germans down yesterday. The weather had changed since his last
[page break]
letter, drizzle and cold. On a social visit to Wolverhampton the sirens went off at 8. pm but the dance they were at continued, despite the raid. “We left at about 10 pm and so tried to get lodgings and we walked that town till 2 am without success. In desperation we went to an air raid shelter and managed to get an hours sleep till 6 o’clock. We then found an hotel that we knew about but couldn’t find it in the “black out” and lost ourselves in the effort. However we took a bed at 6 am and breakfast at 2 pm. What a night as it was cold and raining and nobody seems to be able to direct one to anywhere decent. Saw a 6 weeks old Chronicle today. Big headlines about Rhodesian Air Contingent arriving in Britain. Must have caused quite a consternation when we left at the dead of night. Yes, I heard you shout” (I wonder if that meant granny was at the station to see them off?)
On Thursday the 26th September 1940, using the official Air Force letterhead but still using the Rhodesia House address in London Dad wrote “I suppose by now Harry will be back from his honeymoon” Dad had managed to get to Somerset to see his relatives. He went by train, changing at Birmingham and a few other places before arriving at Castle Cary. He surprised everyone by arriving unannounced. He wrote about Aunt Bess, Uncle Jack, Dan, Bruce, Bert Baker, visiting Wyke house, people in Millbourne Port. “I had a jolly fine weekend and really enjoyed it.” The weather was getting increasingly colder in Bridgnorth. (That was quite a journey there and back considering Dad had to change trains quite often, catch a bus and walk a fair distance without having any directions from the relatives, and being new to England.)
On Friday 9th October 1940 Dad wrote from his new base, in Paignton near Torquay. “It is very lovely down here, as the scenery is so wonderful. Most of the air Force here is billeted in Hotels as it used to be a very popular seaside resort in peacetime. There are four of us in my room (all Rhodesians) and it is not too bad as we have plenty of fresh air with a big window overlooking the sea.” However the next day they were leaving for a 3 week Maths course at another camp nearby. Thereafter there would be a 5 weeks Navigation Course, 8 weeks at Elementary Flying School, 8 weeks at Advanced Training School, altogether six months of hard work before seeing any action. If Dad failed any of the exams then his future career as a pilot would come to an end, leaving them with the option of gunner or observer, so naturally Dad was very keen to pass. “The atmosphere at a Pilots Training School is much different to the last place I was at as generally speaking the fellows are pretty “high class” and the Officers and M.C.O’s [sic] are the very best they can find, and cadets are treated more or less like gentlemen again.”
[underlined] November 19th 1940. [/underlined] With the postal service taking some 6 weeks to 2 months to reach Rhodesia, Dad wrote to wish every one a happy and prosperous New Year at home. He was anticipating spending Christmas with one of the relatives.
“Am just continuing on the same old course which should be finished at the end of this week as we have started on the various exams. We were issued with flying kit the other day and believe me it is really lovely stuff and warm as anything.”
Being mid-winter and Dad did not tend to go out much, apart from a dance which was rather overcrowded so he went home early. Also the black out didn’t make it easy to get around after dark. With exams coming up Dad chose to a spot of swotting instead. [sic]
Letter dated 15th December 1940 on official RAF letterhead, pale blue with envelope to match and 6 ha’penny stamps arrived in Inyazura on the 18th February 1941. (By then the news was so out of date it must have been frustrating for the family keeping up with Dad’s news.) Dad was saddened by the news of Harry Roberts. “I am very sorry indeed to hear such sad news and it is terribly hard luck on Phyllis. However as you say Phyllis has courage and I’m sure she’ll bear up and get over it but nevertheless it must have been an awful shock to her.”
In the meantime Dad had some leave and visited relatives in Scotland for the first time. He stayed with the Tullochs, relatives on his mother’s side, went to see Uncle Jim’s school where he more or less took the salute. Babs Tulloch, his cousin was studying at medical school so he did not see much of her, but
[page break]
they managed to Jack Buchanan at the Kings Theatre. [sic] His Uncle Jim Dunn gave him a lecture of about two hours on religion which he was in the habit of doing but Dad “took his dose like a lamb as he didn’t think he was in a position to argue about such things”. He also visited an Auntie Isobel who was busy in the shop. Then he also met with Bella Stephenson, and Aunt Nellie, Bella Strachan and her husband. Dad had not forgotten his sister and sent her a telegram of condolences from Glasgow. The trip up to Glasgow was not that easy, the train service was not good because of the air raids and it took from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon at 4.30 to arrive. He was exhausted as he had not slept much on the train on the Friday night and then stopped over at a B&B in Carlisle that cost him 6d. The journey back was equally as long and tedious and caused him to be one day late so he was in a spot of trouble. In the meantime the training in Paignton was progressing, all necessary exams passed and just waiting to be posted to an EFTS. and Dad had been promoted to Leading Aircraftsman. The pay went up from 2/- to 5/6 per day. The rest of the letter concerned money matters and his insurance policy and an offer of money for Phyllis. It was a very newsy letter, extra long to make up for the week he lost.
Letter dated the 29th December 1940 described his Christmas in Paignton where there was a lot doing and which he enjoyed. There was a dance in Torquay, which they left late and had to get a taxi home. A very benevolent family had three of them for Christmas midday dinner, which seemed strange to him. He and his roommate visited this family a number of times as they enjoyed the warmth and peaceful atmosphere away from the barracks. Over the Christmas period he went to a couple of dances which he enjoyed thoroughly. (I think his time in Paignton was the happiest for him.)
1941
5th January 1941. Saw snow for the first time, some six inches of snow on the hills and around and bitterly cold weather. On a route march into the hills the fellows participated in some snow fights which resulted in some facial injuries because the snow was frozen. All the ponds were frozen up and walking quite dangerous, worst of all is doing PT outside in a vest and shorts “which nearly kills us” Still in Paignton in seems, [sic] expecting to leave for E.F.T.S. soon near Hull once the weather clears up a little.
New Years eve was a big success, went to a local dance. Otherwise not much news, just a mention of some friends of Dad’s from Rhodesia and what they doing [sic] in the Air Force.
On 14th January, Dad wrote that he had been posted to 4 E.F.TS. flying school in Brough, fairly near Hull. Kept very busy, lots of lectures and then studying. Lectures all morning and then flying the in the afternoon, [sic] weather permitting. The students had to average well over 60% on all subjects in order to pass
“Up to now have done 2 and a half hours which is all dual, just learning the various manoevers [sic] etc. but the instructor is always there to check up and show you how it should be done. It is just fine flying around. We have a very nice lounge and separate writing room nicely furnished. We have tablecloths again, cups and saucers instead of mugs and last but not least by a long way … we have butter, jam and sugar on the table. There is also a mess where we can get beer and soft drinks so generally speaking we are living like gentlemen. We sleep out every second night in an old Sunday school building so that in the event of a lot of air raids we can get a decent nights sleep, but nothing has happened so far”.
Usual address “Some where in England” 24th January 1941. Due to good old English weather no flying for nearly a week. Dad had to placate Granny, she was worried and not heard from Dad for so long. The reason being that mail from the UK 2nd – 22nd November had gone missing, which is hardly surprising consider [sic] there was a war going on.
“We are trying to learn all sorts of things to become pilots and it seems to me as if being able to fly a plane is about the least important thing. This navigation is still a bit of a myth to me as there are such an awful lot of things to do and work out before starting on a flight. It is such a common thing to hear about a bomber going to the other end of Germany and back that it seems childs [sic] play, but I’m thinking they are pretty smart.” Doesn’t that sound just like Dad!
[page break]
Very welcome post received from his mother, and a letter from Harry which took Dad about an hour to decipher! The sea voyage did not have a good effect on the chocolate so Dad asked his mother not to send anymore, cigarettes yes!
Sunday 2nd February 1941. The usual discussion about letters received and sent, the miserable weather and lack of flying. Examinations passed but more to come, lectures from 8.30 – 5.30. Sunday’s in England not much happening and “must be just about the sleepiest thing imaginable”.
12th February 1941. Not much to report other than a bit of flying and about ready to go solo, weather permitting. So far Dad had done 8 hrs flying, but needed to get in 42 hours flying before moved to next base for more advanced training. Some correspondence exchanged between Dad and Babs Tulloch, who had sent Dad a pair of woollen knitted gloves.
Socially not much happening, the closest place is Hull but the bus costs a bit too much. However they did get to see a bio: Erol Flynn “The Sea Hawk” and then went to an enjoyable dance in the evening.
18th February 1941 Dad keeping fit, received a couple of newspapers dated 27th December and 3rd January, so a bit out of date by then. Douglas Leggo getting married. No letters from his mother in five weeks which was cause for concern and also had no news about Buster. Still busy with exams, very little flying because of the weather, so not much news.
24th February 1941 Two letters had arrived, and about 4 newspapers so news from home was very welcome. Busters kids had whooping cough at the festive season. Final exams finished, just waiting for results. Lots of flying when the weather is good, and recently had some sunshine. Not much news, pretty much the same thing done every day.
