2
25
51
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18088/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430228-0001.jpg
889ee041e011eceb533e65234360263d
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18088/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430228-0002.jpg
8babb065383ac40b8bbf84d71d6db355
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18088/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430228-0003.jpg
0689e1b6c850d1f85b6ce01147da4327
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18088/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430228-0004.jpg
18a57185df02ee50363cd0cacd304556
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
1436220 SGT. AKRILL W.E.,
c/o SGTS’ MESS,
R.A.F. Station,
EAST WRETHAM,
Thetford.
Norfolk.
Sunday 28.2.43.
Dear Mum,
Well here I be and for a few weeks I guess, here I look like staying. We quite expected leaving here yesterday & had hopes of leave!!!! However if we’re good boys they’re going to send us on a Conversion course in about a fortnight or so and in the meantime we have to mess around getting in a bit of extra training on Wimpey IIIs. You see we’re told we’ve to be extra good to qualify for Lanc IIs. It’s possible we’ll not be here for very long anyway. I’d like to have my bike here but it’s no good sending it til I know whether I’m likely to stay or not. We may be going to our parent station. This is just a satelit ‘drome.
Our Pilot turned up yesterday
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
afternoon after touring the country looking for Honingtons!!! Nearly everyone has found the right place now!! What a joke! Practically everyone went to the Lincolnshire version & then chased to the U.S. station in Suffolk! The biggest joke was that I thought I’d got the [underlined] pukkah gen [/underlined] from S/Ldr. Henry & still turned up like a twerp at the wrong place among the Yanks!! Every time I thought about it I had to laugh though it [underlined] wasn’t [/underlined] such a joke to arrive here and be told we wern’t [sic] wanted. However now we’re here they decided to keep us.
It’s absolutely the queerest R.A.F. station yet – everybody drousing [sic] round log cabins & wooden shacks under the oaks and spruces. Somebody remarked that it was a lovely country but there was too much of it. I think it’s even far
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
enough from the madding crowd to suit [underlined] my [/underlined] liking. There’s just a few pills to swallow. [circled 1]. Billets [circled 2] Ablutions [circled 3] Mess – though the food isn’t too bad and we seem to be fairly sure of a reasonable meal at mid-day. [circled 4]. Difficulty of getting any odd things for a body’s comfort or of any provision for entertainment or recreation. That’s why I’m writing in pencil – my ink’s run out. I’m using my last stamp on this letter so can you get me a book when Mary’s in the village? Apart from that the place is O.K. I shall be quite happy.
I wish Fred was over here with his saw – there’s plenty of logs in the woods round the hut but we’ve nothing to get ‘em apart with. We have to go out “wooding” to get our stoves going to thaw the air a bit – we get hardly any coal.
I think it may be quite
[page break]
4
hopeful for leave around Easter. It would be grand if David & I could be home together again. We get no 48s or days off but it’s not long to Easter.
I shall be looking out for lots of letters! Unless I can find some stamps somewhere this is the last I can write – though I expect there will be nothing at all to write about.
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 his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes he will now be staying at East Wretham for the time being. Possible conversion course in two weeks but currently training on Wellington. Pilot arrived after touring country looking for Honnington. Most crews have now arrived. Describes strange living accommodation and station facilities (or lack of them).
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02-28
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
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]430228
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF East Wretham
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18087/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430226-0001.jpg
dda3855622056e46020d7628fc5e2203
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18087/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430226-0002.jpg
322861dea0495216575994746f8cc2b6
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18087/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430226-0003.jpg
84f70a0b2bdc9b2ff3cc79a2faa6f4f9
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18087/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430226-0004.jpg
3f5a1353e1b69ee448f0cbff8fbbe8e2
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18087/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430226-0005.jpg
a10a501c32ed824781c168b99db19552
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18087/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430226-0006.jpg
461f197a23794d0c6e97ed80b5d62147
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18087/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430226-0007.jpg
b7f9776ee705fe7a25cdb5052e712382
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18087/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430226-0008.jpg
26c915e566d2096a017250e2ac95c6a5
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
Somewhere in Norfolk – or Suffolk
(Goodness knows where – I don’t!!)
