1
25
22
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2333/42122/PCrossK22010006.2.jpg
bb611b5d18abed62c85f1ce176ea1fde
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2333/42122/PCrossK22010007.2.jpg
565390ff792362d6cddd1ec9698554f8
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Cross, Kathleen. Album
Description
An account of the resource
27 items. An album with newspaper cuttings, photographs and postcards covering RAF personnel and establishments in West Malling, Penarth and Peterborough.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-05-07
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Cross, K
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
Newspaper cuttings and caricatures
Description
An account of the resource
The first page comprises a page of caricatures annotated with quotations from the individuals pictured, including Wing Commander J Cunningham, Wing Commander Townsend, Warrant Officer Carter, Flight Lieutenant Erlwig, Staff officer Priestley, Flight Lieutenant Rawnsley, Leading Aircraftman Jordan and Joe Thomas.
The second page has Wing Commander Townsend, wearing dark glasses with a colleague and his mascot dog, Kim; a sketch of Wing Commander Townsend drawn by Capitan Cuthbert Orde and Wing Commander Guy Gibson and 18 fellow Dam Buster colleagues having collected their honours from the Queen Consort.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
1943-05-16
1943-05-17
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Artwork
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Page of caricatures and three newspaper cuttings in an album
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCrossK22010006, PCrossK22010007
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.
617 Squadron
aircrew
animal
Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation (16–17 May 1943)
Gibson, Guy Penrose (1918-1944)
Victoria Cross
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1535/34115/PJamesEC1606.2.jpg
a3954520c265445b047c853d6762456a
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
James, Eilwyn Cyril
E C James
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
2016-09-07
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
James, EC
Description
An account of the resource
47 items. The collection concerns Eilwyn Cyril James (Royal Air Force) and contains documents and photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David James and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
B Flight No 4 Squadron
Description
An account of the resource
61 men, mostly trainees, arranged in four rows., captioned B Flight, No 4 Squadron. 3 ITW September 1941.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09
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
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
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PJamesEC1606
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.
1941-09
aircrew
Initial Training Wing
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2064/34035/PPriceAP19020021.1.jpg
927909be0e06caafc9bebc0470f0840b
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Price, Arthur Phillip. Album 2
Description
An account of the resource
Twenty-seven items. Twenty-six page photograph album with photographs of people, places and aircraft.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-05-17
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
Price, AP
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Aircraft and RAF Penhold
Overstrands and Oxford
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - formation of five Boulton Paul Overstrands airborne in line abreast. Captioned 'BP Overstrands'.
Top right - view across open ground of two, two storey buildings. Captioned 'Penhold 1941'.
Bottom left - view of four Oxford aircraft parked across hardstanding with hangar on right and control tower on left. Captioned 'Penhold, Sept'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Alberta--Red Deer Region
Alberta
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
Three b/w photographs mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPriceAP19020021
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.
Oxford
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1830/32834/M78Sqn19361201-170421-14.2.pdf
d2c06051ad7b683d43d2db9cbc660dcb
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
78 Squadron Collection
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
2017-04-21
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
78 Sqn Info
Description
An account of the resource
Eighty-seven items and a sub-collection of seventy-three items.
The collection concerns 78 Squadron and contains documents and photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Tony Hibberd and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
R/64816 Warrant Officer (Class 1) Thomas Breech Miller RCAF, GM
George Medal Citation
MILLER, Flight Sergeant (now WO1) Thomas Breech RCAF (R/64816) George Medal, No.78 Squadron.
Award effective 6th January 1942 as per London Gazette of that date and AFRO 1870/42 dated the 20th November 1942.
[italics] “One night in September 1941, Sergeant Miller was the Air Observer of an aircraft which, following return to the UK after a successful attack on a target in North West Germany had been intercepted and attacked by an Enemy Intruder Aircraft. The controls of the Whitley were damaged, and the starboard engine was put out of action, and the pilot had to affect a forced landing. The aircraft landed heavily with undercarriage retracted, came to rest half over a hedge, and caught fire.
The Rear Gunner and Second Wireless Operator were slightly injured and escaped from the rear of the aircraft. Sergeant Miller was also uninjured and escaped through the top hatch. He then noticed that the Pilot and first Wireless Operator were still in the aircraft, which was now blazing furiously. Undeterred, Sergeant Miller re-entered the aircraft through the top hatch and found the Pilot lying in a dazed condition, as he had been wounded about the face and head. Sergeant Miller pulled the captain through the hatch and carried him away from the aircraft. He returned for the first Wireless Operator, who was lying in the rear of the cabin, very badly hurt and with his clothing on fire.
Sergeant Miller succeeded in lifting him through the hatch and carried him to a place of safety, where he beat out the flames from the injured man’s clothing with his hands, after rolling him on the ground in an attempt to smother them. The flares, oxygen bottles, ammunition and petrol tanks began to explode immediately after Sergeant Miller got clear of the aircraft. He received severe burns to his hands while rescuing his comrades, whose lives were undoubtedly saved by his prompt and extremely brave action" [/italics]
Born in Waubaushene, Ontario, 1921, his home was in Saint John, New Brunswick; He enlisted in the RCAF in Moncton on the 18th July 1940. He subsequently joined 78 Squadron on 30th August 1941. His first operation was on 2nd September 1941 (Frankfurt) His second operation was on 6th September 1941 and this brought him the decoration of the George Medal. Following medical treatment he then rejoined 78 Sqn, was promoted to F/S and flew four more operations. The first on 11th February 1942 (Le Havre) This was his last Op on Whitley’s as 78 Sqn began conversion onto the Halifax) His second was on 29th April 1942 (Ostend) the next was on 30th May 1942 (Cologne) and finally on 1st June 1942 (Hamburg) He was shot down and taken prisoner on this last sortie. He was commissioned on 1st June 1943 (J/96500) and was released and returned to the UK on 12th May 1945. Following the war he studied history at the University of Toronto and diplomatic history at the London School of Economics (Ph.D., 1954). He accepted a teaching position with Lakehead Technical Institute (later Lakehead University) and was active in the Canadian Institute of International Affairs and numerous local organizations. He retired in 1988 and died in Thunder Bay on 10th August 1996. His obituary notice stated that following his second crash he spent four days in a dinghy off the Dutch coast, paralyzed with a back injury, until rescued by Germans.
This award remains the highest decoration awarded to 78 Sqn to date
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
George Medal citation for Warrant Officer Thomas Breech Miller RCAF
Description
An account of the resource
Account of his aircraft, in which he was air observer, being attacked on return from operation in Germany by intruder aircraft. The aircraft was crash landed and caught fire. Miller escaped through the top hatch but noticed that the pilot and wireless operator were still in the aircraft. He then re-entered the aircraft and rescued the pilot, he then returned again for the wireless operator who he also rescued him and carried him away to safety and beat out the flames from the injured man's clothing and received burns to his own hands.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One 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
M78Sqn19361201-170421-14
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. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-01-06
1942-11-20
1941-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
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
78 Squadron
bombing
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
ditching
forced landing
George Medal
Halifax
prisoner of war
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1497/28840/MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-070001.2.jpg
f3f080eb911a4ae30dd4e476c002e4fb
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Leadbetter, John
J Leadbetter
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
2016-04-21
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
Leadbetter, J
Description
An account of the resource
166 items. The collection concerns John Leadbetter (1549105, 163970 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, photographs and documents. <br /><br />There are four sub-collections:<br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1725">Leadbetter, John. Aerial Photographs</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1721">Leadbetter, John. Aircraft Recognition</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1723">Leadbetter, John. Canada</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1718">Leadbetter, John. Maps and Charts</a> <br /><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Keith Henry Leadbetter and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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Title
A name given to the resource
Tee Emm September 1941
Description
An account of the resource
Tee Emm. Number 6.
This item is available only at the International Bomber Command Centre / University of Lincoln.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet
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
MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-070001
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1414/27927/MWareingR86325-161005-240001.2.jpg
26609f30631eaa2bfb4fc104f5dce317
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1414/27927/MWareingR86325-161005-240002.2.jpg
be566dd098e171422a526e81b1ce84bd
Dublin Core
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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
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Notes on Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Mentions formation of Pathfinder force. Gee, pulse phasing radar, new compasses. Continues with short note of H2S, OBOE. Lists locations and RAF stations.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten 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
MWareingR86325-161005-24
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--Cheshire
England--Yorkshire
England--Oxfordshire
England--Rutland
England--Grimsby
England--Chester
Scotland--Perth
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-02-23
1941-09
1941-09-16
1943-08-02
1944-04-01
1941-08-08
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
106 Squadron
582 Squadron
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
Gee
H2S
Oboe
Pathfinders
radar
RAF Coningsby
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Finningley
RAF Little Staughton
RAF Upper Heyford
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1525/27427/SNewtonJL742570v10041.2.jpg
b8db2d80c873a18907a3938e6f2a3e5a
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Newton, Jack Lamport
J L Newton
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
2016-07-15
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
Newton, JL
Description
An account of the resource
83 items. Collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Jack Newton (742570 Royal Air Force) who was a Sergeant air gunner on Wellington of 12 Squadron. His aircraft was landed on fire at a German occupied airfield in Antwerp in August 1941. He was the first airman to escape back to England via the Comète escape line. The rest of his crew were captured and made prisoners of war. The collection contains accounts of his escape, letters of research from Belgium helper, other official correspondence from the Red Cross and the Royal Air Force, photographs of places and people, newspaper cuttings propaganda leaflets and maps of airfield and escape route. In addition there is an interview with Jack Newton about his experiences in the wartime RAF.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Jackie Bradford and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
CUTTING FROM A “PENGUIN” PAPER BACK WHICH I WAS READING TO MLLE A. BECQUETT WHILST BEING HELPED BY HER SEPT 1941.
“THE ESCAPERS PRAYER”
“PSALM 107”.
“’Let them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed and delivered from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, and from the south. They went astray in the wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. So they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He led them forth by the right way, that they may go to the city where they dwelt. Oh that man would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that He doth for the children of men.’
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
The escapers prayer
Description
An account of the resource
Cutting with prayer from Psalm 107. Captioned 'Cutting from Penguin paperback which I was reading to Mlle A Becquett whilst being helped by her, Sept 1941'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One book 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
SNewtonJL742570v10041
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
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
Peter Bradbury
escaping
evading
faith
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1641/26127/PSaundersRA-HE17050027.1.jpg
b0fc2d190d0a9211b2bb9db53fd3354e
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Saunders, Roy and Honor. Saunders Family
Description
An account of the resource
27 family photographs
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-10-03
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
Saunders, R-H
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
Roy Saunders
Description
An account of the resource
A head and shoulders portrait of Roy.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09
Format
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One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSaundersRA-HE17050027
Coverage
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Civilian
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1385/25807/SBakerDA19210428v20044.2.jpg
e7abb62c8a1f0bcea0f11c520244368c
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
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-11-13
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
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
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Permission granted for commercial projects
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Item separator card
Description
An account of the resource
Green card 'North Luffenham, Sept 1941 Operational Sqn 144'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Handwritten card
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
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SBakerDA19210428v20044
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--Rutland
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
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
144 Squadron
RAF North Luffenham
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1623/25029/PCothliffKB15110066.1.jpg
9c937a30a19811511c68e71a42dcdb47
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
Cothliff, Ken. Folder 1511
Description
An account of the resource
77 items. The collection contains photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Cothliff and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Cothliff, K
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
35 Squadron Group Photo
Description
An account of the resource
35 squadron air and ground crews arranged in three rows in front of a Halifax.