10th March 1941 Still at Brough and ground instruction now completed. Up until then Dad had only flown 25 hours in 8 weeks. Letters received from Mrs. Bartons niece, Babs Tulloch but still so few letters coming through from Inyazura. Dad wanted snaps of Charlton, Harry;s [sic] honeymoon.
And then a big money mix-up:
“Do you remember that time I was hard up and cabled home for money. Well you cabled £11.10.0 but the post office at Paignton made a mistake and sent me only 10/- which at the time seemed rather strange, but I couldn’t do anything about it. However they discovered it about 2 months later (that was honest of them) and have duly paid over the remaining £11 with much apology.”
(This letter took a whole two months to get to IY)
Posted from Cary Hill House, Castle Cary, Bath Sunday 30th March On 10 days leave, so visited relatives.
“Arrived here last night and meant to make it an unheralded visit but I had a telegram waiting for me when I arrived to say that leave had been extended from 2nd April to 9th April. When my leave is over I have to report to my new station, which is about 40 miles north of London. I believe it si [sic] quite a nice place so I hope I shall enjoy it there. Actually I was quite sorry to leave Brough as we had grand crowd of fellows there and we had a good time”
The letters written in April must have gone astray, 11th May 1941 was the date of the next letter. First solo cross country was [deleted] from here [/deleted] [inserted] across [/inserted] to Worcester then north of Shresbury, [sic] passed right over the old camp at Bridgnorth. The next cross country was a bit of an adventure, having got lost near Salisbury, and after flying around in circles for about an hour they had to make an emergency landing to refuel. Started night flying on the 10th May, only started at 3 am because of an air raid. There had been a tragedy the previous week when the instructor and another pupil cam [sic] into land with its navigation lights on. the Germans spotted it and shot at it. They had to crash land and the pilot and instructor were wounded
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
Donald Baker's war time story taken from letters which he wrote to his mother in Rhodesia
Description
An account of the resource
Stars in June 1940 based on letters written to his mother. Tells of life in Rhodesia before being called up and travelling to England, Discusses war as well as work and social life and initial training in Rhodesia. Goes on to describe a little of journey by ship and the life in England including bombing. Mentions RAF basic training camps in August 1940. Mentions medical for pilot and starting training (maths an navigation courses). Goes on leave to Scotland and describes Christmas. January 1941 sent for elementary flying training which is completed about March 1941. Account finishes in may 1941 with mention getting lost and emergency landing.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six page printed document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SBakerDA19210428v20001
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe--Harare
Zimbabwe--Bulawayo
Great Britain
England--London
England--Shropshire
England--Bridgnorth
England--Staffordshire
England--Wolverhampton
England--Devon
England--Paignton
England--Yorkshire
England--Hull
England--Somerset
England--Castle Cary
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-06
1940-07
1940-08
1940-09
1940-10
1940-11
1940-12
1941-01
1941-02
1941-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
RAF Bridgnorth
RAF Paignton
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1881/36320/SChristianAL29160v10040-0010.1.jpg
249906149104190b3f05a4353675bec6
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1881/36320/SChristianAL29160v10040-0011.1.jpg
95b3ac06cc080710d98593581f2c7396
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
Christian, Arnold Louis
A L Christian
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
2017-06-26
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
Christian, AL
Description
An account of the resource
93 items. The collection concerns Wing Commander <span>Arnold Louis</span> <span>Christian </span>(1906 - 1941, 29160 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operation as a pilot with 105 Squadron and was killed 8 May 1941.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Steven Christian and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br />Additional information on <span>Arnold Louis</span> <span>Christian</span> is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/204958/">IBCC Losses Database.</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
HM King George at RAF Bicester
Description
An account of the resource
Two photographs of King George inspection RAF airmen at Bicester. Arnold is second behind the King.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SChristianAL29160v10040-0010, SChristianAL29160v10040-0011
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.
1940-07
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Oxfordshire
aircrew
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
pilot
RAF Bicester
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/53/676/EBoldyDABoldyLM400619.1.pdf
24704f851597f9c450de1931a7e7b613
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
Boldy, David
Dave Boldy
D A Boldy
Description
An account of the resource
334 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant David Adrian Boldy (1918 – 1942, 923995 Royal Air Force) and consists of his school reports, letters from school and photographs of family and locations in India, letters from training and service, and photographs from his social life and time training. It also includes newspaper cuttings and letters about him being missing in action. David Boldy was born and attended school in India and studied law at Kings College London. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained as an air gunner in South Africa. He flew operations in Manchesters and Lancasters with 207 Squadron from RAF Bottesford. His aircraft failed to return from an operation to Gdańsk 11 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Boldy and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.<br /><br />Additional information on David Boldy is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/102182/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
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. 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
Boldy, DA
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[inserted] from Boldy
59 Bathurst Mews,
Lancaster Gale,
London. W.2. [/inserted]
[deleted] R.A.F.
St. Leonards [/deleted]
19 [underlined] th [/underlined] June.
My darling Mum & Steve,
Many thanks for Steve’s letter recd [sic] to-day. I wrote yesterday but forgot to post the letter as Cecil came dashing in about 7.30 so I am enclosing this.
Glad to hear Steve enjoyed the Tennis. It is a pity I shan’t be able to see Peter for a Time. I shall drop him a line when I have some Time to spare. Up the L.D.V.V’s. I hope we give them Hell. I have just had Winstons speech. It’s smashing He’s a great fellow there is no getting away from it.
The situation is certainly very bad, but one never can tell we may yet give Hitler & Mussolini something to think about. We were woken up by the sirens at 12.30 last night. The All clear was given after half an hour. They got a lot uapsin [sic]
[page break]
allright [sic]. We didn’t hear anything at all. I was woken up by Ajan & one had to scramble down over 100 steps in the dark. I would not have woken up if Ajan hadn’t got on to me.
Last evening Cecil (his friend Bill) [deleted] RJ [/deleted] Ajan & I went out for a bit. We had a couple of drinks and a meal. On Thursday we are going to a Bing Crosby Film.
This afternoon instead of parades etc. we had organised games. I played Tennis – one set – we won 6-5. The balls were Terrible, so was the Court & the wind was still worse. Still I quite enjoyed myself.
I heard to-day we are definitely moving. Where or when I am not yet sure. You can carry on writing however as they will forward the mail. Don’t bother to get the
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined]
pyjamas just yet (I think the size is 34”) anyway I am having a bath to-day + will begin using the silk pair I have, which I have not used yet. I only want one pair from Selfridges.
We did Maths & Morse to-day. I like Morse, though I shall have to get down to it & learn the alphabet properly. We are all so tired at this end of the day that we just haven’t the energy to look at [deleted] the [/deleted] a thing.
By the look of things most of us will be up at night in the Air Raid shelters Anyway we had no P.T. this morning due to the raids. Poor old Dad must be Terribly worried.
The weather here on the whole has been very disappointing we have had only a couple of
[page break]
sunny days.
While waiting to go on parade to-day we amused ourselves by watches some belles bathing on the beach. One had a Terrific Tan. She was like a Red Indian. Tan girls were O.K. too.
I got my second pair of boots the other day. They are smashing. Very neat and the leather is like Kidd [sic], also they have a rubber back, the present pair is almost in ruins.
No more to-day, God bless you both.
[underlined] Love Dave. [/underlined]
P.S. 8 th July.
I am sending these letters by ordinary mail having sent the latest by air mail. They are such delightful, spontaneous, happy affairs that they are worth reading & keeping. Please keep them. Together in one of the drawers in my cupboard with their school boy things. Will send more later. Love Dave
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/.
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from David Boldy to his mother and brother. States his opinion on the latest Churchill’s speech; writes about his evening out with his friends and going to see a Bing Crosby film. He also writes doing Morse code and maths and about having no physical training due to the air raids.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Boldy
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Correspondence
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EBoldyDABoldyLM400619
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anita Raine
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.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from David Boldy to his mother and brother
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
bombing
entertainment
Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/53/674/EBoldyDABoldyLM400607-0001.1.jpg
9a8f1ea891545bc523f0cce353c4aff5
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/53/674/EBoldyDABoldyLM400607-0002.1.jpg
9aff017cc1423b0d2ba6155cdfc412b0
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
Boldy, David
Dave Boldy
D A Boldy
Description
An account of the resource
334 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant David Adrian Boldy (1918 – 1942, 923995 Royal Air Force) and consists of his school reports, letters from school and photographs of family and locations in India, letters from training and service, and photographs from his social life and time training. It also includes newspaper cuttings and letters about him being missing in action. David Boldy was born and attended school in India and studied law at Kings College London. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained as an air gunner in South Africa. He flew operations in Manchesters and Lancasters with 207 Squadron from RAF Bottesford. His aircraft failed to return from an operation to Gdańsk 11 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Boldy and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.<br /><br />Additional information on David Boldy is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/102182/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
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. 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
Boldy, DA
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
923995 AC2. BOLDY D.A.
R.A.F. Station Drem.
