Browse Items (468 total)
- Temporal Coverage is exactly "1941"
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Interview with Margaret Habberfield
Margaret Habberfield was born in 1923. At sixteen she joined the Royal Air Force after giving her age as eighteen. She began her six-week general training at Harrogate and was billeted with around 20 other girls. Margaret was then posted to RAF…
Interview with Geoff Packham
Geoff Packham grew up in Sheffield and worked at the town hall before he volunteered for the air Force. He discusses his father’s service in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War. He trained in Canada and completed seven operations as a…
Service History of Benny Goodman
Begins with his decision to cease his studies and join the Royal Air Force. Covers recruitment activities and life during initial training including employment as ground gunner while waiting for flying training. Describes basic training on Tiger Moth…
Bill Thomas memoir
He describes his first interest in the RAF, in 1938. He joined the Air Defence Cadet Corps, and later in 1941 the Air Training Corps. He was called up by the RAF in February 1942, and proceeded through initial training and the Initial Training Wing…
Interview with Herbert James Wylde
Herbert James Wylde was working in local government in Glasgow before he volunteered for aircrew training with the RAF. He started pilot training and had gone solo when he was sent to Canada to continue training. While there he began training as a…
Interview with Charles Frederick Green
Charles Frederick Green was born in Peckham, London, in 1921. On leaving school he began an apprenticeship with a printing company, acting part-time as a police courier, before becoming an Air Raid Precaution warden. He then volunteered for the…
Interview with Jack Brown Franklin
Jack Brown Franklin grew up in Liverpool and worked in a paper merchants. He discusses Liverpool being bombed and his service in the Local Defence Volunteers. He joined the Air Force in 1941 and trained as an engine mechanic. He served with 109…
Interview with Harry Harris
Harry ‘Sam’ Harris grew up in Scotland and volunteered for the Air Force. He trained as a navigator in South Africa. On the penultimate day of his training he flew over a multitude of lifeboats bearing the survivors of a torpedoed ship. The next…
Interview with Lillian Grundy
Lillian Grundy was born grew up in Ancoats, Manchester. Upon leaving school, she worked in a local mill winding bobbins, and the Hall Brothers Toffee Works wrapping sweets. Grundy met George in 1939 and they were engaged in Easter 1940, however, he…
BBC recording of Gordon Cruickshank
BBC 78 RPM vinyl disk Gordon Cruickshank recorded in August 1944.
Joined RAF in 1938 and Bomber Command in 1941 as an air gunner. Started operations in 1942 and completed first tour of 31 trips at end of November 1942. Says was badly shot up on…
Joined RAF in 1938 and Bomber Command in 1941 as an air gunner. Started operations in 1942 and completed first tour of 31 trips at end of November 1942. Says was badly shot up on…
Meteorology for pilots and navigators
Official (Canadian) booklet on meteorology. Covers and table of contents only.
1st image: Front cover. Annotated by hand: 'Sgt GL Royall' and 'Sgt Hardy JC. R103813'
2nd image: Title page.
3rd image: Table of contents.
4th image: Back cover…
1st image: Front cover. Annotated by hand: 'Sgt GL Royall' and 'Sgt Hardy JC. R103813'
2nd image: Title page.
3rd image: Table of contents.
4th image: Back cover…
The pilot and co-pilot of a Wellington bomber
A portrait of the pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit of their 149 Squadron Wellington bomber, at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. On the left is Acting Flight Lieutenant David William Donaldson. On the right, at the controls, is Pilot Officer Geoffrey O'Neill…
Interview with Frances Anne Cooper
Frances Cooper spent her early life in Uganda before settling with her parents in England for her schooling, then joining the WAAF. She speaks about the small village she lived in during the war, the arrival of Americans and prisoners of war, as well…
Interview with Mary Ellis
Mary Wilkins Ellis was born in Oxfordshire and became interested in aviation at a very early age. She experienced her first flight with Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus. Mary learned to fly while still at school and obtained her licence in 1938. When…
Interview with Allen Geoffrey Gould
Allen Gould grew up in Bournemouth and worked for the Danish Bacon company until volunteering for the Royal Air Force. He completed 32 operations as a flight engineer with 620 Squadron from RAF Fairford. Post war, he married his wife, who was…
Interview with Harry James
Harry James grew up in Berkshire and after school began training as a plumber. He joined the RAF and carried out thirty three operations as a rear gunner with 166 squadron. After the war Harry returned to plumbing in Berkshire. He tells of his…
Interview with Sandy Saunders
Sandy Saunders recalls Liverpool being bombed in 1941 and while on a rescue squad he sustained splinter injuries from a blast requiring hospital treatment. After taking a science degree he served in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as a…
Interview with Reg Freeth
Reg Freeth grew up in Wales and worked for the Civil Service in the Labour Exchange before he volunteered for the Royal Air Force. He trained as an observer in South Africa and flew operations served as a bomb aimer with 61 Squadron from RAF…
Interview with Jack Hayley
Jack Hayley was born in Caterham and worked for an insurance company before he joined the Royal Air Force and trained to be a pilot. He trained to fly in Canada and after going through an Operational Training Unit in England, he was posted to 625…
Interview with Bernard Charles Mabey
Bernard Mabey was born in London and experienced the Blitz at first hand. He was a member of the Air Training Corps in 1941 before volunteering for the RAF. He trained as an air frame mechanic at RAF Locking. His first posting was RAF Marston Moor…
Interview with Mieczysław Stachiewicz
Mieczysław describes his military training from his Polish secondary school before volunteering for the Polish Air Force. He was evacuated to Warsaw but the railway lines were cut by the Germans. His squadron reassembled on the Romanian border…
Interview with Jo Lancaster. Two
Jo Lancaster grew up in Cumbria and joined the Air Force as soon as he was able. After training as a pilot he flew a tour of operations with 40 Squadron from RAF Alconbury. He then became an instructor before his second tour flying Lancasters with 12…
Interview with Gordon Mellor. Three
Gordon Mellor grew up in London and hoped to become a quantity surveyor when he was called up. He volunteered for the Air Force and trained as a navigator in Canada. On his return to the UK he and his crew were posted to 103 Squadron at Elsham Wolds.…
Interview with Charles Henry Clarke. Two
Charles Clarke joined the RAF aged 17 and began training as a pilot but he became ill with mumps and later trained as a bomb aimer. His aircraft was shot down on an operation to Schweinfurt and he became a prisoner of war. He took part in the Long…
Interview with Gerald Walter Bell
Gerald Bell worked on a poultry farm before being called up in the RAF, where he served as ground personnel. He remembers his training at RAF Finningley and RAF Balderton. Tells of his posting to North Africa in 1942, where he initially was working…