It is annotated '35 Sqdn . Linton. Sept. 1941'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09
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
PCothliffKB15110066
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 Canadian 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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
35 Squadron
aircrew
ground crew
ground personnel
Halifax
RAF Linton on Ouse
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/886/23860/SHudsonJD755052v20005.2.pdf
b3bcd03afc7fbd9d58def2a8ce3d2f3e
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
Hudson, Douglas
James Douglas Hudson
J D Hudson
Description
An account of the resource
529 items. Collection concerns Pilot Officer James Douglas Hudson, DFC (755052 Royal Air Force) who joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in June 1939 and trained as an observer. While on route to Malta in August 1940 his Blenheim crashed in Tunisia and he was subsequently interned for two and a half years by Vichy French in Tunisia and Algeria. After being freed he returned to Great Britain and after navigator retraining completed a tour of 30 operations on 100 Squadron. The collection contains letters to and from his parents and from French penfriends while interned in Tunisia and Algeria, newspaper cuttings of various events, logbooks and lists of operations, official documents and photographs. A further 23 items are in two sub-collections with details of navigator examinations and postcards of Laghouat Algeria.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Elizabeth Smith and Yvonne Puncher and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br />
<p>This collection also contains items concerning Louis Murray and Harry Bowers. Additional information on <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/202827/">Harry Bowers</a> and <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/220410/">Louis Murray</a> is available via the IBCC Losses Database.</p>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-16
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Hudson, JD
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[deleted] first five lines [/deleted]
DELIGHTED TO HAVE RECEIVED YOUR CABLE SEVENTEENTH PARCEL AND THIRTEEN BOOKS LATEST LETTER EVERYONE TAFFES LETTER DATED SEPTEMBER TWENTY-NINTH ADVISING DESPATCH 500 CIGARETTES REPLYING BY LETTER KEEPING WELL ALL LOVE THOUGHTS WISHES DOUGLAS HUDSON 20-10-42
DELIGHTED SECOND RED CROSS PARCEL RECEIVED OCTOBER TWENTY-FOURTH INTACT COULD YOU SEND BOOK ON TEXTILE PRODUCTION AND MANUFACTURE ALL LOVE DOUGLAS HUDSON 26-10-42
DELIGHTED CABLE THIRTY-FIRST ACKNOWLEDGING SNAPS SELECTION BOOKS GOOD THANK YOU FOR DESPATCHING THIRD RED CROSS PARCEL YOUR SECOND RECEIVED INTACT OCTOBER TWENTY-FOURTH WELL ALL LOVE BEST WISHES DOUGLAS HODSON 3-11-42
[page break]
DELIGHTED PREPAID CABLE TWELFTH RECEIVED YESTERDAY YOUR TENTH LETTERS ARRIVE IN PERFECT SEQUENCE LATEST SEVENTY-ONE AM EXPERIMENTING WRITING LETTER TODAY REGISTERED AIRMAIL WELL ALL LOVE THOUGHTS WISHES DOUGLAS HUDSON 15-9-42
DELIGHTED CABLE TWENTY-FIFTH YOUR LATEST LETTER SEVENTY-FIVE WANTED LITTLE GIRL CORRESPONDENT SEND PHOTOS ALL LOVE THOUGHTS BEST WISHES KEEP SMILING WRITING ALWAYS DOUGLAS HUDSON 30-9-42
DELIGHTED CABLE THIRD ACKNOWLEDGING RECEIPT MY REGISTERED LETTER YOUR LATEST LETTER SEVENTY-SIX [deleted] seven words [/deleted] PLEASED MY JUNE LETTERS MESSAGES RECEIVED AND GLAD YOU UNDERSTAND KEEPING WELL ALL LOVE THOUGHTS BEST WISHES AS EVER DOUGLAS HUDSON 5-10-42
[page break]
ALL LOVE THOUGHTS BEST WISHES WEDDING ANNIVERSARY DOUGLAS HUDSON 4-8-42
DELIGHTED CABLE AUGUST FOURTH CONFIRMATION RECEIVER TO PAY ARRIVED SHALL SEND NEXT TELEGRAM THIS WAY AWAIT PARCELS WELL ALL LOVE
LATEST LETTER GLAD MY LETTERS AND CABLES ARE ARRIVING BEST WISHES DADS BIRTHDAY FUTURE REQUIREMENTS FOOTWEAR SOAP MOST USEFUL WRITING ALWAYS WELL ALL LOVE THOUGHTS DOUGLAS HUDSON 1-9-42
[deleted] three lines[/deleted]
[page break]
[indecipherable] remainder of document [/indecipherable]
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
Scripts of telegrams written and sent by Douglas Hudson to parents from prisoner of war camps
Description
An account of the resource
Transcripts of nearly 50 telegrams between Douglas Hudson and his parents between August 1941 and November 1942.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
J D Huson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941
1942
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Eight page handwritten document
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
SHudsonJD755052v20005
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-08
1941-09
1941-12
1942-01
1942-02
1942-03
1942-04
1942-05
1942-06
1942-07
1942-08
1942-09
1942-10
1942-11
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
prisoner of war
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cadet No 1436220 A.C. Akrill WE
5 Flight P. Squadron,
Posting Wing,
Avenue Close,
Avenue Road,
London N.W. 8.
Monday night 29 September
Dear Mum,
I’m sending my washing home as my things are getting a bit black & it’s not easy to get them done in London. I don’t think the civvy towel is mine actually but mine went & I lagged this which was rather lively but I havn’t [sic] used it. I don’t want it back. I will let you know my I.T.W. address as soon as I get there.
I shall be very, very glad to get away from this dump though for some things quite sorry to leave London. Here were [sic] only killing time until we can be posted. This afternoon is a good example of a Posting Wing life. We came back from dinner & had a nice long wait, sitting on the billet floor. We were called on Parade – the Parade ground is two or three minutes walk away – and went through all the palaver of
[page break]
falling in &c. Our Corporal then told us that there was to be a Kit Inspection, marched us back & dismissed us to lay out our kit. We went through all that trouble & sat on the few remaining square inches of floor until 4.20 when we learned on making enquiries the the [sic] P/O hadn’t turned up & [deleted] had [/deleted] the corporal had inspected it himself & had forgotten us as we’re cut off from the rest in the kitchen. So we decided we’d had it & put our stuff back again & went off for an hours drill before tea. A week like this will be quite enough, though on Wednesday our Flight is on Guard & we have the next day off & will possibly be posted of [sic] Friday – Sat at the latest (we hope!) Observers are posted immediately.
One good thing about this place is that if we have time we can get in for two meals at once as our flights are so big no-one misses us. I had a good feed tonight. Downstairs for 1 meal – 3 sausages & mash & 2 pieces of bread & [inserted] butter [/inserted] jam instead of one & then upstairs for 5 more sausages & enough butter & jam for half a bread loaf. I think the tea was doped for the new intake so I avoided it.
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
I’ve been out with Wilfred (the Cadet I met at [deleted] Mwn [/deleted] Reynolds) over the week end. I shall be very sorry to leave him at the week-end though there is a very vague hope of our going together. We went on Sunday to the Westminster Central Hall to hear the Rev. Sangster. Wilfred’s a grand lad & we could be such good friends if only we could be together. Once again at Westminster everybody was very kind & we had two invitations out to tea.
I hear that the hardest part of I.T.W is Aircraft Recognition. I wish I had all my books here. I’ve not seen a plane or a picture of one [deleted] tod [/deleted] until today [deleted] whe [/deleted] I know all the British & some of the Jerries but we have to know Italians too as well as details of wing span &c. It certainly means that when I get to I.T.W it must be work all the time. We also get Maths, Navigation, & Morse in addition to drill. We have to become absolutely tip-top in marching &c. Talk about the goose-step! Our march is nearly as crazy!
Well I want to get to bed early tonight. We were up late this morning & I’ve
[page break]
got a bit of a cold. [deleted] I [/deleted]
I should be getting a photograph of our old flight & will send you one. There are only 29 out of the 50 here. 4 have been posted as observers & the rest haven’t passed their maths.
I havn’t [sic] heard much about Mr. H. I often think about the good time I had that first holiday week – years ago it seems.
[deleted] I [/deleted] Oh, there is a boy who was at school with Dave here. He was at the Medical at Nottingham with us & at Cardington with me.
Best of love to everybody,
[underlined] Bill [/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 Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Written as cadet from posting wing. Sending washing home. Will be glad to get away from current location. Describes daily activity, a friend and going to Westminster Central Hall. Suggests that hardest part of Initial Training Wing will be aircraft recognition and wished he had all his books. Hopes to get flight photograph to send.
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
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]XX0929
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.
Great Britain
England--London
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-29
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
Initial Training Wing
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cadet. NO 1436220 A.C.2. Akrill,
9/12. No 4 Squadron,
Friday night 26 Sept. 1941. Bentinck Close,
Prince Albert Road,
LONDON. N.W.8.
Dear Mum,
Glad to have a letter from you this morning. Also had one from Rosie, much to my surprise. I had written to the boys but they havn’t replied. I thought I’d better get most of this letter written tonight as we’re moving tomorrow & will perhaps not have much time. I don’t know yet where [deleted] we [/deleted] I am going but I am not moving from London just yet. Only 3 of our flight have been posted. They went off to I.T.W today. Our flight will be split up & go either to Avenue Close to await posting or to Viceroy Court (next door) for a Maths Course. I’m really not bothered what happens. At Viceroy we get a very good course of lectures in Maths. Aircraft Recognition & Morse, at Avenue we just wait about feeling “browned off’. Well I’ll enclose my new address, but it won’t be permanent.
I’ve completely recovered innoculations [sic]. I felt practically no effect & went out to the chapel in the evening & had a sing song with five other Cadets & I
[page break]
[missing page]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
about every meal too to improve our night vision. I’ve never drunk so much tea before or eaten so much chocolate which is very plentiful. We buy pounds of apples & I’m devouring one now. I always seem to be hungry though I ‘m eating nearly as much as usual. Fancy talking about tomatoes. I must buy some. All the window boxes are full here. But how I could do with a few glasses of [underlined] new milk [/underlined]. That’s one thing I don’t think we can get here & I’m dying for one (well not quite). We hardly dare drink the tea as its liable to be strongly doped. Kept everybody awake one night on the rum! It was like dynamite!!!
Ro I’ve not seen Mr. Woods. I don’t suppose I’d know him but he’s not in our flight. There are hundreds coming in every Monday.
Glad you’ve got Phyllis there. Hope [deleted] she gets [/deleted] it does her good. Hope Peter likes being at school.
Hope you’ll soon be able to get the barley. What a job. You should be having our scorching weather! What a sensation about Bill. B! Where did they get it? Who were they? I could just
[page break]
4
do with one of your Bramble Pies! Glad to hear Joyce is back. Give her my best regards. And [underlined] please [/underlined] I wan’t to hear from everybody. I’m sure daddy could manage a few minutes & I should appreciate it. I hope Mary will write. Tell Nip I’ve just been singing “Good Bye Dolly” in the bath & that like her everybody admires my brown back! Our bathrooms are gorgeous especially when we’ve polished them up for C.O’s inspection. Which reminds me. I scrubbed the floor of our room the other day. Got up at 5.30. to do it & hadn’t time for breakfast. But the old Boy told us it was [underlined] very [/underlined] clean. Gosh! Its surprising what fellows will do in the hope of becoming pilots! Nobody grumbles about scrubbing & polishing & we do make a good job of it. Well (to continue) I was going to say that I’d be glad to hear from Nip too. Heard from H & R. Letters always acceptable. Must go to sleep as boys are waiting to & I’m tired after a strenuous day’s [underlined] drill [/underlined].
[underlined] Saturday [/underlined] Waiting now for the Squadron Parade in full Kit. We’ve just got it all packed up.
[page break]
[underlined] 5 [/underlined]
I feel like a pack mule & I can sympathise with those fellows who did pack drill at Collingham. We have three rucksacks full, steel helmet, gas cape, water bottle, respirator all strapped on & in addition to this our kit bags & cases. Fortunately we’ve not far to go. Don’t know where yet.
We sent off our civvies yesterday. They will be at the Station sometime next week I expect. We’ve quite left “Civvie [sic] Street” behind now. We gave up our Identity Cards on Wednesday & got blue pass books, so I can’t ever pretend to be a Civilian again. We had pay parade on Thursday. 30/- for a fortnight. They pay to the nearest 10/- & the rest goes over to the next fortnight.