East Lothian.
Scotland.
7 [underlined] th [/underlined] June, 1940.
My darling Mum & Steve,
No letter to-day as no one went down for the mail due to some sort of work we were doing to-day. They seem to have put us to work now. What I did to-day puts Cinderella in the shade.
A few of us had to sweep out & clean the N.A.A.F.I (canteen) & 2 cleaned up & swept the back yard & moved the bins & God knows what else. Incidentally the government is still appealing for Air Crews. A number of us are thinking of applying for it! Still I didn’t think we will we have more than another fortnight.
Last evening some of us went to the Café (The Parachute) just outside the camp, & had something to eat. It is a very nice place & we have quite an amusing Time.
It was a bit cooler to-day
[page break]
and we found it much easier to work. Yesterday it was ghastly. Two of us had a date in Edinburgh but we couldn’t get off, so those poor girls must have hung around for a bit & then gone away.
Apparently it is worth getting through the Observer’s course as the time between which you are made a Sergent [sic] observer and the Time you go into action is pretty easy & you have a good Time. This actual training however is a terrific course. After all this inactivity makes activity in the wrong direction most of us will [undecipherable word] to glad to settle down to our real work.
I shall probably write to Dad tomorrow if I can get some thin paper. If Cecil phones again please get his address.
No more to-day. God bless you both.
[underlined] Love Dave [/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/.
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from David Boldy to his mother and brother. Discussed new cleaning task that he has been completing around; mentions two restaurants he visited and a date he failed to attend; showed interest in joining the aircrew and speaks about the observer’s course.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Boldy
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-06
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Correspondence
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EBoldyDABoldyLM400607
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
Scotland
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anita Raine
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.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from David Boldy to his parents
RAF Drem
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/776/E[Author]BeltonSLS400731-010001.jpg
f9cfe33f7e81af59d72d3f37e3b382bd
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/776/E[Author]BeltonSLS400731-010002.jpg
cdda8e64ac5f2fe89ddf7ebb9ba8e2a4
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/776/E[Author]BeltonSLS400731-010003.jpg
3f0a37c0df80db647ce3bb88e6fbc20a
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
Belton, Spencer Lewis
Spencer Lewis Belton
Spencer Lewis Smith Belton
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. 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
Belton, SLS
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. Photographs, correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton (1919 - 1940, 581261 Royal Air Force). Spencer Lewis Belton flew as an observer/ bomb aimer with 144 Squadron from RAF Hemswell. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal after an operation to Wilhelmshaven in July 1940 and was interviewed about it by the British Broadcasting Corporation. He was killed 10/11 August 1940 when his Hampden P4368 crashed in the Netherlands, during an operation to Homberg. <br /><br />Additional information on Spencer Lewis Belton is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/101634/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Carr and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-20
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[postmark]
[postage stamp]
[page break]
Sergeant S.L.S. Belton, D.F.M.,
R. A. F. Station,
Hemswell,
Lincolnshire.
[page break]
581261
Sgts Mess
R.A.F. Hemswell,
[underlined] Lincoln. 31/7/40. [/underlined]
Dear Dad,
Thanks for your letter. Yes I am quite all right — thankyou — hope you are well. I am enclosing a letter & telegram & my BBC contract. I was going to keep the D.F.M. as a surprise for when I came home but I expect you have seen it in the paper. I’m sorry I didn’t have time to tell you I was going to broadcast but I didn’t know
[page break]
myself until the night before. I hope you heard it. it was at half past six in the Forces programme & at eleven Work in the Empire News (they made a recording of it too.) I don’t know whether I get the fee or the station — I haven’t got it yet anyway. You might send the [inserted] letters [/inserted] on to mum. Tell her not to lose them. I am hoping to get six days leave starting on the 11th at midday. So get home at night — I hope.
Love from [underlined] Lewis. [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Spencer Lewis Belton to his father
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton to his father. Discusses the news of Distinguished Flying Medal and a broadcast on the British Broadcasting Corporation about its award.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Spencer Lewis Belton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-31
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter with mismatched envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
E[Author]BeltonSLS400731-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
England--Lincolnshire
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
Karl Williams
Distinguished Flying Medal
RAF Hemswell
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/779/E[Author]BeltonSLS410524-01.pdf
6eb3715d95804b40ba04f894f8367b31
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
Belton, Spencer Lewis
Spencer Lewis Belton
Spencer Lewis Smith Belton
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. 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
Belton, SLS
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. Photographs, correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton (1919 - 1940, 581261 Royal Air Force). Spencer Lewis Belton flew as an observer/ bomb aimer with 144 Squadron from RAF Hemswell. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal after an operation to Wilhelmshaven in July 1940 and was interviewed about it by the British Broadcasting Corporation. He was killed 10/11 August 1940 when his Hampden P4368 crashed in the Netherlands, during an operation to Homberg. <br /><br />Additional information on Spencer Lewis Belton is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/101634/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Carr and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-20
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] On His Majesty’s Service [/underlined]
[postmark]
S. Belton Esq.
Lodge Farm,
FOULNESS,
Southend on Sea.
[page break]
Sgts Mess,
R.A.F. Hemswell
Lincoln. 24/4/40.
Dear Dad,
Thanks for your letter. There are two or three boys here from S. Wales & they say there are a lot of raids there. Yes I think I shall get six days in August but I still don’t know which exactly. We have had some terrific thunderstorms & very heavy downpours but it has been fine for the last few days. There is a piece of peas out near here but I haven’t seen any corn yet. There is some barley getting
[page break]
quite ripe near too. But I don’t go up in the daytime very often so I don’t see much. I went to Lincoln to the pictures last night and I didn’t meet any of my old pals. There was someone died in the pictures with a horrible yell — nearly like Tarzan only not quite so loud. I am enclosing piece of shrapnel that hit me in the ribs Saturday night. You can see a piece of my harness sticking to it. I will bring home the thing that stopped it when I come home next. If you look on the front of Monday’s “Mirror” you will see a little piece about it. I have a nice bruise on my ribs.
Love from Lewis
[page break]
76 Bus at Bank
To Victoria Station
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Spencer Lewis Belton to his father
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton to his father. Refers to air raids in Wales, weather, leave, crops, visit to cinema, a death in the cinema and finally a comment about a piece of shrapnel that bruised his ribs, reported in Monday’s 'Mirror'. Reverse of envelope is annotated ‘76 bus at Bank to Victoria Station’.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Spencer Lewis Belton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-24
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter with envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Correspondence
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
E[Author]BeltonSLS410524-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
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
Karl Williams
RAF Hemswell
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15096/E[Mother]RedgraveJM400722-0001.jpg
acb451b680f58b666ece10f3ab00f3b7
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15096/E[Mother]RedgraveJM400722-0002.jpg
6a2f3a2a0e5d90a8d41a61b64ab3b074
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15096/E[Mother]RedgraveJM400722-0003.jpg
12de65856033535a21d06405f0adea60
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
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[postmark]
[postage due stamp]
[inserted] blue doodling [/inserted]
Mrs. Redgrave
[deleted] “Exmorth” [/deleted] Emorf.
Alice Road
Dorchester
[smudged] Dorset [/smudged]
[page break]
E.J.
July 22 1940
My dear Jessie and Pamela.
I am so sorry Harry has been shifted, as I know how nice it must have been for you all to be together often. I have had a letter from Harry, and I think he seems very miserable about it all too, but still never mind, the war wont [sic] last forever, and then we shall all be back in Redwood. Have you decided what you are going to do now, it would be nice for you to live with your Aunty Jessie, and also you would be quite near to Auntie Nellie and all the family at Teddington. I miss you all very much, and all Pam’s little ways.
Joyce and Tom came up Saturday night much later than we expected owing to an air raid, they all look very well, Tom had to leave at 6 oclock [sic] yesterday Sunday. We all had a lovely day and I was very pleased to see them again. Of course we are very pushed for beds, as you know Milly has only one, so I
[page break]
sleep on the settee downstairs now, so that Joyce and Pat can sleep in the bed with Milly. Joyce says she will buy a cot for Pat, I would like to have my divan up here, but have to make the best of things these days. We have all been to Grays today and Joyce says it makes a change for her to see the shops. All Friday and Saturday Milly and I have been trying to get our own air raid shelter ready for use, we are trying to make steps to go down to it but it is hard work, we have done the front garden and made it look very nice. Thank you for sending on Harry’s 5/- on [sic], and I am going to write to him tomorrow, I am looking forward to him having some leave so that we can all see him. How is Pamela is she just as pretty, tell her, her Nanny is always thinking of her, and hopes she is a good girl, does she ever ask you when she is going home. Well dear I think this is all this time, try and let me know soon what you are doing, as you also seem far away, so will say Goodbye, wishing you all the luck in the world
With my fondest love to you both.