This morning my vaccination is beginning to burst & make a nasty mess.
Give my love to everyone, will enclose my new address with this letter when I know it. Cheerio. [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[page break]
P.S. Have you sent off those books &c yet? And have they replied?
Here is my new address (for I hope not more than a week).
Cadet [underlined] No [/underlined] 1436220 A.C.2. Akrill W. E.
5 flight
P squadron.
Posting wing.
You will see that I Avenue Close.
have passed my Exams Avenue Road.
and am still with Joe, Ken London NW.8.
& Phil, billeted in a [underlined] kitchen [/underlined] of another luxury flat [deleted] in a [/deleted] some distance from Bentinck. A number of old chums are not with us. We expect to go to I.T.W a week today. Very very [deleted] stickt [/deleted] keen on discipline here. Yes I can do with a clean pair of pyjamas but wait till I get to I.T.W. [deleted] Write /deleted] If you write write as soon as you can, at least before Wed. or Thurs. so that I’m sure of getting it. [underlined] Bill [/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 Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes that he is about to be posted within London for a short period. [page missing] Have been given food to improve night vision but he really misses getting fresh milk. Are about to move and really feel they have left 'civvie street' now.
Catches up with family and farm news as well as his daily activities.
Gives new address at the end (but only for a week). Has passed his exams and will be posted to Initial Training Wing soon.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-26
1941-09-27
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christain
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five page handwritten 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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]410926
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--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
Initial Training Wing
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Sunday 21 [underlined] st [underlined] Sept ’41. NO: 1436220 AC2. AKRILL
9/12 No.4 SQUADRON.
BENTINCK CLOSE.
Prince Albert Road,
LONDON. N.W.8.
Dear Mum,
Thought I’d be getting a letter from you yesterday & was glad not to be disappointed. Knew you’d find time anyway. Nice to hear every body’s OK but tell the whole household that a few times won’t come amiss now & then.
I’m writing this in bed. I intended getting lots of writing done this afternoon as I’ve not yet done any, but I’ve had a very full and miraculously enjoyable day. I woke this a.m. rather dreading Sunday [deleted] though [/deleted] We had nothing to do after Church parade at 8.40. I was sure I should be so tempted to think of the great difference between the old Sundays & this. Weekdays are full & I’m perfectly happy but I was afraid of Sunday. Well we went to C.P. The Nonconfirmists [sic] have to parade to a Baptist Chapel near where the Raf Padre should have spoken to us but as he was away we had the Pastor. Well he gave a general invitation to us to go down to the service afterwards & so I went & [deleted] sta [/deleted] I was the only one & everyone was extremely Kind & I stayed sacrament & the Pastor invited me to tea in the afternoon so I had a grand afternoon & evening. The Pastor & his wife were the grandest old couple
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
& you can imagine how fine it was to get a nice quiet time in a [underlined] home [/underlined] again for Sunday. I went to Chapel again & back to supper with another Cadet who is also a Methodist & has been here for 4 months & has been looked after generally by these two kind souls. We had a lovely evening & I can say that my first Sunday in the Raf has been splendid. I’m sure mother will be glad to know that another mother & father - can share her feelings about her precious little one!
Well my first week’s over — though it feels as though I’ve been here months. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. They are a grand set of fellows and in our room we are already great friends. My pals’ - Jo Phil & Ken don’t know London so I’ve had to more or less look after them - though I left them to their own devices today. During the week we’ve had all our Tests & filled up time with drills, lectures, P.T &c. Next week we don’t do much. Tomorrow is [deleted] vaccine [/deleted] vaccination, inoculation & Blood Grouping & for the rest of the week we recover.
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [underlined]
& get a few lectures. Then we’ll probably be posted though I expect I’ll have to stay on for Maths Revision. The paper we got was quite straight forward — I needn’t have done any of that swotting but I hadn’t anything like enough time to do it satisfactorily but I’m not going to worry for if I know I’m not up to standard I know I’ll have to get there for I don’t want to go on to I.T.W & fail there as that would be the end so If I have to stay for another fortnight I’ll not mind except that it will mean parting from the boys though I suppose that that’s bound to happen though we want to keep together. A story goes that only about 40% get through right off so expect some of them will stay but my particular chums are pretty good on Maths. Preselection was a rum do. Had to do craziest thing before a Psychological Board of [underlined] Waafs [/underlined]. It’s to see, of course, whether you’r [sic] fitted for fighter, bomber or nothing at all.
We’re now without an N.C.O. as Cpl: has gone on leave. He was the best of sorts though [deleted] you [/deleted] though no one would think so on Parade. He was quite the stricktest [sic] of the lot & put us through it but we soon became the
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
smartest flight around. Got our uniforms now. Mine had to be altered & fast as they’re struck on perfect fittings, so I escaped it for a while. Fed up of it already this hot weather and my feet! What do you do for corns? Sending my civvies tomorrow I believe, so possibly get this posted with them.
Food may as well tell you it’s disappointing. At first it [deleted] was [/deleted] couldn’t have been worse. Very little of it too. One day we got fish for the umpteenth time. It was Haddock & the smell was unbearable & I just couldn’t eat a crumb though we had some nice buiscuits [sic] as well. There were complaints but the cooks ignored them as soon as the officer had gone. Anyway there’s been a steady improvement since & todays breakfast was very tasty & I hear that dinner was good. I miss tea parade whenever possible though it means buying some. We get v.good cheap meals in the Canteen under St. Martins. So you see I’ll not save much. Also seen two shows.
I often think of that story of Mr. [indecipherable word] when in the West End. Every other person seems to be an officer of some sort or Nationality
[page break]
[underlined] 5 [/underlined]
& so [deleted] my [/deleted] our arms soon ache. Worst of it is that after giving them [deleted] blighters [/deleted] a perfect salute they wave a paw at you in the sloppiest manner imaginable [deleted] if [/deleted] that is if they acknowledge you at all. I’ve not saluted any Waafs or ATS yet I dodge ‘em but I’d like to try some time for fun.
Well the boys all seem to be asleep so I’d better put the light out & join them. See if I can finish this tomorrow.
[underlined] Monday after dinner [/underlined] We’ve got a bout an hour’s rest so I can finish this. We’ve had Kit Inspection this morning & this afternoon we are on a Swimming Parade. Tonight we’re on guard. Food’s been very good today.
No I havn’t found London altered at all. Where I have been there’s hardly any bomb damage to be seen though I hear that the City is practically destroyed. Food is plentiful. The shops are full & nobody dreams of queues. You hardly know there’s a war on here. Everything seems absolutely normal until night time. Then you can see that everybody’s on the alert. The Tube shelters are still pretty full. I believe a big Blitz is expected. Anyway no one’s taking chances & the whole town’s prepared. The Houses of P & the Abbey are a bit scarred & I should imagine they’re [deleted] about [/deleted] ruined inside but there’s not much to be seen of
[page break]
[underlined] 6 [/underlined]
damage.
If I get posted at the end of the week I shall go on to I.T.W. at Torquay, Cambridge, Stratford, or Scarborough most likely. I f I get through there I think I can [deleted] squee [/deleted] manage to get a few days leave before being sent abroad. I should be there about 6 weeks.
I expect you’ve got on well with the barley this hot weather. It’s more of a scorcher than ever today & I’m not liking my uniform.
I must write to the boys. Possibly Dave will have written. I want to get my civvies off today if possible as they’re in the way & getting in a mess. Please pack them away in moth balls for me as I’ll be wanting them when on leave. Though I suppose I’ll have to parade around in my uniform. I may as well swank in it while I have a chance. It’s pretty common here, but the Londoners treat us very well. We’re getting some of the glory for the Battle of Britain.
Best of love to everybody. Glad to hear from you all, all about everything. Tell everybody I’m having a good time. [underlined] Bill [/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 Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill is at the Receiving Centre in London. He writes that he has had a good Sunday with going to a Baptist Chapel and being invited for tea by the pastor and meeting up with another cadet - 'I can say my first Sunday in the RAF has been splendid'. He has thoroughly enjoyed his first week generally.
There have been all kinds of tests, drills, lectures, PT and next week they will have vaccinations etc. He's not sure he will pass the maths and may have to stay there to retake it - would rather do this than fail at the Initial Training Wing. Describes Preselection being before a Psychological Board of WAAFs.
Has now got his uniform - which is a bit hot. Finding the food disappointing, although it is getting slightly better. So many officers in West End that saluting them makes your arm ache.
London doesn't seem to be altered - especially during the day, but at night everyone is on alert and the tube shelters are full.
Not sure where he will be posted to. Gets a good reaction to his uniform in London - 'we're getting some of the glory for the Battle of Britain'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-21
1941-09-22
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six page handwritten 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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]410921
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--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
civil defence
faith
ground personnel
Initial Training Wing
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
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
2017-12-04
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
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 A.C.2. AKRILL,
O/12 No. 4 Squadron.
BENTINCK CLOSE,
PRINCE ALBERT ROAD
LONDON. N.W.8.
Monday Night. 15 Sept 1941.
Dear Mum & all,
At last I have a chance to sit down and so I must get off a letter, though when I’ll get it posted I don’t know! Must see if I can cadge a stamp.
I am billited [sic] in one of the best parts of London in a rather nice block of flats close by, almost overlooking Regents Park. I share a bare room with 4 others - beds on the floor but they don’t look too bad & I’m certainly ready for one! Got to King’s X. at 12.25 & had a stroll around town as I wanted to have a look at it as a [underlined] CIVILIAN [/underlined] before getting to camp. Just the same old place it seems. I’ve only seen one bad lot of blitz & that strangely enough was in Bedford Row - you know my old haunt.
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
really depressing. I walked down it and every place was gutted & dead though in the square hoards of evacuated slum bains ran about. As I passed the old Clevedon - though it’s windows were gone it displayed the sign - ‘Open’ Good old Clevedon. Oxford St. was as usual though you see ruined buildings wherever you look. All the big stores were carrying on. I had a pot of tea, Lyons & took the tube for St. John’s Wood getting to Lords soon after 2. Crowds of fellows on the way and the whole place swarming with Cadets - the white flash I envied so much is of no value here - I’ll get mine thrown at me first thing tomorrow and I hear that the thing’s regarded as a curse! We are in charge of a damned decent corporal & I believe we’ll get on fine. Do you know where we have to parade for meals? None other place than the dear old Zoo!! Lots of monkeys I suppose. If [[deleted] expect [/deleted] I do well I shall be gone from here in a fortnight - anyway this address will hold no longer. I have to go through a Psychological Test a Night Vision test and a Maths Test
[page break]
[underlined 3 [/underlined]
down here. If I fail the first I’m out, fail the 2nd I’m no good for Night flying - fail the 3rd & I stay here [deleted] for [/deleted] indefinately [sic] on a Refresher Course. Hope I can manage them all & then I should be gone in something like a fortnight. Don’t distribute the address around as it’s not permanent. Though if you do, make it clear that it will hold only for a fortnight. From what I can see we have a pretty easy time here - we’re allowed out from 6.0 p.m. to 10.30 & 11.59 on Saturdays. This is a receiving centre & we go from here to an Initial Training Wing. I can hear the wardens going round shouting about Black-out. Air raids are taken [underlined] seriously [/underlined] here!
For the moment I can’t think of anything more to say without boring you. Our N.C.O.’s just been giving us fatherly advice. Nice bloke. I’m liking it O.K. so far. A decent lot of fellows from first impression. Like my room mates. One of them was at Cardington when I was.
I’ll be sending my civies [sic] home shortly. Cpl: informs us we’ll get no leave just yet.
Feel like getting out for a spot of fresh air & finding a pillar-box. [deleted] I [/deleted] Tell every body I’ve got my pecker up and am very cheerful
[page break]
though I expect I’ll be stewing in my uniform by tomorrow at this time.
Tell Mr. H. that we actually have to salute WAAF officers! Our Cpl told us a funny story of how he was marching some recruits along through the park when a WAAF officer came along. He gave the order “Eyes right” & the poor woman dropped her suitcase in surprise.
I’ll not be able to write separately to Harry & Ros but this goes for all - if you can read it. I’ll have lots to tell you when I see you. It’s great fun. Best of love to all [underlined] Bill [/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 Bill Akrill to mother and family
Description
An account of the resource
Writes from the Receiving Centre of his billet in a 'rather nice block of flats' near Regents Park and of walking round looking at bomb damage to some old haunts in London.
They go to the zoo for their meals ('lot of monkeys').
Will on be at the current establishment for two more weeks and having a series of medical and other tests for selection as aircrew. Will then go on to Initial Training Wing.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-15
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
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
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]410915
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--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
bombing
home front
Initial Training Wing
military living conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[circled 1]
Please note change of address} [arrow pointing to new address]
From:- H B Cooper [Hank]
15 Renwick Park (West)
West Runton
Norfolk NR27-9LX
[underlined] 21-03-02 [/underlined]
[underlined] Dear Norman [/underlined]
Thanks very much for letting me see a copy of your “write up” about David (Don) and his time in the RAF. Take it from me that it is factually correct in all aspects. But of course Don was always larger [word deleted] than “facts” and I will try and say what I mean in a Post Script at the end.
I first met Don in 1941 in B Flight of 149 Squadron at Mildenhall. He was a fairly senior captain of a crew when I arrived in Jan '41 as a Wireless Operator /A G. W/Cm Speedy Powell [* see comments] was the Squadron C.O. and [inserted] S/Ldr [/inserted] Sawrey Cookson was our Flight Commander. Other namrs which I am sure Don will remember are:- Franks – Fisher – Wand. I left on rest in Sept '41 – awarded MID.
I was recalled to Ops in mid 1943 to 192SD Squadron as a Special Operator (recording German radar and Don appointed Squadron CO early in 1944 and we renewed memories of our time in 149 Squadron I finished my 2nd tour Mayish 1944 (awarded DFC) and was posted on rest to Air Ministry London. People in 192 which again I am sure Don will remember are :- Roach Willlis (Station Commander) – Harry Crow – Jimmy Magdon - “Ken” Kendrick – Leslie Banks etc.
[word deleted]The job at Air Ministry was awful – no flying – no pals – no squash - no beer ups and I
[page break]
was constantly on the 'phone to Don to see if he could get me back to 192 for another tour of Ops. Some how he managed this and I returned to 12 September ish 1944 and started a 3rd tour in 192 under the command of W/Cmdr Don. I completed this tour April 1945 (awarded DSO).
There our RAF paths finished; but during this time I went on two Ops with Don:-
1) 17/9/44 – Halifax 706 – War Operations – 7.35 hrs
2) 19/2/44 – Halifax 706 – War Operations – 7.50 hrs
I then went into GPO (B/T) management and as Deputy Manager of the City of London B/T [inserted] (1978) I “sacked” one of my staff – his Union took the case to appeal which was duly heard by the Appeal Board under the Chairmanship of DWD. I did not contact Don before the hearing but afterwards (it went in our favour) I 'phoned Don and we had a long natter.
Thats about it
Yrs etc
Henry Copper
(Hank)
[underlined] P.S. [/underlined]
I am sorry to hear that Don is poorly in health – but perhaps some of the names I have mentioned will strike a chord. I shall never forget him.
Hank
[page break]
[underlined] Post Script [/underlined]
I (H B Cooper) served with David Donaldson on 149 Squadron (Bomber Command) at RAF Mildenhall in early 1941 and later on he was my Squadron Commanding Officer (W/Cmdr) on 192 SD Squadron at Foulsham Norfolk.
He was always completely fearless and outstandingly brave and pressed home his attacks to the uttermost. As the Squadron's C.O. he generated loyalty and warmth he was an outstanding model to follow. He spent much trouble and time encouraging his junior Air Crews as well as helping and seeing to the needs of the ground technians [sic] who serviced the aircraft generally in cold and difficult conditions. He was completely non-boastful, in fact he be-littled his own actions (which were always of the highest order) when discussing air operations. He was an outstanding Squadron Commander in all respects, much liked and completely respected by all his Aircrews and Ground Crews.
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 Hank Cooper to Norman Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
Letter to David's younger brother Norman. Hank thanks him for the opportunity to see a copy of Norman's write up of David's Royal Air Force career and confirms that it is factually correct. Hank reviews his association with David and aspects of his own career. He mentions crossing David's path in his subsequent career as an Industrial Tribunal Chairman in 1978. Additional information about this item was kindly provided by the donor.
Creator
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H Cooper
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2002-03-21
Contributor
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Frances Grundy
Format
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Three page handwritten letter
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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ECooperHBDonaldsonGN20020321
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
England--London
England--Cromer
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-01
1941-09
1943
1944
1944-09-12
1945-04
1978
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
149 Squadron
192 Squadron
aircrew
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
Halifax
RAF Foulsham
RAF Mildenhall
sport
wireless operator
-
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Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Madgett, Hedley Robert
H R Madgett
Description
An account of the resource
250 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Hedley Madgett DFM (1922 - 1943, 147519, 1330340 Royal Air Force), a pilot with 61 Squadron. He was killed 18 August 1943 on the last operation of his tour from RAF Syerston to Peenemünde. The collection consists of letters, postcards and telegrams to his parents while he was training in the United Kingdom and Canada. In addition the collection contains memorabilia, documents from the Air Training Corps, artwork, a railway map, diaries, medals as well as his logbook, photographs of people, places and aircraft. Also contains letters of condolence to parents and a sub collection containing a photograph album with 44 items of his time training in Canada'.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Joan Madgett and Carol Gibson, and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Hedley Madgett is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/114690/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/madgett-hr/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-03-17
2019-06-14
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
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Madgett, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No. 1330340. L.A.C. H.R. MADGETT
(Course 33.)
No. 32 E.F.T.S. R.A.F. Station
Swift Current,
Saskatchewan,
Canada.
[underlined] 17th. Nov. [/underlined]
[underlined] 9th. letter [/underlined]
[inserted] Recd 5th Dec 1941 [/inserted]
Dear Mum & Dad,
I received your p.c. dated 15th. Oct., but cannot understand why you have only received one letter, dated 5th. Sept. I sent one Air Mail to the coast on 21st. August. Then the following:-
No.2. On 5th. Sept. Air Mail. (received) [inserted] 18th Sept. [/inserted]
“ 3 “ 29th “ Ordinary. [inserted] [symbol] Oct 21st [/inserted]
“ 4 “ 7th. Oct. Air Mail to Coast. [inserted][symbol][/inserted]
“ 5 “ 16th. “ Air Mail. [inserted][symbol] Nov 4th [/inserted]
“ 6 “ [deleted] 2nd. [/deleted] 1st. Nov. Postcard from Regina. Ordinary [inserted][symbol][/inserted].
“ 7 “ 4th. “ Air Mail. [inserted] – Nov 29th [/inserted]
“ 8 “ 9th. “ Air Mail. [inserted] Dec. 5th [/inserted]
So I don’t know where my letters are going. It’s a nuisance because in some I have enclosed some photos.
Now to get on with news. We have just finished our final examinations, except for signal sending. We will have that this afternoon, no doubt.
On Saturday morning, we had the Navigation exam, 3 hours. I did not do exceptionally well
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined] on the plot, but the rest of the paper I think I did satisfactorily. In the afternoon we had Airframes and Airmanship, both of which we all found not too bad. On [underlined] Sunday [/underlined] morning, we had theory of Flight and Aero Engines, both of which we were definitely not looking forward to, especially the Theory of Flight. On the latter, we have only had two decent lectures, all the rest given us by any Tom Dick or Harry, with the consequence that we do not know much. But the exam turned out lovely. I myself did very well, and thought it pretty easy. [deleted] Some of [/deleted] Aero Engines was quite straightforward. But out of 12 papers already marked in theory of F. 4 have failed: I’m pretty sure I’m O.K. though. In the afternoon we had [deleted] sign [/deleted] morse receiving, & aldis receiving. Near the end of the Engines exam, the C.G.I. Squadron Leader Turner came into the room, and caught a chap cribbing. Then he went round a few of the desks and saw a few writings – definitions etc [inserted] on the desks [/inserted], & came to the conclusion that almost everybody had been cribbing. So, [deleted] after [/deleted] before the signal exam in the afternoon, old Turner came into the room and told us we were going to have all the exams again. at that we just told him we would refuse. But he stuck to his word - & we stuck to ours - & oh boy what a rowdy argument ensued. In the end he got tired of arguing &
[page break]
[underlined] 3. [/underlined] dashed out of the room, down the corridor to his own little room. We all swarmed after him & into his little room, those not getting in, crowding round outside. He nearly went scatty. He was waving his arm & shouting “Get out of here, get out of here, I won’t listen to you, get out of here”. We did not budge an inch, but kept on arguing with him & telling him we flatly refuse to take the exam again. so that was how the situation stood last night. He has quietened down now a bit, and is showing more sense, so I do not think we [deleted] hav [/deleted] shall [inserted] have [/inserted] the paper again – not that it would make much difference, because we would not do it in any case.
Our flying this morning has been cancelled because of the very low ceiling. Just our luck. Every time some bad weather comes, it is our squad due for flying. Consequently we are behind our hours, although my hours stand alright i.e. 57.05 hours, dual & solo & night flying (2.00).
[deleted] When [/deleted] Well, that is all the news for the moment, so I will close,
A Happy Xmas,
Love from [underlined] Hedley [/underlined]
P.S. We should be moving from here on the 24th., but please keep[deleted]ing [/deleted] on writing, more letters if you don’t mind. I have not had much mail lately.
[page break]
[photograph]
[page break]
Barrack Hut. Swift Current. Sask. CANADA.
Left to Rt.
Myself, Bill & Lucy. Sept. 1941
[page break]
[photograph]
[page break]
“The Sleeping Beauty”.
September 1941.
[page break]
Air Mail
[inserted] Recd 5th [underlined] Dec. [/underlined][/inserted]
[postage stamps][postmarks]
Mr. & Mrs. L.R. Madgett,
127. Longlands Road,
[underlined] Sidcup, [/underlined]
[underlined] Kent [/underlined]
[underlined] ENGLAND [/underlined]
[page break]
[back of envelope]
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Letter with photographs from Hedley Madgett to his parents
Description
An account of the resource
Cannot understand why they have received so few letters from him and lists those he has sent. Continues that he has finished final examinations and describes navigation exam. States that they other exams and in particular theory of flight for which they had had few lectures. Mentions that some people have failed examinations. Writes that the C.G.I came into room and caught someone cribbing on the engines paper and then on inspection that all had been cheating and that they would have to retake exam. Continues describing students confronting him and refusing a retake. Concludes with some comments on flying and weather.
Photograph 1 - a barrack room with many double bunks with lockers above; There are two airmen sitting on lower bunks and one standing. On the reverse 'Barrack Hut. Swift Current Sask, Canada, left to right Myself, Bill and Lucy, Sept 41'.
Photograph 2 - Hedley Madgett wearing unbuttoned tunic laying asleep in a bed. Equipment and clothes hanging from top bunks. An airman is sitting on a bunk bed to the left. On the reverse ' The sleeping beauty, September 1941'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-11-17
1941-09
Format
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Three page handwritten letter with envelope and two b/w mphotographs
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EMadgettLR-AGMadgettHR411117
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.
Canada
Saskatchewan--Swift Current
Great Britain
England--Kent
England--London
Saskatchewan
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-11-17
1941-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Hedley Robert Madgett
aircrew
military living conditions
pilot
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/806/10787/ADowardLA171026.2.mp3
158fdd349ac6ae339dce19c3e81889de
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Doward, Len
Len Alfred Doward
L A Doward
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Len Doward (1920 - 2022, 182242 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a pilot with 625 and 550 Squadrons.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-11-20
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
Doward, LA
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
DM: This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is David Meanwell. The interviewee is Len Doward. The interview is taking home, at Mr Doward’s home at South Nutfield in Surrey on the 26th of October 2017. Ok. Well, Len if you could perhaps say a little bit about where and when you were born and how you came to end up in the forces.