Your loving Mum
xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxx For Pam
[underlined]Love from Milly & Joyce [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to Jessie Redgrave from her mother
Description
An account of the resource
Two-page handwritten letter and envelope from Jessie Redgrave’s mother. She writes that she is sorry that Harry has moved to another station and that she hopes he gets leave soon. She also writes about family visits.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mrs Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-22
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two-page handwritten letter and envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
E[Mother]RedgraveJM400722-0001,
E[Mother]RedgraveJM400722-0002,
E[Mother]RedgraveJM400722-0003
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--Worcester
England--Worcestershire
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.
1940-07
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1011/11358/EStavesMEStaves[GF-GM]400712-0001.jpg
ba915452e8fd72893f339c78c1ad4501
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1011/11358/EStavesMEStaves[GF-GM]400712-0002.jpg
99ed500a173c8e3435d9bd4b77dad9f3
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1011/11358/EStavesMEStaves[GF-GM]400712-0003.jpg
fe03d3173979e027813b642aeffee02b
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
Staves, Malcom Ely
M E Staves
Description
An account of the resource
77 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Malcom Staves (1924 - 2012, 1591418, 203137 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, items, documents, photographs, and training notebooks. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 207 Squadron. <br /><br />There is also a sub collection concerning Flight Lieutenant <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1020">D A MacArthur.</a><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Christina Chatwin 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
2016-02-26
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
Staves, ME
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[postage stamp]
[postmark]
P/O Staves M. E.
Officers Mess
R.A.F. Tuddenham
Bury St. Edmunds
[underlined] Suffolk [/underlined]
[page break]
The Hollies
Stickford
Boston
Lincs
12th July 1940
Dear [indecipherable word]
Received your interesting letter very pleased to hear you are a good boy and getting promoted. I hope you get out soon with a big pension.
I must tell you Harry at the mill has got discharged at last but I expect he will not get so much money but that will not matter as they need him so badly at home. Well so much for that it dont [sic] get me shaved Well we keep trudging along plenty to do in the garden I was pulling peas last night so we had a bust up for dinner today with new potatoes and peas weve [sic] had plenty of gooseberries and black currants, several busts up.
[page break]
We had a few hours leave last Sunday week we went to Sutton on the Sunday and came back on the Tuesday so we were not away long but when you get spent out home you have to come.
I expect Gwen & Mac will soon be leaving Cottingham your mam will feel very lonely for a while, but she will soon get used to it, it’s a very busy world there seems [inserted] more [/inserted] to do than can be done.
Well I shall have to draw to a close, we have just put on the nine news so its getting nearly roost time
So Cheerio
Keep nipping about
With Love from
Grandad & Grannie
Tally oh
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to Malcolm Staves
Description
An account of the resource
A letter to Malcolm from his Grandparents. A lot of domestic news but also congratulates Malcolm on his promotion.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-12
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets and envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EStavesMEStaves[GF-GM]400712-0001,
EStavesMEStaves[GF-GM]400712-0002,
EStavesMEStaves[GF-GM]400712-0003
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--Suffolk
England--Boston
England--Lincolnshire
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Christian
David Bloomfield
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
aircrew
home front
RAF Tuddenham
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1385/25431/MBakerDA19210428-181113-020001.1.jpg
5aa60cac7d3c9ecb6642d0807aa44596
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1385/25431/MBakerDA19210428-181113-020002.1.jpg
9ea3eb8feebdc739725fa56a7115f07c
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, Donald Arthur
D A Baker
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
2018-11-13
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
Baker, DA
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. Donald Arthur Baker (b. 1921) travelled from Southern Rhodesia to England in 1940 to join the Royal Air Force. Trained as a pilot in 1941 he was operational with 144 Squadron at RAF North Luffenham flying Hampdens. He was shot down on 5 November 1941 and remained a prisoner of war mostly in Stalag Luft 3 until 1945. He return to farm in Southern Rhodesia after the war. The collection contains letters to his mother throughout the war as well as other correspondence and documents including his prisoner of war log with photographs and notes.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by June Baker Maree and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Memorandum on the steps taken to trace missing personnel.
Lists of personnel missing as a result of the active operations are complied by the War Office, the Admiralty and the Air Ministry and sent to the Wounded, Missing and Relatives Department of the Joint British Red Cross and Order of St. John, 7, Belgrave Square, London, S.W.1, who at one institute such further enquiry as is possible.
In the first place the lists of names are forwarded by that Department to the International Red Cross Committee at Geneva. This Committee has access to special information, since, according to the International Convention of 1929 relative to the Treatment Prisoners of War, each belligerent power is bound to set up an official bureau to give information about prisoners of war. The bureau in Germany sends reports to the International Red Cross Committee at Geneva, which thus receives information from the enemy government and can make enquiries for names sent out by this country.
In the second place, the Red Cross and St. John have an organisation of selected searchers, accredited to the military and civil hospitals throughout this country. Enquiries are made by these searchers from wounded personnel of the missing men’s own units. When searchers’ reports are considered reliable, the information is sent by the Red Cross and St. John to the Service Departments, which at once inform the next of kin.
Page break
Meanwhile all information obtainable from other sources, which might throw any light on the fate of missing individuals, is being collected by the Casualty Branch of the Service Department concerned.
Relatives may therefore rest assured that, without any application on their part, every endeavour is being made both abroad and at home to trace missing personnel. Immediately any reliable information is received, it is conveyed to the next of kin, who are advised to keep the appropriate Casualty Branch or Record Office informed as to any change of address.
If information is obtained that a missing individual is a prisoner of war, the next of kin receives, with the notification, a further leaflet giving full instructions as to the manner in which correspondence with him may be conducted (included the sending of parcels).
It should be borne in mind that the announcements of the names of prisoners of war by German wireless stations are made for the purpose of inducing people in this country to listen to German views. The lists are incomplete and often inaccurate and should not be relied upon. The B.B.C. sends full transcripts of these lists to all three Service Departments, which then inform the relatives of those who can be identified from the particulars given in the broadcast.
July, 1940.
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
Memorandum on steps taken to trace missing personnel
Description
An account of the resource
Describes procedures including compiling lists, contacting the International Red Cross. Mentions work of Red Cross and St John organisations as well as service department. Continues with role of casualty branches of services and notification of next of kin. Warns against use of prisoner names by German radio for propaganda purposes.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page printed document
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
MBakerDA19210428-181113-02
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
British Army
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Laura Morgan
Trevor Hardcastle
missing in action
prisoner of war
propaganda
Red Cross
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/787/MBeltonSLS190305-151120-120001.2.jpg
7f730d16d365cc414940e439b5e21016
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/787/MBeltonSLS190305-151120-120002.2.jpg
0a38a433f25aa9b74ba27f822682bbd6
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/787/MBeltonSLS190305-151120-120003.2.jpg
3b59d320e77d95071a14d7148c74ac9a
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
Belton, Spencer Lewis
Spencer Lewis Belton
Spencer Lewis Smith Belton
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. 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
Belton, SLS
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. Photographs, correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton (1919 - 1940, 581261 Royal Air Force). Spencer Lewis Belton flew as an observer/ bomb aimer with 144 Squadron from RAF Hemswell. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal after an operation to Wilhelmshaven in July 1940 and was interviewed about it by the British Broadcasting Corporation. He was killed 10/11 August 1940 when his Hampden P4368 crashed in the Netherlands, during an operation to Homberg. <br /><br />Additional information on Spencer Lewis Belton is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/101634/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Carr and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-20
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Memorandum on the steps. taken to trace missing personnel.
Lists of personnel missing as a result of active operations are compiled by the War Office, the Admiralty and the Air Ministry and sent to the Wounded, Missing and Relatives Department of the Joint British Red Cross and Order of St. John, 7, Belgrave Square, London. S.W.1, who at once institute such further enquiry as is possible.
In the first place the lists of names are forwarded by that Department to the International Red Cross Committee at Geneva. This Committee has access to special information, since, according to the Inter national Convention of 1929 relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, each belligerent power is bound to set up an official bureau to give information about prisoners of war. The bureau in Germany sends reports to the International Red Cross Committee at Geneva, which thus receives information from the enemy government and can make enquiries for names sent out by this country.
In the second place, the Red Cross and St. John have an organisation of selected searchers, accredited to the military and civil hospitals throughout this country. Enquiries are made by these searchers from wounded personnel of the missing men's own units. When searchers' reports are considered reliable, the information is sent by the Red Cross and SL John to the Service Departments, which at once inform the next of kin.
[page break]
Meanwhile all information obtainable from other sources, which might throw any light on the fate of missing individuals, is being collected by the Casualty Branch of the Service Department concerned.
Relatives may therefore rest assured that, without any application on their part, every endeavour is being made both abroad and at home to trace missing personnel. Immediately any reliable information is received. it is
conveyed to the next of kin, who are advised to keep the appropriate Casualty Branch or Record Office informed as to any change of address.
If information is obtained that a. missing individual is a prisoner of war, the next of kin receives, with the notification, a further leaflet giving full instructions as to the manner in which correspondence with him may be conducted (including the sending of parcels).