LD: Yes. I was born in London, along Westminster Bridge Road. Not far from Westminster Bridge. And we went from there when I was quite young to Sutton, off Sutton Common Road, Woodstock Rise. And from there I went, in 1938 when Chamberlain came back waving a piece of paper saying. ‘Peace in our time.’ It was just before he returned from Munich. I went over and I joined the Territorial Army in the Drill Hall that was on Stonecot Hill in Sutton. And that was the 31st, it was the 325 Company Royal Engineers, the 31st Battalion, Royal Engineers and the CO was Colonel Jones who was the PPS of the Prime Minister at that time. So, Jonesie was our boss. And we were mobilised on the, I think the 15th of August 1939. So, we went from there. We had to go to the Drill Hall. And then we were taken in buses down to what they called our Battle Stations which were outside Horsham, Broadbridge Heath. And when we got there, there was some squaddies already there in the course of erecting big tents. They were like marquees. And we were, the different companies that were there, they were given a number of marquees. And also the squaddies, they were handed linen covers and then we were told to go over to a corner of the field where there was a great stack of bales of hay and we had to fill these linen baskets with the hay. That was our bed and that was what we slept on. And then we were there [pause] I’m forgetting ‘til when [pause] Oh, I volunteered for the RAF, flying duties because we had a notice in Company Orders that came around that the Air Force, they were seeking volunteers for aircrew duties, so I put my name down. And I had a cousin at that time. He was in the Royal Engineers and he was a member of the bomb disposal squad. And he was older than me, but I’d applied for Johnny, that was my cousin to claim me. That I could go and join him in the bomb disposal squadron which was still the Royal Engineers. But anyway, as luck would have it the transfer came through into the Air Force. But before I got the ok I had to go up to what was known as arcy tarcy which was ACRC. Air Crew Reception Centre. Known fondly as arcy tarcy which was in a large block of flats. St Johns Wood. And we had to go, for our meals we had to go in our different flights over to London Zoo, in the London Zoo Restaurant for our meals. That was breakfast, lunch and tea. So that is what we had to do and you had to march over there and you would go as a flight. Also to go over there to have your jabs and so on, and medicals. Well, it just so happened that a number of us had transferred from the Army but we also had in the flight, we also had complete newcomers in to the services. They were as green as grass and — alright?
Other: Withheld.
LD: Ok. And what happened was that these youngsters who never experienced any form of service life they were that green as grass that when we were due to go and have our jabs, inoculations and some brought up to date well coming from the army most people had had all their jabs. We had a notification in our pay books. So, all we had to do was just flash our pay books and it was showing there the jabs that we’d had. Well, the youngsters straight out of Civvy Street [pause] the people who transferred and we were rotten devils at that time. We would tip each other the wink and we would say how terrible it was with these jabs, and it was surprising the number of people that died from them. They would have the jab and they would collapse and that was it [laughs] And there was one fellow, ginger haired character and he looked as green as grass and he was. And we were discussing this with another fellow from the army and we said. ‘Yeah. No, that was terrible to think that you’re having your jobs that are going to keep you alive and instead of that it killed you.’ And this poor ginger haired fellow he just collapsed [laughs] Yeah, but it was all good experience. I went from there, from arcy tarcy up to Scarborough, and Scarborough, that was [pause] I’ve got a photograph. The CO there was a Squadron Leader [Ailing?] in the middle. And this, he was the training wing warrant officer. He was a clever devil. He was a regular air force man and he was a warrant officer first class. And I’ve forgotten, I’ve got the blighter’s name down here somewhere. We got all their names and Nodder Locke, he was, we called him Nodder because he had this problem with his collar and he would do this from time to time. So, he was called Nodder. So, Nodder, he was Surrey County Cricket Club groundsman. and where is he now? Oh, here we are. Thorn. That was his name. Thorn. He was a London police constable and he was awarded a George Medal for rescuing a number of people from a bomb demolished building. And he got his GM. That’s Thorn. And also, I’ve got there’s some other blighter on here as well. Quite a well-known character. I’m old, I forget. But that was our CO. Squadron Leader [Elwin?] And that’s the warrant officer. And what was his name now? I’ve forgotten his blooming name. [pause] Anyway, he was a regular Air Force man and he was a clever devil. He was claiming four marriage allowances. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. But they eventually caught up with him. Long after I’d left there. And he was demoted down to an AC plonk and he was put in the slammer. I don’t know for how long but he served time in the Clink and he came out, down to an AC plonk because he was a regular serving fellow. So, that was that. And got quite a number of people on here who one way and another they became quite well known. And one of them. Scottie Cochrane. His name was Alex really but we called him Scottie and Scottie, he was the company secretary of the brewers Ind Coope and Allsopp, yes. So he had a fair wack of booze frequently delivered. Yeah. So, we were alright there. And it’s rather strange because I, I got an email. I was checking my emails this morning and there was one that had been put out by a great friend of mine. We were on the same squadron and his name is Jack Ball. Well, Jack Ball he’s got it on the internet, email. He’s got down a history of the experience from being green as grass until you got up and found yourself as a skipper on an aircraft. And he’d got it set out absolutely superbly, and he’s got in the language that the man in the street could understand. But very good. That was Jack Ball. But one way and another all these characters —
DM: So, that was, was that September 1941?
LD: Yeah.
DM: Yeah. That was Scarborough.
LD: September ‘41. Yeah. And that was the initial, 11 Initial Training Wing up in Scarborough. That hasn’t got Scarborough on there but that’s where it was.
DM: Yeah.
LD: And these are the signature of the people up in there. So that’s that.
DM: Put that over here so it’s safe.
LD: Ok. Thanks.
DM: So, where did you go from Scarborough? Where was the next training?
LD: Where did I go from Scarborough? I went from Scarborough to Hixon. Hixon. That was an Elementary Flying School. But at Scarborough you had to do all the ground lectures and you had to pass the exams following the lectures on the different subjects. You would have navigation, meteorology, a number of other subjects. Oh, Morse code. And they had semaphore to a degree but they didn’t go up into that very much because the instructors didn’t know what they were teaching [laughs] So, that was it. But that was Scarborough. Then from there went to Hixon. Oh, here we are. Arcy tarcy, Scarborough. Oh no. I went to Brough. Not Hixon. I went to Brough. That was elementary flying. And from Brough I went to Heaton Park in Manchester which was kicking off point before we were shipped out to Canada for flying training. Then I went from, went out to Canada. To Moncton. Then from there I went to elementary flying in a [unclear] Then I went to service flying in Swift Current but I didn’t like Swift Current because they were on multi-engine. Twin engine. It was a Service Flying School but the aircraft they had there, they were Airspeed Oxfords. Twin-engined. But I wanted to go on to fighters so I got a transfer from there into Swift Current which was a Service Flying Training School for singles. And I went from there to Calgary. Calgary back to Moncton on the way home. Then HM troop ship Andes. But it’s all down there, yeah.
DM: What did you think of Canada?
LD: Sorry?
DM: What did you think of Canada? Did you —
LD: Canada?
DM: Yeah.
LD: It was very good. The people there they were very very kind. They really were. And they couldn’t do enough for you. And we came, because we packed up training on the Friday evening but from the Friday evening you would be invited to spend a weekend. Different families. Canadian families. And they would come and collect you, take you to their homes and deliver you back on Sunday evening. And they were very very nice. Very very kind. They really were kind people. And that was that. Then I went from there, Swift Current up to Calgary. Yeah. Then I went up to, got back England. Up to Harrogate. And then from there to give us something to do they sent us up to Whitley Bay on what they called an RAF Regiment Course. So, although you were in the Air Force to fly they sent you up there to understand what the RAF Regiment did on the ground. And you had to take part in some of their manoeuvres. So, that was that. And it was that cold up in Whitley Bay that you received — you had, it was a coke stove in the middle of what you would term a sitting room or a lounge. And it would be in the middle of the room with a stack going up through the roof. And you were given a ration of coke but wintertime you soon got through that. So, what we did, because it had a garden at the back of the house where we were billeted it had a wooden fence. So we started burning the fence [laughs] And we worked our way along one side. And as luck would have it before anyone came around to check out we were shipped out. So [laughs] So, that was an experience that was. But that was up in, that was in up in Harrogate, I think.
DM: When you were going —
LD: That was at Whitley Bay.
DM: Whitley Bay, yeah. When you were going to Canada and came back from Canada were you seasick? Did you have a good passage, or —
LD: No. We were on the ship. HMS Andes. And where was I? I can’t remember. I went out to Canada on the troop ship Letitia. And I came back from Canada on the troopship, the Andes. And these two ships, they were both cruise liners in peacetime. And conditions weren’t the same on those because they’d converted them in to troop ships. And under the decks where they’d had cabins and so on for paying passengers they’d all been ripped out and you had a clear deck space for the whole of the deck. And you were allocated a hammock. And the hammocks they were so close together that they couldn’t even move with the movement of the ship. They were solid and as the ship moved you all went with the ship like this. Yeah. So that was, and that was going out on the Letitia and coming back on the Andes. And from there I went up to Harrogate which was called Number 7 Pilot’s Recruiting Centre. And from there I went on the RAF Regiment course at Whitley Bay. That lasted what? Five weeks. Then I went to the, what they called GR School which although you were a pilot, qualified pilot you had to go on the GR course which was Ground Recognition course. You had to go on that to learn the duties of the other crew members, and you also had to become conversant there with your Morse code. So, do you know Morse code?
DM: Not really, no.
LD: Oh.
DM: Only three dots and three dashes.
LD: [laughs] Well [pause] if someone says to you nine dits and a da you know they’re being rude.
DM: Fair enough.
LD: Because nine dits, it goes, it starts off with nine dits in Morse code is a dit a dit three dits.
DM: Right.
LD: Now, I’ll tell you the second letter and you can judge for yourself the last two. So, the first one is S. Dit de dit. The second one is four dit dit dit dit which is H. Now I’ll leave your imagination to the other two [laughs]
DM: I think I’ve got it, think I’ve got it. So, by this time from what you say you knew you weren’t going to be a fighter pilot, did you?
LD: Yes. And I trained on what they called Harvards, they were. They were used as fighters but then they became defunct as operational and they put them in to what they called Service School. That was Fighter Training School. And I was training on fighters. On the Harvard. Now, on the Harvard, oh that’s, I don’t know whether that bloke’s on that list. He could be somewhere. [pause] Oh, he’s probably on there somewhere. But he’s a tall guy and what happened was that the Harvard was a twin seater training aircraft although it had been used in fighter service but they put it down to training. What they called, not elementary but service flying, and the Harvard it was quite a good aircraft. You could do all kinds of things in it but when you were training you went to Service School. You thought that you were the king’s pin. You were mustered. And although you would be booked out for certain things [pause] I wonder if I’ve got it in here.
[pause]
LD: Ah. Here we are. The [unclear] Tiger. Tiger. Tiger. Tiger. Harvards. Here we are. That was at Swift Current. And you had to go and understand before they turned you loose. You had to understand and you had to certify that you were fully aware and understood the different aspects relating to the aircraft you were flying. So, although you signed this it was a means whereby if you ballsed up any of these actions you would be held responsible. And particularly if you killed yourself [laughs] They would say it was his own fault. So you wouldn’t, or your survivors wouldn’t get a pension. So, that was that. But I’ve got it down here. Yeah, here it is. Harvards. Started here [pause] And also you had to do link training. And I think the link training is at the back of the book.
DM: So, link training if I’m right was a bit like a flight simulator. An early form of flight simulator.
LD: Yeah. I’m babbling on.
DM: No. You carry on. That’s fine. But that’s what a link trainer was. It wasn’t, you weren’t in an actual plane, you were on the ground.
LD: Yeah.
DM: Yeah.
LD: So, these are the different things that — there you are, link trainer as well. You had to be proficient in the link trainer and you were certified by the link trainer instructor as to whether you were competent in his various exercises. And see, I’ve got it down here. Link, link trainer. And you had to do different things such as if you were flying an aircraft but you would be completely enclosed and you would have to do it on instruments. And through the earphones they would tell you to fly a certain course and you had, it was just the same as in a cockpit. You had to fly a certain course. They would tell you, ‘Right. You’ve reached a certain point. Now, you’ve got to find your way back and land at your home base.’ And this is where it comes out and you had to do different things which was timing on the beam. You had to time yourself on the beam and if you did that when you had to turn, turn off the beam on to certain heading, fighter heading. Then do a specific turn at a given rate. You could do rate ones up to four, four or six turns. Well, rate one was a nice gentle turn. Four or six would be as if you were bloody Top Gun [laughs] And that’s it. And this is what you had to do. You would be under the hood and you would be given directions what to do and you had to do this. And then we’ve got here you had to do homing, timing. Then they would give you an unknown course to fly. You didn’t know. And you had to go so far and then you had to judge from the sounds you were getting through as to what you would do next. And it was quite interesting that because you then had to find out how you were going to get back. Although you weren’t in the air to get back to base but you still had to go through the motions. And I’ve got it here, you see. Then you had to form what was known as figures of eight and you had to allow as if you were up in the air for drift and so on. And that was all down here. So, that was that. That was the link. And then I’ve got the list of my crew here. [laughs] I’ve got the list of when they passed on.
DM: Really?
LD: Yeah, Flash, we called him Flash Gall because he was the navigator and he would masticate his food a minimum of sixty chomps. And he would chomp. And you would sit down there with a pre-flight meal before we went off on ops and we called him Flash as a result. And Flash would sit there and you’d say. ‘Bloody hell, hurry up.’ And you would be the last on the crew bus to get out. Yeah. That was Flash. And he snuffed it on the 9th of December ’44. And Doug Jackman, the narrow gutted fellow. He — which one was he? [pause] Oh, here we are [pause] That was my, that’s my wireless operator, that was his job in Civvy Street.
DM: Senior investigations engineer.
LD: Yeah.
DM: With the Zinc Corporation.
LD: Yeah.
DM: Southern Power Corporation. That was in Australia. Broken Hill.
LD: Yeah.
DM: New South Wales.
LD: Yeah. He was quite a big noise in that company. And also I’ve got, that’s a Halifax. I’ve flown those. And this is us.
DM: That’s the crew. So, when —
LD: And —
DM: When — can you —
LD: You had to, you had to recognise ships as well. So that if you saw a ship when you were coming back from a trip, North Sea or Channel, whatever, from the recognition you’d either try and bomb them out of the water or just report back what you’d seen. So they would know they were friendly. But that’s the crew. And George Buckman. He was a senior engineer for Esso Petroleum in Southern Australia. And he was responsible for the whole of South Australia for Esso. He was the young one, Stan, seventeen. Roy had his own business. He was an electrician. This narrow gutted so and so [laughs] he, he just couldn’t adhere to being regimented. We were all sensibly shod but not Douglas, no. He had to be different.
DM: Wearing his wellies.
LD: Yeah.
DM: Yeah.
LD: In his welligogs.
DM: And you say he used to take all his brass buttons off.
LD: Eh?
DM: You said he took all his brass buttons off.
LD: Yeah.
DM: And put black buttons on. Did he get caught? Did he get put on a charge for that or —
LD: Well, he was, he finished as a headmaster of a school. And his wife Kate, she was a headmistress. So they were both in the teaching profession. But that’s those two and its surprising really.
DM: When — where did you all crew up?
LD: Sorry?
DM: Where did you, where were you when you all crewed up? Where were you?
LD: What, our base?
DM: Yes.
LD: We were based up in [pause] Wireless op — that’s his place. That’s the navigator [pause] And I stayed in the Reserve until ’59. On the last aircraft I flew was [pause] I was given the opportunity, not that I was booked out as the pilot but I was like a second-Joe with a fellow. This was 1954. And he allowed me to fly the Meteor. Yeah. For a short space. That was interesting. And I did an hour at that. Yeah.
DM: So, going back. Going back to you’d finished your training.
LD: Yeah.
DM: You crewed up.
LD: Yeah.
DM: With all your crew that we’ve just been talking about.
LD: Yeah.
DM: Were you in Halifaxes then? Did you go on ops in Halifaxes?
LD: Yes. There we are. Halifax. Flew Halifax at what they called a Conversion Unit. So, we did this [pause] this was in August ’44. We converted to four engines. And I got on very well with my instructor from two to four. He was an Australian and because I had Australians in my crew, two, we got along like a house on fire. He was an Australian. And I had two. So, that was quite good. And his name was Pickles. And that was on the Halifax. That’s when we did a Conversion Unit on to Halifaxes, and before that I flew Wellingtons. And it was then when I went to OTU [pause] Where the hell would that be? Oh, I know. I was at Haverford West, and that was where I received my intro to the Wellingtons. And that was down Haverford West. That’s the west coast of Wales. And we had a runway that we took off over Cardigan Bay. And one of the commanders there, his name was named Donati. Flight Lieutenant Donati. And he’d been in the Middle East on what they called a Met flight. Meteorological flight. He’d been doing flights up to certain heights and recording the weather and so on. Well, Donati, he brought back from the Middle East he brought back with him which was [unclear] a dingo dog. A little dog. And this little dog, he used to go out on the rampage looking for bitches and he would disappear for a couple of days. And in what we called the crew room where you were waiting to be signed out and so on and you took an aeroplane. He had, in the corner he had a cushion where he could come and sleep. And if he’d been out on the rampage for a couple of days he’d come back and he’d sleep for about a day and a half in the corner, this dingo. Yeah. And Donati. He was as bad as the dog. And Donati used to go, used to go in to Cardiff. And I remember one occasion I got a telephone call from Donati. He was in Cardiff and he said, because he was a flight commander and I was just a member of the flight. So, he telephoned, he said, ‘Book yourself out an aircraft,’ he said, ‘And come and pick me up at Cardiff.’ Anyway, I booked myself out. So, I got a navigator and I said, ‘Right. We’re going to Cardiff.’ So, we went to Cardiff. Landed. Went to the crew room there and there was Donati. He looked absolutely, if you don’t mind the term, absolutely shagged out. It was unbelievable. And there was the dog fast asleep as well. So, that was Donati. But he was a nice fellow was Donati. And I went from Haverford West to [pause] I’ve got it all in here. At the back. It’s incredible. And I went from there. I finished, I finished a tour, a Bomber Command tour and because I fell out with my CO, because at one time in Bomber Command when they first started doing what they called daylights they equated three daylight trips because it was just across the Channel and back again. You had to do three daylights to count for one night. Well, because it got so bad with the fighter dominating the coast, the ME 110 and also the ack-ack they quickly changed that to one on one. So, that was, that was when I was down in [pause] oh I’ve forgotten. Somewhere.
[pause]
LD: Whitley Bay. Little Rissington, Rissington, Haverford West, Haverford West. Then did conversion to Wellingtons. Wellington. Then did another conversion to Halifaxes. Then I did another conversion to Lancasters. And then did a conversion to [pause] Oxfords. Twin engine, and it was there, yeah I flew Tiger Moths, Harvards, Anson. I flew Oxfords with a Cheetah engine. Wellingtons. Different class Wellingtons — 3, 10, 12, 13 and 14. Halifax with a Michelin engine, Lancaster. Argus, now, the Argus. That was when I was out. And for my cheek with my CO I fell out with him because I told him that he was chicken and he chose short trips. I said, ‘It’s about time you bloody well did a long night trip instead of these short ones.’ Anyway, he had his own back because when I finished I found myself on the banana boat out to India. He got his own back. But the bugger is still alive and we keep in contact. He lives up Harrogate way. And he lost his wife of a considerable number of years. Bobby his wife’s name. They’d been married, oh thirty odd years but she passed away about four or five years ago and he’s since remarried. But that was — then I did Argus. Went out to, I did a communication squadron out at Alipore, which is the outside of Calcutta. And there had to fly, first of all because they didn’t have pukka aerodromes and airstrips the engineers they would dig out a strip in the jungle and you were give a map reference. So, you had a map and you had [pause] what the hell? A Dalton. A Dalton. It was a Dalton [pause] it was a computer. And from that you could work out from the atlas points you’d been given, you could work out with your computer, you could work out the course you had to fly. But more importantly not necessarily a course but the track that you had to find because the course is what you will fly on the compass but the track is what you had to cover over the ground. So you had to make certain that you were tracking over the ground. Going in the right direction despite the fact you were probably, your nose was an entirely different direction. So you had to do that and you would be given a map reference. And you had to find this by yourself in an Argus because you had no navigator. You were given a map, a compass, and you were given a map reference point and you were told, ‘Right. You’ve got to be there at a certain time,’ because the Army brass of course they were going through, the 14th Army, through the jungle and they were holding conferences as the 14th advanced. And they would pick an atlas point that you had to be there at a certain time so they could conduct this conference before they in turn upped and moved on. So, you had to be there before they moved on. And that was interesting because you in turn would, on occasion you would take senior brass to either conduct a conference or be part and parcel. And that was quite interesting because I flew some interesting people on some of these trips. And one of them was [pause] I forget where. Yeah. I used to go up to [pause] I flew a Brigadier Haynes on one occasion. We had to go up to Sylhet which was at the foot of the Himalayas and take him up there to a conference. And we had a colonel who was going up there at the same time. Mellor. And I had Air Commodore Hardman who eventually became Marshal of the Royal Air Force. Hardman. And I flew him up to Sylhet which again was at the base of the Himalayas. And Brigadier Weston, I took him a couple of times. And a Colonel Dutfield, and that was going up. That was up, going up into Burma. And they were, they were interesting trips because one of the people I took was a Mrs Metcalfe, and I had to take her up to Alipore which was an airstrip outside Calcutta. I had to take her there. And Mrs Metcalfe, she was the senior nursing officer out in India. Australian lady. And she was that down to earth she was unimaginable really. She really was, talk about a spade a spade. But I had some very interesting people. I met quite a lot of them. Plus the fact that in Calcutta you had what was known as the Grand Hotel where you could go there. And if you were taking someone, if they were going to a conference and it would last more than twenty four hours you would book into the Grand Hotel. And you would have to meet the expenses but what you did you claimed your expenses when you got back. And that was a very very swish hotel the Grand. It really was swish. Where they had these very tall Sikh soldiers all dressed in white. Bandoliers and so on. They were the guards with the Sikh plumes. They were the guards at the entrances and so on and they had one on each landing. And they also had a lady guarding each landing. A member of the Indian Army guarding each landing with a table and she had a register of who they should allow on the landings. And you had to be in that book or you weren’t allowed on the landing. But that was all very interesting. Plus the fact that they had what was known as a Senior Officer’s Club there and you had to be squadron leader and above. That meant that you’d attained your majority in the army. Anyway, I was a flight lieutenant so I hadn’t attained my majority — squadron leader. But I was very fortunate because I was invited as a guest to enjoy the facilities of the Officer Club and it was a beautiful. You wouldn’t have thought there was a war on. Absolutely spotless. You could go like that. Not a speck of dust. Absolutely fantastic. And all the servants they were all dressed in their pukka garb with their white long breeches, their hats. They were absolutely immaculate really. And that was an experience in itself. But needless to say I went on one occasion, Bob Hart, he was a Northern Rhodesian fellow and he’d done a tour of operations over here as I had done and he in turn, we were very much alike. Very [pause] we seemed, we didn’t think twice about what we said. Yeah. And Bob, he was the same. Bob, he was the senior engineering officer, Northern Rhodesian mines. He was a very very tall guy. About six foot four. And they had East African troops out there in Calcutta and on more than one occasion walking along the pavement in Calcutta and they had a battalion of black East African soldiers out there. They were all black. And if two of them were on the same pavement as you and they were coming towards you he would yell out in their tongue, ‘Get off the bloody pavement in the gutter.’ And they would all jump on the side and get in the gutter. Yeah. But that was, and his name was Robert Kitson Hart. RK Hart. Yeah. He was a character he was. And I remember one occasion we’d been out. We’d been out drinking to a club and we were going back to our digs at the Grand and they had what they called garreys. In other words it was like a Hansom cab. Some had two horses. Some had four. Anyway, we rented, hired a garrey, a Hansom cab and Robert Kitson, he said to the garrey wallah, the driver, ‘Grand hotel.’ Well, dependent upon the time you were in the garrey so you paid accordingly for the time you hired it. Well, this garrey wallah, he was going so slow it was surprising that the horse didn’t fall over. Anyway, Robert Kitson said to him, [unclear] which means hurry up. Anyway, he got the horse getting to not exactly a gallop but a reasonable trot. That wasn’t good enough for Robert Kitson. So, Rob was sitting with me in the back. He got up and he got hold of the garrey wallah, threw him off. Climbed up into the seat and he shouted out to the garrey. ‘Run you bastard. Run.’ He whipped the garrey, the horse into quite a bit of a gallop and he was shouting out to the garrey wallah, ‘Run. Run you bastard, run.’ And he took us to the Grand. Drove all the way to the Grand. And when we got there and he said to the garrey wallah, ‘I drove. You get no tip. I drove. I did the driving.’ So, yeah. Yeah. Six foot four. Robert Kitson. I’ve been so lucky in life. I’ve really been so lucky. Talk about lucky.