It should be borne in mind that the announcements of the names of prisoners of war by German wireless stations are made for the purpose of inducing people in this country to listen to German views. The lists are incomplete and often inaccurate and should not be relied upon. The B.B.C. sends full transcripts of these lists to all three Service Departments. which then inform the relatives of those who can be identified from the particulars given in the broadcast.
July. 1940.
[page break]
[underlined]CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE[/underlined]
The names of all who lose their lives or are wounded or reported missing while serving with the Royal Air Force will appear in the official casualty lists published from time to
time in the Press.
Any publication of the date, place or circumstances of a casualty, and particularly any reference to the unit concerned. might give valuable information to the enemy, and for this reason. only the name, rank and service number are included in the official lists.
Relatives are particularly requested, in the national interest, to ensure that any notices published privately do not disclose the date, place or circumstances of the casualty, or the unit.
The Press have been asked to co-operate in ensuring that no information of value to the enemy is published.
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
Memorandum on the steps taken to trace missing personnel
Description
An account of the resource
The memorandum outlines procedures for tracing personnel resulted missing as consequence of active operations. Describes the role of the International Red Cross Committee in Geneva, St. John’s Ambulance and the Casualty branch of Record office. Stresses the importance of not trusting enemy broadcasts and emphasises the role of national media.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed 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
MBeltonSLS190305-151120-12
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.
1940-07
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
David Bloomfield
missing in action
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/814/NBeltonSLS151120-09.2.jpg
b15c9fb9dd3bb2a3331d50555a2fa570
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
Belton, Spencer Lewis
Spencer Lewis Belton
Spencer Lewis Smith Belton
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. 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
Belton, SLS
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. Photographs, correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton (1919 - 1940, 581261 Royal Air Force). Spencer Lewis Belton flew as an observer/ bomb aimer with 144 Squadron from RAF Hemswell. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal after an operation to Wilhelmshaven in July 1940 and was interviewed about it by the British Broadcasting Corporation. He was killed 10/11 August 1940 when his Hampden P4368 crashed in the Netherlands, during an operation to Homberg. <br /><br />Additional information on Spencer Lewis Belton is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/101634/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Carr and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-20
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[...] OIL FIRES
[...] R.A.F. PLANES
“We blew those tanks to blazes”
Flames rose to 300ft. and great clouds of yellow smoke rose to 1,000ft. from oil tanks at Vlaardingen, near Rotterdam, after a raid on Saturday night by Blenheim Bombers of Coastal Command.
“We could see the oil tanks very clearly in the moonlight – and we just blew them to blazes”, said one of the British pilots last night.
“The Germans opened up from a ring of guns all round as we came in, but our leader beat them to it. He got in several direct hits.
There were huge explosions, and a mountain of smoke which came up provided cover for the rest of us. The heat was so great that some of us, following on, were thrown violently upwards as we came over the targets”.
Seen 100 miles away
The fires lit up the countryside toward Rotterdam, and were so vivid that one pilot could see every detail of the railway lines and sheds.
The sky was still red with the reflection of the fires when the Blenheims were one hundred miles away on the return journey, according to the squadron leader, and the pilot of another aircraft saw the oil tanks still blazing furiously four hours later.
But these tanks were only one of many targets on Saturday night.
Germany’s naval base at Wilhemshaven was bombed again, despite fighter attacks and violent anti-aircraft fire.
One bomber got home safely though its wings were torn and a rudder and both airscrews damaged by shell splinters.
None of the crew was injured, but the navigator found shrapnel in his flying suit.
Another aircraft over Wilhelmshaven came down so low to attack two warships lying at anchor by a wharf that it nearly collided with a church steeple. Searchlights and A.A. batteries surrounding the docks were attacked too.
Two supply ships were bombed at sea, and one of them is believed to have been badly damaged.
Five of our bombers were lost in these operations.
Yesterday’s daylight raids by the R.A.F. included attacks on the radio station on Utsire Island, near Stavanger, and airfields at Flushing. Two of our reconnaissance aircraft failed to return.
Berlin still claiming
Berlin claimed last night to have scored direct hits on a cruiser and two destroyers during Saturday’s attacks on convoys in the Channel.
A communique issued by Nazi High Command said that German fighters shot down eight British planes in these operations.
This was refuted by an official statement in London that four British fighters were lost. One of our pilots escaped.
Authoritative comment backed up this official version, saying:-
“Today, as yesterday, the German authorities have distorted in their own favour the results of the day’s air operations over the English Channel and British coast.
“Actually the result of yesterday’s operations in this area was twelve German machines definitely destroyed.”
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
Oil fires R.A.F planes
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Details of operations on oil tanks at Rotterdam and on Wilhelmshaven.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One newspaper cutting
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
NBeltonSLS151120-09
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. Coastal Command
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Daily Express
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
Peter Adams
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-22
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
Netherlands--Rotterdam
Germany
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
anti-aircraft fire
Blenheim
bombing
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1232/15141/PGrundyAF15010004.1.jpg
d53bcd8ad8674d61ceb0c15cfe7d5a6d
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
Photograph of Fifteen personnel and identity card for Section Officer J Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
Top - eight members of Women's Auxiliary Air Force and seven Royal Air Force officers in two rows. Seven sitting in front and eight standing behind. All are wearing tunics and peaked hats. Joyce Donaldson is third from the right back row. There is one padre in back row. In the background a wooden fence. Bottom - Identity Card for RAF and WAAF personnel (all ranks) made out to Section Officer Donaldson (Edwards crossed out) at Bentley Priory and Mildenhall.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-06-24
1940-08-03
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph and one printed document mounted on an album page
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PGrundyAF15010004
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
England--Suffolk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-06
1940-07
1940-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
faith
ground personnel
RAF Bentley Priory
RAF Mildenhall
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/775/E[Author]BeltonSLS400724-020001.jpg
5785c6f8ec2dd826f0a674bfd555184a
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/86/775/E[Author]BeltonSLS400724-020002.jpg
ec5b8f2c89821989b12e3ce9b02a968e
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
Belton, Spencer Lewis
Spencer Lewis Belton
Spencer Lewis Smith Belton
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. 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
Belton, SLS
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. Photographs, correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton (1919 - 1940, 581261 Royal Air Force). Spencer Lewis Belton flew as an observer/ bomb aimer with 144 Squadron from RAF Hemswell. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal after an operation to Wilhelmshaven in July 1940 and was interviewed about it by the British Broadcasting Corporation. He was killed 10/11 August 1940 when his Hampden P4368 crashed in the Netherlands, during an operation to Homberg. <br /><br />Additional information on Spencer Lewis Belton is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/101634/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Carr and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-20
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
Postagram from Charles Portal congratulating Spencer Lewis Belton on Distinguished Flying Medal
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Postagram from Charles Portal to Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton RAF Hemswell congratulating on Distinguished Flying Medal.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-24
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Charles Portal
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One postagram with envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
E[Author]BeltonSLS400731-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
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.
144 Squadron
Distinguished Flying Medal
Portal, Charles (1893-1971)
RAF Hemswell
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2146/37066/PFieldPL19080002.2.jpg
52895b984fdc474532422ab3bf04ee06
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
Field, Peter L and Cynthia G. Photograph album 5
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. Photographs of wartime colleagues, Cook's tour aerial photographs of bomb damaged German cities, and family and friends as well as two letters home.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-19
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
Field, PL-CG
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
RAF and family photographs
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force standing in front of a brick wall. Captioned 'Taken by Ian Hay during my telephonist training July 1940 at the Firs Worcester'.
Top centre - two members of the Women's' Auxiliary Air Force in uniform sitting in a field. Captioned 'in the garden of our WAAF quarters at 11 Group HQ at Uxbridge, summer 1940. We occupied a bungalow formerly occupied by the [.....] of the RAF, W/Cdr O'Donnell, Elizabeth Phillips and myself'.
Top right - two women fencing while members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force watch. Captioned 'Uxbridge HQ 11 Group, summer 1940, Elizabeth Phillips and Cynthia (furthest) fencing'.
Middle left - half length image of an airman wearing tunic sitting in garden.
Middle right - family/friends group three women - two in shirt sleeved uniform and on wearing dress and a young girl. Three are sitting on a bench and one behind.
Bottom left - six aircrew wearing flying suits standing in a line outside a wooden hut.
Bottom right - slightly enlarged version of photograph to left.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07
1940
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
1940
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Worcestershire
England--Worcester
England--Middlesex
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
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Seven b/w photographs mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PFieldPL19080002
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
aircrew
ground personnel
RAF Uxbridge
sport
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1414/27746/BWareingRWareingRv10001.2.jpg
57aec8d271229085fbcf12918720cd70
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1414/27746/BWareingRWareingRv10002.2.jpg
08771a6065529eee984d3ff1de6eb37a
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
Wareing, Robert
R Wareing
Description
An account of the resource
258 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Robert Wareing DFC* (86325 Royal Air Force) and contains his flying logbooks, prisoner of war log book, memoirs, photographs, extensive personal and official correspondence, official documents, pilots/handling notes, decorations, mementos, uniform badges and buttons. He flew operations as a pilot with 106 Squadron. After a period of instructing he returned to operations on 582 Squadron but was shot down and became a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Andrew Wareing 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
2016-10-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wareing, R
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
In the Autumn and Winter of 1938/39 we observed from the Airfield boundary at Scampton, Hampden bombers landing at night using, in those days, the “chance light”, which lit up the landing path when the aircraft was on the last part of the landing approach.
I thought at the time, how great it would be to handle one of these massive machines. So I joined the R.A.F. V.R., and on 26th February 1939 had my first flying experience in a Miles Magister initial training aircraft at Waltham, near Grimsby. It was most exhilarating.
On the declaration of war on 3rd September, 1939 the R.A.F., V.R., was called up for service and I was despatched to N0.4 Initial Training Wing at Bexhill on Sea.
Further initial flying training was carried out at Perth and Prestwick in Scotland, followed by a period at the Advanced Training School at Sealand, Cheshire.
In July, 1940 I was posted to No 14 Operational Training Unit at Cottesmore where I could now, after some further training on Ansons, be able to fly the Hampden with which I had been so impressed in 1938/39.
Owing to restricted cockpit space it was not possible to have the usual dual instruction. So one went through the necessary flying instructions in a Hampden jacked up in a hangar with a compressor motor to activate the hydraulic system to operate the landing gear, flaps etc.
After having done a few exercises in the hangar one was allotted an aircraft with an instructor to oversee the engines being started and final preparations made for take off.
So finally the engines were opened up and the Hampden was eased off the ground and into the air. It felt great to be airborne on a particularly fine day being august 18th 1940.
After becoming [inserted] more [/inserted] familiar with the aircraft “dusk and dark landings” were undertaken. Take offs and landings were carried out by “pounding the circuit” and as the light faded and it became dark, one was then night flying.
At the beginning of November 1940 I was posted to 106 Squadron, then based at Finningley, as an operational pilot. Our first tasks were low level mining operations termed “Gardening”, at Brest, the Elbe, Keil and Lorient.
On 23rd February 1941 the Squadron moved to Conningsby which was a new airfield just opened, near Boston, Lincs.
[page break]
-2-
The operations of the Squadron now concentrated on sorties to Germany including the Rhur [sic] area.
On 4th April 1941 a low level attack was made at night against the battleship Sharnhorst [sic] and Gneisenau during a brief break in the high level bombing at the port of Brest. I had my aircraft damaged after a second attempt and I was really surprised to receive an award of a Distinguished Flying Cross which was the first decoration received by a member of 106 Squadron.
Formation bombing was practised with our Squadron commander W/C Bob Allen for a daylight raid with fighter escort on the battleships at Brest. Unfortunately the three squadrons which took part suffered heavy losses.
On 12th august, 1941 a similar sortie was carried out against the Gosnay Power Station.
Wing Commander Bob Allen was a great inspiration to the crews and he was decorated with the Distinguished service order during August.
On 3rd September, 1941, having completed my first operational tour I was posted to 14 O.T.U. Cottesmore as an operational pilot instructor and was awarded a bar to my D.F.C.
1940/41 was a period of experimental or pioneering work for the heavier onslaughts built up with the Lancaster.
I trust that the foregoing gives a brief idea of my experience with 106, Squadron, which had some excellent personnel in those days.
End of transcription
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
Robert Wareing memoir
Description
An account of the resource
Brief Resumé of Initial Flying Training and operational experiences on 106 Squadron, led by Wing Commander Bob Allen DSO with sorties against the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau Battleships in the Port of Brest.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
R Wareing
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page printed document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BWareingRWareingRv1
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--Lincolnshire
England--Sussex
England--Bexhill
England--Cheshire
England--Chester
England--Rutland
France
France--Brest
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939-02-26
1940-07
1940-11
1941-02-23
1941-04-04
1941-08-12
1941-09-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
106 Squadron
14 OTU
aircrew
Anson
bombing
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
Gneisenau
Hampden
Magister
Operational Training Unit
pilot
RAF Coningsby
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Finningley
RAF Grimsby
RAF Scampton
RAF Sealand
recruitment
Scharnhorst
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1414/28047/SWareingR86325v10026.2.jpg
324172246b10588d50070ccdba96409a
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1414/28047/SWareingR86325v10027.2.jpg
7c857e723a448c2168e94282a5cc96f1
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
Wareing, Robert
R Wareing
Description
An account of the resource
258 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Robert Wareing DFC* (86325 Royal Air Force) and contains his flying logbooks, prisoner of war log book, memoirs, photographs, extensive personal and official correspondence, official documents, pilots/handling notes, decorations, mementos, uniform badges and buttons. He flew operations as a pilot with 106 Squadron. After a period of instructing he returned to operations on 582 Squadron but was shot down and became a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Andrew Wareing 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
2016-10-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wareing, R
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
In the autumn and Winter of 1938/39 we observed from the airfield boundary at Scampton, Hampden bombers landing at night using, in those days the “chance light”, which lit up the landing path when the aircraft was on the last part of the landing approach.
I thought at the time, how great it would be to handle one of these massive machines. So I joined the R.A.F.,V.R., and on 26th February, 1939 had my first flying experience in a Miles Magister initial training aircraft at Waltham, near Grimsby. It was a most exhilarating. [sic]
On the declaration of war on 3rd September, 1939 the R.A.F.,V.R., was called up for service and I was despatched to No.4 Initial Training Wing at Bexhill on Sea.
Further initial flying training was carried out at Perth and Prestwick in Scotland, followed by a period of the Advanced Training School at Sealand, Cheshire.
In July 1940 I was posted to No 14 Operational Training Unit at Cottesmore where I could now, after some further training on Ansons, be able to fly the Hampden with which I was so impressed in 1938/39.
Owing to restricted cockpit space it was not possible to have the usual duel [sic] instruction. So one went through the necessary instructions in a Hampden jacked up in a hanger with a compressor motor to activate the hydraulic systems to operate the landing gear, flaps etc.
After having done a few exercises in the hanger one was allotted an aircraft with an instructor to oversee the engines being started and the final preparations made for take off.
So finally the engines were opened up and the Hampden was eased off the ground into the air. It felt great to be airborne on a particularly fine day, being August 18th 1940.
After becoming more familiar with the aircraft “dusk and dark landings” were undertaken. Take offs and landings were carried out by “pounding the circuit”, and as the light faded and it became dark, one was then night flying.
At the beginning of November 1940 I was posted to 106 Squadron, then based at Finningly, as an operational pilot. Our first tasks were low level mining operations termed “Gardening”, at Brest, the Elb, Keil and Lorient.
[page break]
2
on 23rd February, 1941, the Squadron moved to Coningsby which was a new airfield just opened up, near to Boston, Lincs. The operations of the Squadron now concentrated on sorties to Germany including the Rhur area.
On 4th April 1941 a low level attack was made at night against the battleships Sharnhorst and Gneisenau during a brief break in the high level bombing at the port of Brest. I had my aircraft damaged after a second attempt and I was really surprised to receive an award of the Distinguished Flying Cross which was the first decoration received by a member of 106 Squadron.
Formation bombing was practised with our Squadron Commander, Wing Commander Bob Allen, for a daylight sorties [sic] with fighter escort against the battleships at Brest. Unfortunately the three squadrons which took part suffered heavy losses.
On 12th August, 1941 a similar sortie was carried out against the Gosnay Power Station.
Wing Commander Bob Allen was a great inspiration to the crews and he was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order in August 1941.
On 3rd September, 1941, having completed my first operational tour I was posted to 14 O.T.U. Cottesmore as an operational pilot instructor and was awarded a bar to my D.F.C.
1940/41 was a period of experimental or pioneering work for the heavier onslaughts [sic] built up with the Lancaster aircraft later.
I trustvthat [sic] the foregoing gives a brief idea of the events which led up to me becoming a member of 106 Squadron, which had some excellent personnel in those days.
[signature]
Robert Wareing
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
Robert Wareing's memoir
Description
An account of the resource
Second version of a brief Resumé of Initial Flying Training and operational experiences on 106 Squadron, led by Wing Commander Bob Allen DSO with sorties against the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau Battleships in the Port of Brest. Slight amendment to last paragraph,
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
R Wareing
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page printed document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SWareingR86325v10026, SWareingR86325v10027
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--Lincolnshire
England--Sussex
England--Bexhill
England--Cheshire
England--Chester
England--Rutland
France
France
France--Brest
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939-02-26
1940-07
1940-11
1941-02-23
1941-04-04
1941-08-12
1941-09-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jan Waller
106 Squadron
14 OTU
Anson
bombing
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
Gneisenau
Hampden
Magister
Operational Training Unit
RAF Coningsby
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Finningley
RAF Grimsby
RAF Scampton
RAF Sealand
recruitment
Scharnhorst
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/562/18291/PWinterP1504.2.jpg
643516b363cecb42999431297cf86357
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
Winter, Phillip
P Winter
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Winter, P
Description
An account of the resource
Six items. An oral history interview Sergeant Phillip Winter, (748547, 144466 Royal Air Force) and five photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 102 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
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.