DM: So, you decided to stay in the Air Force after the war.
LD: Sorry?
DM: Did you stay in after the war? You didn’t come out and go back in. You stayed in the Air Force.
LD: No. I stayed on for what they called VR training. And I went to various aerodromes. Pukka aerodrome squadrons on. I went to a number. I’ve got them in the book. And I did my fifteen days annual training with them in different types of aircraft. But in my last, last year, I think in my sixth or seventh year VR training I opted to do that over there in Redhill because in Redhill they had a Wing Commander Scott. He was the head of the Training Unit there. Now, Wing Commander Scott only got the job because he married into the family. His wife, their family, they owned the aerodrome. So, he got the job running the aerodrome. Well, anyway Scott, he employed what they called civilian instructors. They hadn’t been in the Air Force but all they’d done, they’d just, they had instructed in civilian life. Well, there were two that he had civilian instructors and what they did they would take you up and they would give you different exercises to do. Come down and sign you out and so on and that was it. But when the weather was what we called clamped, in other words you couldn’t fly what they would do they would get you to do, Scott would get you to do different ground exercises. One of them happened to be swinging the compass. Well, with swinging a compass what you had to do you had to get what they called a DR, Dead Reckoning compass. You had to get a dead reckoning reading so that you got due north. And then you went through the various compass points to ensure that the compasses, they had little lead rods through them and you would adjust the rod to get the thing reading correctly. Anyway, it was what they called clampers. So, Scott said, ‘Right. You’ll have to swing compasses.’ Anyway, he said, ‘Right. Two aircraft out there.’ So there was a pal of mine, he was on the VR but he lived on the same road as me. John [unclear] Well, John he had some highfalutin job in the city. I forget what it was now. But John and I, we used to travel up together and we were given the two aircraft to swing. Anyway, Scott said, ‘Right. The two aircraft. One each. Swing the compass.’ Well, he outranked me. He was a wing commander so I had to do as he said. As I was told. Anyway, I got out there and there were two civilians and they said, ‘Right. You swing that compass,’ and they said to John, ‘You swing that compass in the other aeroplane.’ Yes, please. I don’t know if you want to use the room at all.
DM: No.
LD: Alright.
[recording paused]
DM: Right. So swinging the compass.
LD: I went out there and there were two civilians there, ‘Right. You swing that aircraft. You swing that.’ So, I said, ‘Hold on.’ So, I went back to Scott who was in the flight office. I said, ‘Tell me, sir,’ because he was my superior, ‘Tell me, sir. Is it right that a commissioned officer in the RAF VR, is he supposed to take orders from a civilian?’ ‘Good lord, no. Of course not.’ I said, ‘Well then, tell those two to swing the aircraft themselves.’ [laughs] So, that was it. Got away with it. Yeah. But they tried it. But having said all of that I’ve been so fortunate in life. I’ve really been so fortunate.
DM: What job did you do in Civvy Street?
LD: Banking. Yeah. And again, I was very very fortunate. I got a job. I got a job in 431 Oxford Street. It was when I first became aware of girls. Because in 431 Oxford Street I was there as the junior. Well, the junior, you were the dogsbody. You ran all the errands. And you took what they called returns. In other words cheques that came back to your customer unpaid. What we called bounced cheques. You had to deliver them back to the customer and you got their signature for the return, indicated that it had been returned and in turn their account was debited because of the return. Well, I went there to 431 Oxford Street. And as luck would have it at that time Mr Gordon Selfridge who used to call, what they used to call it walking the floor and he would walk every floor in Selfridges every morning starting at 9 o’clock spot on. And he would walk around with two after him and he would make various comments. And the earthlings, they had to make a note of what he was on about. But it was that time that he used to get the lift girls and they had lifts and they had a lever in the side of the cabin that they would pull for up or down. And these girls, they had skirts just above the knees which was quite something in those days. Quite above the knees. And they were all exquisitely turned out because they had to go through the beauty parlour before they were allowed anywhere near a lift. So, they had to get in early, beauty parlour, all the make-up and so on. Everything neat and clean. Tidy. Wear kid gloves before they were allowed near a lift. And then they would all stand at the entrance to the lifts and Mr Gordon, he would go around looking at each one, particularly at their knees. ‘Ok.’ ‘Yes, ok,’ and he would go around with his retinue looking at all the lifts before they got in and operated the lifts. So, it was there that I really became aware of girls. And I really appreciated the manner in which Mr Gordon hired the girls. That was an experience in itself. And over there, being a junior at 431 I would take the returns. In other words, the return cheques that had bounced. I would take them back to what Selfridges had, it was called an accounting office, it was like a cashier’s office. And in there the head cashier he was a very staid gentleman. Always wore grey single breasted suits with a waistcoat and with a halberd across here with the bar on there, strapped across his waist. And he always had the pocket watch in his pocket. And you’d go up there and before you handed them over he would always look at his watch, which was a gold Hunter and he would put it back in his pocket again. And he would make a note as to the time you turned up with them in case you skived off somewhere. But he was a very meticulous gentleman and he always wore stiff white bow collars with a bow tie. Always. And he was absolutely immaculate. Shoes as well. And he was a tall guy, very tall. But I learned a lot from going over there at 431. I really did. And from there at 431 it was a ritual. We used to close at, I think it was half past twelve on a Saturday. Half past twelve everything would be what we called bagged up. Go downstairs in to the strong room. All the money would be on the trolley to go to the strong room and and then you had to take all the ledgers down which would be on a separate trolley. Well, being the dogsbody junior that was your problem. You had to get all the ledgers down in the book room. Then after that you would lock up and you would have to hand the keys to the book room to the chief clerk whose name was Goodrich. Same as the tyres. I’ve never forgotten it. And his name was Henry, and he lived at Haywards Heath and he used to travel up each day. But Henry, he was a nice fellow and I remember that 15th of August 1939, he called me up to his desk which was, he had a raised bench type desk on a platform so he could overlook the whole of the office including the cashiers. And he called me up there and I thought, ‘Oh hell, what’s wrong?’ Anyway, I got there and he said, he was very nice, he said, ‘I’m very sorry to tell you but you’ve been mobilised and you’ve got to report to your Drill Hall as soon as you can. So, you can leave now, get home, explain to your parents what you have got to do and get to the Drill Hall as soon as you can.’ I went home. My dad was home. And I’ve never put all my webbing together then. Being what they called, I was a sapper then in the REs and I never put my webbing together. And I said to my dad, ‘I’ve got to put my webbing together because I’ve got to go and report,’ I said, ‘Could you help me?’ He said, ‘No, it’s no good me giving you a hand,’ he said, ‘The only way to learn is to do it yourself.’ So, that was how I learned how to put the webbing together. Over to the Drill Hall and I had to go upstairs. Cliff Ford was up on the balcony with his red sash on. So, he said, oh he said, ‘You’d better go in to the office.’ He was a lieutenant. And he was a member of a stockbroking firm.
Other: There we are. There we are. One for you. One for you.
LD: Thank you dear. I think his name was, I think it was Hammond.
Other: Do you think, I mean is he alright? Because he seems to be going on, not so much about —
LD: I’m dribbling on. I was quite keen on swimming then. I used to go with my friend Ken Shepherd up to the swimming pool up at North Cheam, and I heard that someone told me there was a swimming pool at the Drill Hall. So, I said to Cliff Ford at the Drill Hall [pause] I asked him, ‘Is it true you’ve got a swimming pool here? If so I wouldn’t mind signing on so I could use the pool.’ Which meant that I could save, I think it was sixpence to go in the pool up at North Cheam.
DM: Right.
LD: So, he said, ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘You’d be surprised what we’ve got here. Go and have a word with the officer and he’ll explain to you what we’ve got.’ Anyway, I went upstairs. Went in. Saw the officer. And I said, ‘I understand you’ve got a lot of sport facilities here including a swimming pool.’ He didn’t say, ‘No we haven’t.’ He said, ‘Oh, you’d be surprised at what sports facilities we’ve got here.’ He said, ‘I’m sure you’ll enjoy it if you would like to come along and join us.’ So, I said, ‘Well, that sounds interesting.’ He said, ‘Well, that’s right, ‘he said, ‘If you’re interested would you like to sign along here?’ [laughs] Sheep to the slaughter. Signed. So, he said, ‘Right. That’s it. And he called, they didn’t call them sergeants in those days they were sarnts, ‘Sarnt major’
DM: Another lamb to the slaughter.
LD: In came Cliff Ford. ‘Right,’ he said, ‘Take the sacrificial, he signed on.’ So, that was it. That’s how I came to sign, to volunteer. Yeah.
DM: When you —
LD: Yeah.
DM: On ops in Bomber Command.
LD: Yeah.
DM: Did you have any hairy moments?
LD: What, in bombers?
DM: Yeah.
LD: Yeah. A number. We were, we were attacked on a number of occasions but I think I put it down on the first but it got so that you were used to seeing things. You didn’t bother. And the navigator would it put it the nav, in his nav log. Attacked or whatever. We had a number of near misses. There was one poor blighter, he was flying alongside us and there we went out in what they called a gaggle. And a gaggle meant that you flew out, not in any type of formation but you flew out as a mob. And what happened was that — have you got someone picking you up?
[recording paused]
DM: In a moment. You were saying the navigator, the navigator would make a note in his log that you’d been attacked and that it happened quite a lot.
LD: Right. Where was I?
DM: You were talking about when you were, when you were attacked. By fighters, I assume. From time to time.
LD: Oh yes. JU88.
DM: You said something about when you all went out in a gaggle.
LD: A JU88. And then we were going out in a gaggle on one trip and the fellow alongside me because we were scattered all over different altitudes one fellow above him released a bomb, went through his wing and that was it. Yeah. So, although you thought that the dangerous aspect of it all was on the bombing run it could be quite a bit hairy if you had some idiot above you. But I’ve been very, very lucky. I worked my way. I told you I was shipped out for not keeping my tongue between my teeth.
DM: Yes.