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
Sergeant Philip Winter and another airman Sergeant
03 Philip Warner South Cerney July 1940 on getting wings
Description
An account of the resource
Two sergeant pilots smiling facing camera.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07
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
PWinterP1504
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Gloucestershire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
aircrew
pilot
RAF South Cerney
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2214/40036/PDunnFT18010049.1.jpg
f986a20262ed7b9b7c362570bf20929f
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2214/40036/PDunnFT18010050.1.jpg
9db530dcf4dfceae4b7b26deb0c72e4f
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
Dunn, Frederick Thomas
Dunn, FT
Description
An account of the resource
45 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Frederick Thomas Dunn (1319229 Royal Air Force) and contains his logbook, memoir, correspondence, clippings and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 102 Squadron and was killed in a mid-air collision on return from Berlin 22 November 1943. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Josephine Guinness and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. <br /><br />Additional information on Frederick Thomas Dunn is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/207983/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-02-14
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
Dunn, FT
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
Seven aircrew
Description
An account of the resource
Seven airmen wearing tunics with brevet standing in line. On the reverse 'The crew, left to right, Rowley (mid upper), Roy (W/Op), Bill (navigator), Wally (skipper), only me (B/A), Jack (engineer), Dave (rear gunner - Canada), taken at Riccal Yorks July 1940'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PDunnFT18010049, PDunnFT18010050
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
air gunner
aircrew
bomb aimer
flight engineer
navigator
pilot
RAF Riccall
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2142/36936/SHitchcockJS740899v10001.1.jpg
f0cf56d329e498d675cf8b8124162974
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2142/36936/SHitchcockJS740899v10002.1.jpg
b95cc5236aff1a2a1b0f846ff88233b1
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2142/36936/SHitchcockJS740899v10003.1.jpg
1784d23420cb7f41ab66dabaff81eab4
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2142/36936/SHitchcockJS740899v10004.1.jpg
69912507281afc6a302d1e08f146bc01
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2142/36936/SHitchcockJS740899v10005.1.jpg
86dc8700bbc3f1a587d53e63dc4ce705
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2142/36936/SHitchcockJS740899v10006.1.jpg
d8f341191f45d50b852f8bba7e793ab0
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
Hitchcock, John Samuel. Course Photos
Description
An account of the resource
18 items. Photographs and items from his training in North Africa.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-26
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Achive
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
Hitchcock, JS
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
Sleeping Out Passes
Description
An account of the resource
Six passes allowing John to leave his unit overnight.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
No 11 Operational Training Unit
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Bassingbourn
England--Grantham
England--Herefordshire
England--Lincolnshire
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six printed sheets with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SHitchcockJS740899v10001, SHitchcockJS740899v10002, SHitchcockJS740899v10003, SHitchcockJS740899v10004, SHitchcockJS740899v10005, SHitchcockJS740899v10006
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.
1940-04
1940-06
1940-07
11 OTU
aircrew
Operational Training Unit
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15908/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400718-0001.1.jpg
9b27beb9c880023090fdd30c7f913207
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15908/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400718-0002.1.jpg
839b9dfac99cc230f183b5cd6a0f1203
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15908/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400718-0003.1.jpg
dc03a5c3c5d3b6ad65e9266f85f06308
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15908/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400718-0004.1.jpg
71d3e91acf7b4c254ce08c41ffefdaf7
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15908/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400718-0005.1.jpg
75f82e29681a033b7f0631e6de1e14ab
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
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Envelope]
[postmark]
[postage stamp]
Mrs H.C. Redgrave
c/o Mrs Styles
“Emorf”
Alice Road
Dorchester
Dorset.
[page break]
[shopping list]
[page break]
Niths [deleted] field [/deleted] dale Mill
Dumfries
Thurs 18-7-40
Dear Jessie,
Well dear theres [sic] very little I can tell you other than we are still in this hell hole and doing nothing but an hours [sic] cleaning up in the morning and spending the rest of the day hanging about. Monday was the only fine day we have had and it seems that you have only to have some cloud above and sure enough it will rain in Dumfries.
I find in difficult to understand the policy of those higher up in not taking our enforced inactivity as an opportunity for some leave. Nobody has had any since Easter and are all eating their hearts out to get home yet we hang around here a nuisance to ourselves and everyone else. Somehow I think we shall leave for Group Pool on the completion of our eight weeks withal we have done nothing since the beginning of last week. It will mean having to pick a lot of stuff up at the Pool but I hope our original posting stands as it will mean leaving here at the end of next week.
Last night I went to the pictures again and saw “Angels Wash Their Faces” a picture of the “Dead End Kids” a bit exaggerated but quite entertaining. The cinemas seem to be very good, modern and well seated, and reasonable. A realy [sic] good seat can be had for ninepence, and the best in the circle are only
[page break]
a shilling. I had a novel experience last night when a woman was shown into the seat next to me and after a while began nudging me with her arm and a little later with her knee. Well I hadnt [sic] seen her face yet so I did not call the manager but certainly did not play up to her and a little later she raised a silk clad knee and place it alongside mine. All this [deleted] wast [/deleted] was most amusing and being on my own provided some free entertainment but when she put her hand on my thigh I thought it was time I ran for a policeman. The end of the film came to my rescue and when the lights came up and I saw her face I was not so interested and after the news I had seen the show round so left her flat. You see the temptations met by a lonely airman. These Scots women are the limit though and all the Norwegian soldiers stationed in Dumfries seem to be having a good time with plenty of money for women and wine. As my money is nearly all gone I shall have [inserted] to [/inserted] cut out the wine and be content with the women until next pay day.
Amongst the new billetted [sic] in the Mill is one with a piano accordian [sic] and he can play anything from bawdy songs to classics and many hours we pass singing and listening to him. He’s absolutely grand and things would be infinitely worse without him.
Last Thursday at Warmwell I had my mug pinched and so round to NAAFI I went and bought a new one sixpence and would you believe it on Monday my teddy bear suit which I am using as a pillow fell down from my top
[page break]
bunk and took my mug down with it from off the shelf and it broke into dozens of pieces. As we have no crockery here it left [inserted] me [/inserted] in a complete flap about getting any afters as I have been getting a bit of custard and fruit in my mug but I was able to use one after someone else and yesterday I went to Woolworths and got myself a new one. While I was out I went to the baths and had a lovely bath very hot and soothingly soft, which made one feel on much better terms with the world and Scotland in particular.
We have just welcomed a new arrival to our billet, a pair of pidgeons [sic] who, providing they dont [sic] drop any bombs, are welcome to stay as long as they like.
Well dinner is just ready and I have spent all morning and exhausted all my news on your letter and all that remains is to tell you how much I love you. When it comes to telling you that I find there is nothing in the world by which I can measure the completeness of my love for you darling and can only repeat I love you love you.
Give my love to all at Emorf. and kiss for little Pam
from your
Harry xxxxx
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
To Jessie from Harry Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
A letter and envelope from Harry Redgrave to Jessie. Harry writes about life in the RAF whilst based in Dumfries. He writes that they are all bored, the weather is awful and tells about an eventful trip to the cinema.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-18
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three handwritten sheets and an envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400718-0001,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400718-0002,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400718-0003
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries
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.
1940-07
aircrew
entertainment
home front
love and romance
Navy, Army and Air Force Institute
RAF Dumfries
RAF Warmwell
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15909/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400722-0001.1.jpg
5aaff66012eef288ac21ff8c8429f368
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15909/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400722-0002.1.jpg
bf809edacaa276435d5a49a3aeb0dbdd
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15909/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400722-0003.1.jpg
d5fba634974c9795fc9608c3b7075792
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
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[postmark]
[postage stamp]
Mrs H.C. Redgrave
c/o Mrs Styles
“Emorf”
Alice Road
Dorchester
Dorset.
[page break]
Hut 28/1
R.A.F. Station
Dumfries
Mon 22 July
Dear Jessie
After days of disappointment I got your parcel this morning. Thank you darling for the food and dainties and for your long letter. This morning the mail came along and no letter and I began to worry and wonder if all was well but by dinner time your parcel arrived and all my troubles seemed to clear. Do you know dear [deleted] we [/deleted] I have never been so long without hearing from you and it was terrible. Still darling I know it was no fault of yours but it did seem miserable. Thank Ethel for what she has sent and tell her she was very naughty to send things that are rationed to her, still its [sic] nice to know you have something nice under your bed when you feel hungry. Thanks for mending up my pyjamas I bet you had a job “Ace” Morgan sends his thanks for his vest.
You will see we [inserted] are [/inserted] now in camp at the aerodrome and training started again on Saturday morning and we have to cram in sufficient to take our exams on Wednesday and Thursday and are being posted to our new station on Saturday. No one knows where yet but I will let you know at very [sic] first chance. Dont [sic] be alarmed if it is abroad will you dear. If it is I shall see you for twenty four hours at least before I go. The camp is a great improvement on the mill but is still in its early unfinished stages and is nothing to be compared with Warmwell
[page break]
Its [sic] a marvellous place though, everything is brick built and concrete roads are being laid down all over the camp and by this time next year should be the finest aerodrome in the county.