LD: Shipped out to Calcutta. And from there because I wanted to know what was going on what they called the TO, Transport Officer who was stationed in the Grand I bothered him to know where I was going. ‘Where the hell am I going? What am I doing here?’ Well, that’s another story but to cut that short, I finished. I found myself out in Calcutta. From Calcutta I went to [pause] Calcutta. I went to Burma. And Burma, again I was very lucky because this time I was on, I mentioned the communication flight where you took brass and high ranking officers down to conferences. And it was there, and it’s been in the news recently, one place in Burma which they called Myanmar.
DM: Myanmar or something. Yeah.
LD: Which is a place called Cox’s Bazaar. Well, I’ve been there. And Cox’s Bazaar was the first place that I landed in Burma which had been evacuated by the Japanese. And we were following, following the Japanese down that coast and we went into Cox’s Bazaar. And you had to be careful because they were laying booby traps. In addition to which, due to the humidity there, the temperature a lot of the furniture was made of bamboo canes. But because they were fraught with the humidity you could look at a table and chair which would be like that and you would touch it and it would collapse due to humidity. And the, what the hell did they call it? [pause] They turned into [pause] I’ve forgotten the blasted name. But anyway furniture was like that. You would touch it if the Japs had been there and it would collapse. Also, you had to be bloody careful that you didn’t touch something that the Japs had left behind that had been booby trapped. And it was there that we worked our way down. I was still on the communication flight and we got down to Mingaladon which was the landing strip for Rangoon. And it was there that we were called to attend the surrender of the Japanese, the general, Japanese general of that area. We were called by Mountbatten to attend and watch the surrender of the Japanese general to Mountbatten himself on the Mingaladon airstrip. Well, we had to attend there and Mountbatten, well he was an absolute s o d. He really was. And he made the 14th Army members who were attending they’d sweated their guts out through the jungle these squaddies and he made them, they only had one set of khaki, he made them scrub their khaki. And they were issued with white blanco to do their webbing. They were issued by Mountbatten this stuff and they were told that they had to launder their kit. Be absolutely spot on. Khaki green and all their webbing including spats had to be white. And they had to parade absolutely spot on to be in attendance when this Japanese general surrendered. And I was there at the time when the Japanese surrendered his samurai sword to Mountbatten and Mountbatten accepted his surrender. The Japanese general, he bowed out all the way, virtually on knees which was a terrible humiliation for him. And later that day because he was so humiliated he committed hara-kiri. And that was Mountbatten. But the surprising thing is before all this happened my father was a Royal Marine. And during WW1 my dad was on Lord Mountbatten’s staff. But at that time, because he was known as [pause] it’s the German name for Mountbatten anyway. He was known as, he was Chief of the Naval staff, despite being a German because Victoria had German descendants. But he was chief of the Naval staff and he had to resign, and my dad was in his office as Royal Marine. And my dad said that it was the first time that dad had seen a man cry. And he said it was at the time that Earl Mountbatten, as he was then he wrote his resignation letter. Signed it. And he said, dad said, ‘The man was in tears when he handed me the letter.’ And he always addressed dad as John. And dad said, ‘He said to me, ‘John, you know who you’ve got to deliver this to.’ And my dad had to deliver it to what was then, despite Mountbatten resigning as First Lord dad knew who he had to take it to his successor. And dad did that. But he said the first time he’d seen a man cry. So, that was the Mountbattens. But having said all that, dad, being a Marine and being on Mountbatten’s staff, dad was billeted with him as his batman. As a batman living in Mountbatten’s quarters at Number One London. That, that’s the accommodation at Marble Arch and it’s still known as Number One London. And dad was billeted at Number One London [laughs] Yeah.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Len Doward
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Meanwell
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
2017-10-26
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ADowardLA171026
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Pending OH summary
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:30:21 audio recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Len Doward was in the army when he saw an advertisement for aircrew so he volunteered. He trained as a pilot. On one operation he saw a Lancaster alongside hit by bombs from a Lancaster above. After his operational tour Len was posted to India and then Burma where he witnessed the Japanese surrender at Mingaladon airfield.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Burma
Canada
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
550 Squadron
625 Squadron
aircrew
animal
bomb struck
bombing
Halifax
Harvard
Lancaster
pilot
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/769/9356/EDexterKIDexterPC410921.2.pdf
464b488ae02aef03c2059906edb9ecc5
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
Dexter, Keith Inger
Dexter, Dec
K I Dexter
Description
An account of the resource
33 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Keith Dexter (1911 - 1943, 127249, 1387607 Royal Air Force ), a policeman before the war, he flew as a pilot with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds. He was shot down and killed with all his crew on 16/17 June 1943 on operations against Cologne. Collection contains a dozen letters from 'Dec' Dexter to Phyllis Dexter,There is an extract from the 103 Squadron Operational Record Book on the loss of his aircraft and crew, maps of where his aircraft crashed, official Royal Air Force personnel records, Netherlands official documents, document about his aircraft as well as a photograph of a Lancaster over Lincoln and a crew. There are photographs of his grave as well as a group of people, including Keith Dexter being interviewed as a pilot trainee by the BBC at RAF Hatfield. There are two detailed daily diaries covering his time in the Royal Air Force from from 3 April 1941 to June 1943 which relate activities while training and on operations. There are some memorabilia, a photograph of a Lancaster over Lincoln, a painting, and an <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/770">album</a>. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Lieutenant Colonel Monty Dexter-Banks and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br />Additional information on Keith Inger Dexter is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/106139/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
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
2017-08-30
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
Dexter, KI
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
21/9/41
[postmark]
[postage stamps]
Miss P.C. Dexter.
61 Branwin Court,
ST John’s Wood,
N.W.8. London.
[page break]
[Royal Air Force crest]
[page break]
[underlined] The usual. [/underlined]
[underlined] 21 9/41 [/underlined]
My dear [underlined] Phyl. [/underlined]
Do hope you got my letter telling you that I shan’t be leaving until the 27th. and that I ‘ll be down to Stradishall that day. D.V! I do hope you don’t mind going down on your own but you know what the Services are – anything might happen in the way of catching trains so can’t arrange to meet as the actual time is uncertain. Also it might mean you lounging about with a Saturday morning off wishing you were down there.
[page break]
By the way could you possibly take my mac down with you? It’s a bit cold here and I may need it as we’ll be allowed to wear plain clothes – I hope. Hope it won’t be a nuisance.
Well all news when I see you – my love to Nora I hope she [deleted] could [/deleted] can get down for a day or two.
All the best heaps of love.
[underlined] Dec [/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 Dec Dexter to Phyllis Dexter
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from Keith Dexter to Phyllis Dexter. He writes making arrangements for his leave.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Keith Dexter
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-21
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
EDexterKIDexterPC410921
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--London
England--Devon
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
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
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter and envelope
military service conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/769/9355/EDexterKIDexterPC410910-0001.1.jpg
ca0fa4a558112bda6a6444d334a47e3e
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/769/9355/EDexterKIDexterPC410910-0002.1.jpg
09df132587f1bec19941ea07b2953c58
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
Dexter, Keith Inger
Dexter, Dec
K I Dexter
Description
An account of the resource
33 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Keith Dexter (1911 - 1943, 127249, 1387607 Royal Air Force ), a policeman before the war, he flew as a pilot with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds. He was shot down and killed with all his crew on 16/17 June 1943 on operations against Cologne. Collection contains a dozen letters from 'Dec' Dexter to Phyllis Dexter,There is an extract from the 103 Squadron Operational Record Book on the loss of his aircraft and crew, maps of where his aircraft crashed, official Royal Air Force personnel records, Netherlands official documents, document about his aircraft as well as a photograph of a Lancaster over Lincoln and a crew. There are photographs of his grave as well as a group of people, including Keith Dexter being interviewed as a pilot trainee by the BBC at RAF Hatfield. There are two detailed daily diaries covering his time in the Royal Air Force from from 3 April 1941 to June 1943 which relate activities while training and on operations. There are some memorabilia, a photograph of a Lancaster over Lincoln, a painting, and an <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/770">album</a>. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Lieutenant Colonel Monty Dexter-Banks and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br />Additional information on Keith Inger Dexter is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/106139/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
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
2017-08-30
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
Dexter, KI
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1387607 Cadet Dexter K I
‘C’ Flight No 2 Squadron.
No 1 I.T.W. RAF.
Babbacombe
Torquay
10 9/41
My dear Phyl.
Many thanks for your letter today it was damned good of you to write. I’m awfully sorry to hear you’ve been ill I do hope it was’nt [sic] anything serious. It was bad luck. Anyway I’m glad to hear you’re fit again now. Do hope you managed all right on your own – it was too bad – wish I could have lent a hand.
By the way heaps of happy returns for the 12th. I enclose a few shekels for you to get yourself
[page break]
something with – can’t possibly shop here because all the shops are shut when we finish work and in any case I hav’nt [sic] the foggiest what you would like so feel sure the shekels will perhaps come in handy.
I get a spot of leave after we finish here either week end after next or the one after that. I’ll let you know as soon as I do. I wondered if you could wangle the Saturday morning off and come down to Con’s that week-end? Do hope you can – I’ll do fares etc. and let you know details later. In the meantime could you find out trains to Haverhill on a Saturday for me? Any time after 11 am.
Had a long letter from Con. Do hope she’s all right. As you say she’s doing all the work, it is a shame.
All the best, heaps of love. Dec.
[inserted] P.S. When you see Nora do thank her for me for the great kindness to Con and us all. I’ll try and write
Dec [/inserted]
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 Keith Dexter to Phyllis Dexter
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from Keith Dexter to Phyllis Dexter. He send congratulations for her birthday and apologies for only sending money as he is unable to shop because of work. He continues with news of his impending leave and about arranging to meet up and of family and friends.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Keith Dexter
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-10
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
EDexterKIDexterPC410910
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--Devon
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
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
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
military service conditions
RAF Torquay
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/161/2035/PCushwayAW16010013.1.jpg
1c05b862079273cd105a8fe2142174eb
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
Cushway, Arthur. Album
Arthur Cushway's photograph album
Description
An account of the resource
28 items. A photograph album with multiple pages. It contains pictures taken during Arthur Cushway's aircrew training in Great Britain and in Canada. Subjects include airmen and aircraft and sightseeing in Great Britain and North America, including Niagara Falls, Ontario, New York and Reykjavik in Iceland.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rosemary Lester 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
2016-07-04
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
PCushwayAW1601
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
Reconnaissance flight
Ansons on the apron, Cockpit view and Kinloss from the air
Description
An account of the resource
The first photograph is of two Ansons on the apron at Port Albert. Captioned 'Waiting to take off. Tarmac, Port Albert. The second is inside the cockpit of an aircraft with the pilot at the controls, captioned 'The "Glasshouse" Sgt Wadham'. The third is a high angle oblique of the countryside. Captioned 'Passing Countryside. Kinloss, Ontario'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three b/w photographs on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCushwayAW16010013
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. Training Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Ontario
Ontario--Port Albert
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
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.
1941-09
Anson
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/161/2033/PCushwayAW16010011.1.jpg
6fef3e5231b4ba335cf04fc2c499a3e1
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
Cushway, Arthur. Album
Arthur Cushway's photograph album
Description
An account of the resource
28 items. A photograph album with multiple pages. It contains pictures taken during Arthur Cushway's aircrew training in Great Britain and in Canada. Subjects include airmen and aircraft and sightseeing in Great Britain and North America, including Niagara Falls, Ontario, New York and Reykjavik in Iceland.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rosemary Lester 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
2016-07-04
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
PCushwayAW1601
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
Environs of Port Albert
Description
An account of the resource
Environs of Port Albert. The first photograph is a view over Lake Huron into the setting sun. Captioned 'Sundown, Lake Huron, September 1941.' The second is a view along a road. The trees are bare of leaves. Captioned 'Typical road scene. November 1941.' The third is of an airman leading on the back of a railway carriage, captioned 'Goodbye to Pt Albert December 1941'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09
1941-11
1941-12
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three b/w photogrpahs on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCushwayAW16010011
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. Training Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Ontario
Ontario--Port Albert
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
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.
1941-09
1941-11
1941-12