You remember that rash I had when I was down there well it cleared by the time I was at Dumfries but has now returned in a most virulent form and the M.O. gave me some ointment to put on this morning and it has been most painful all day. It started about an hour after he had put the ointment on and I have hardly been able to walk. I am hoping it will be easier tomorrow.
Very sorry to hear about Vera I should have thought she had more sense or at least waited until the chap had got his divorce and could marry her. Does she know that the fact that she is living with him may prejudice his getting a divorce.
Lucky Len and Gladys one of these days I shall get some leave and then Oh me oh my wont [sic] we have fun. Dont [sic] be too surprised if I get home Saturday night for the night will you as we may be going through London and not have to report until Sunday.
You will have to hang on to Bills byke [sic] for a while yet until we know where we are going. When I shift this week end you can write as usual because letters are sent on and chaps were getting letters quicker through Warmwell than those who sent an address from Scotland.
I must do some swatting now so give my love to Ethel & Horace and the children from
Your loving husband
Harry xxxxx
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
To Jessie from Harry Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
A letter and envelope from Harry Redgrave to Jessie. Harry writes about life in the RAF in Dumfries, thanks her for her parcel and warns her that they are about to be posted elsewhere imminently.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-22
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets and an envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400722-0001,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400722-0002,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400722-0003
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries
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.
1940-07
aircrew
RAF Dumfries
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15910/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400729-0001.2.jpg
07b2fd88df132cb40f15607a65a01c27
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15910/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400729-0002.2.jpg
322c9ba886eecc3725e3a05b8acea97e
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15910/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400729-0003.2.jpg
a4a0153777338a90833efa8611b80034
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
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
743047 Sgt. [sic] Redgrave H.C.
Sgts Mess
R.A.F. Station
Upwood
Huntingdonshire
Mon 29-7-40
Dear Jessie
I hope you had a good run home last night and found Pamela had been good whilst you had been away. If you felt like I did you went back quite happy and with a comfortable feeling of contentment. We arrived in camp about half past [deleted] 1 [/deleted] nine and after a bit of running around got nicely settled down in the Sergeants [sic] Married Quarters. These are nice little houses just outside of the camp and it only wants you there to make me feel quite at home.
Well dear at last I feel really somebody and I must say that withal my rawness I receive all the defferance [sic] due to a full blown Sergeant. Life has suddenly become much easier, meals are eaten like human beings and the mess is large and comfortable with plenty of armchairs and other comforts I have not seen before in the service. Meals are served by stewards in white coats and we no longer have to wash our own mugs or cutlery. On the contrary we use relatively dainty cups and saucers. My first appreciation of the change came last night when as late as eleven o’clock I went to the mess and had bread and cheese and
[page break]
pickles ad.lib. [sic] That washed down with a glass of beer, which incidently [sic] is sold up to eleven, brightened me up no end. Breakfast this morning consisted of grape fruit bacon and tomatoes tea and bread and marmalade. At lunch time you help yourself to coffee and after a three course [deleted] lunch [/deleted] [inserted] dinner [/inserted] followed if you wish by bread and cheese coffee is again served. As a Sergeant I am free of a lot of restrictions and can come in any time of night I like and dont [sic] even have to book in or out.
As for living out as usual there is not much in the way of accomodation [sic] down here. Ramsey is the nearest town and is rather small and I shall find it rather difficult I imagine to find any room still I wont [sic] give up hope. I would have no difficulty in living out I am sure. If I can get my bike here Peterboro [sic] or Huntingdon would be near enough to see you pretty often though and I must do a bit of scheming.
Leave seems as difficult as ever and I think I can only hope for forty eight hours whilst at Upwood. A party of crews have just had two days leave before going to the Near East so service abroad is not ruled out yet. My compulsory allottment [sic]][deleted] have [/deleted] has been increased to 2/6 a day so you should soon be drawing £2-0-6 a week from the Post Office. What a blow dear they wont [sic] let me keep my rise will they.
I cant [sic] tell you much about the training here as a lot of it is very secret as you would expect operational training to be but I can tell you I am going to be a pukka observer and not a gloryfied [sic]] air gunner. We do advanced navigation and
[page break]
bombing in Bristol Blenheims and are being trained [deleted] f [/deleted] for service in them. I am quite happy about it as they are grand kites and I think they have put up a pretty good show in service up to now. The first two weeks are in the Pool where we do lectures only and the remaining six weeks are spent in flying nearly every day navigating and locating targets in all weathers and in general simulating operational conditions. Hard work but very interesting.
If my lighter is sent down to you from Teddington you can send it registered post to me or if you like hang on to it until we meet again.
Well I want to go and air my stripes down the road so I will pack up until Wednesday. Give my love to All at Emorf.
from your loving husband
Harry xxxx
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
To Jessie from Harry Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
A letter from Harry Redgrave in RAF Upwood to his wife Jessie. He writes about how good life is now that he is a Sergeant with extra pay and better food. He has been training in a Bristol Blenheim.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-29
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
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400729-0001,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400729-0002,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400729-0003
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--Cambridgeshire
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.
1940-07
aircrew
Blenheim
bombing
military living conditions
observer
RAF Upwood
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15916/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400817-0001.1.jpg
5cf1f1c70d0a6c2eeb5d19747757827e
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15916/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400817-0002.1.jpg
396f5f389184d74863eb8902e0a430f2
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
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Sgts Mess
R.A.F. Station
Upwood
Sat 17.8.40
Dear Jessie,
I have just read your interesting letter and I am left wondering what to advise you about moving. Ramsey is out of question and I will try Peterboro’ tonight and if successful I will let you know later in this letter. Perhaps I shall be flying tonight but if that is the case I will try tomorrow. What a pity I had to disappoint you by not seeing you Tuesday but still you understand I’m sure. I am returning your case from Peterboro [sic] this evening as you may expect it about Wednesday.
If I could fix you up in Peterboro I should see you about twice a week as the petrol allowance would not permit of more frequent visits but I should be able to stop with you until next morning which would be just grand wouldn’t it.
Theres [sic] not much I can find to tell you today as I have not done much since I came back from Southend. I saw Shirley Temple in “Little Princess” at the Ramsey cinema last night but it was a silly picture and the cinema is not a bit like the [deleted] coron [/deleted] Astoria. Did you know the Astoria is now called the Odeon. Did you hear yesterday mornings [sic] news. 144 German planes down in one day and another 77 yesterday. Poor Tilbury had a nasty battering and I
[page break]
imagine Mum had the wind up. I wonder whether the south western suburbs of London meant round Kingston way.
Back again dear on the old letter writing and I am sorry to say I was unable to get out tonight as I was down for night flying which at the last minute was scrubbed out because the plane was U.S. I hope that doesnt [sic] mean I shall have to stay in again tomorrow as on Monday I am Duty Pilot for the day and shall be in the watch office for the twenty four hours.
If that is so I shall try for you on Tuesday.
Bills byke [sic] has arrived and he asked me to thank you for sending it on.
If you can remember the address you sent your marriage and birth certificates you had better write there for them if not tell me and I will try and get the address for you.
Well its [sic] bedtime for me dear and keap [sic] looking forward to when I cuddle up beside you again and hear Pamela say “Good night Daddy” to your
Loving husband
Harry xxxx
P.S. You had better see about transferring your billetting [sic] allowance
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
To Jessie from Harry Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
A letter from Harry Redgrave to his wife Jessie. Harry writes about arranging for her to move nearer to him, and life at RAF Upwood.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07-17
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400817-0001,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400817-0002
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
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
England--Cambridgeshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-07
aircrew
entertainment
military living conditions
RAF Upwood
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1801/31881/PStewartEC17160025.1.jpg
1051751c1566b6e89558825b6dadebe1
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1801/31881/PStewartEC17160026.1.jpg
08650b6d368cec1a68f392830f1cb816
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
Stewart, Edward Colston
E C Stewart
Description
An account of the resource
272 items. The collection concerns Edward Colston Stewart DFC (b. 1916, 87436 Royal Air Force) and his wife, <span>Flight Officer </span>Ann Marie Stewart (nee Imming, b. 1922, 5215 Royal Air Force). It contains his log books, documents, bank notes and photographs. He flew 50 operations as a pilot with 1446 Ferry Flight and 104 Squadron. After the war they served in the Far East. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2013">Ann Marie Stewart collection</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2012">Bank notes</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Paula Cooper 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
2017-02-24
2022-06-21
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
Stewart, EC
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
Two soldiers
Description
An account of the resource
Two men standing by a car. One is adjusting the others tie or collar. On the reverse is 'Ptes E. M. Shannon S. W Anderson July 1940'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-07
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
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
PStewartEC17160025, PStewartEC17160026
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
British Army
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.
1940-07