Friday 26.2.43.
Dear Mum and All,
Oh dear, oh dear [underlined] what [/underlined] a lot of fun I’m having!!! Honest – the mess the 4 crews posted to 115 Sqdn have got into is enough to make a cat laugh!!
I got to Bury Saint Edmunds O.K. Got a through train from Newark which only took 3 1/2 hours so I decided that would be a Bang-on place for getting home from – bags of useful trains I charged along to the R.T.O’s office on the station to get transport & was very pleased to find 2 more chaps there from Happy Heyford – Stan Hunt and his Bombadier. [sic] We rang up Honington for transport & waited for it. Imagine our amazement
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
when a weird looking American Jeep car came to a dead stop & some Yank officers piled out & signalled [underlined] us [/underlined] in! We’d just settled in when crowds [underlined] more [/underlined] Yanks just off a train scrambled in too. We were decidedly mystified as you may guess. Anyway off we went on a most hair-raising ride [deleted] to [/deleted] for mile upon mile. At length we reached the Jeep’s destinSation – a terrific camp swarming with U.S. Army personel [sic]!!! We reported to the U.S. Guard room who scatched [sic] their heads in amazement & finally someone remembers where the R.A.F. Orderly Room was and escorted us to a deserted looking building to the Orderly Room. There was an erk and a corporal who nearly collapsed when we told him we were reporting to 115 Squadron.
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
and soon informed us that 115 was certainly [underlined] not [/underlined] at Honington! It turned out to be an American Maintenance Squadron at Honington tho’ there were still about 50 R.A.F. personel [sic] still there. 115 Squadron had never really been there tho’ they had tried to re-form it there in 1940 after Dunkirk. We discovered that it was at Wretham about 20 miles away & arranged for transport to fetch us to there on the following day. In the Mess we got a marvellous tea & they found beds for us. The Sgts. Mess & quarters were marvellous & we were disappointed to think that it wasn’t the place! Later at night 8 more fellows turned up – 11 of us in all representing 4 crews.
It was a scream to hear
[page break]
4
everyone's story. Nobody had been sure [underlined] which [/underlined] Honington to go to. My Bombadier [sic] had gone all the way from London to Honington near Grantham found it was the wrong place & gone back to Grantham where he found 2 more fellows on their way there!! So they all came back to Bury St. E They’d heard that my Pilot & another pilot were also on their way to Honington, Lincs!! We had a good breakfast and a marvellous dinner – the best I’ve had in the forces of wonderful America stuff which you’d thought had disappeared since the war. Then the Wretham (pronounced Rettam) transport came & we set off over huge moors, commons & parks where there’s thousands of acres of re-apprestation. So we arrive at East Wretham. Here, at
[page break]
[underlined] 5 [/underlined]
any rate for the time being, we found 115 Squadron tho’ what, why or when 115 Sq is nobody knows. We did learn tho’ that 115 Squadron didn’t particularly want [underlined] us [/underlined]!! I expect by now that you’ve got a telegramme [sic] cancelling my posting. The Wing Co. here sent them off yesterday. He’s away at the moment so just [underlined] what [/underlined] is to become of us nobody knows. It’s pretty certain that we’ll not be staying here for Mr. H. was right about the L. IIs. and we’ll have to go somewhere to convert to the darned things I expect. We hope to find out something a bit more definite tomorrow. Maybe the rest of the crews will arrive by then. There’s only my Bombadier [sic] here so far. Goodness knows where Larry & Moff are. Jock seems to be visiting all the
[page break]
[underlined] 6 [/underlined]
Honingtons he can find!!
If you see Mr. Henry you must tell him that he landed me in among a great camp full of Yankees. But tell him they gave us a marvellous time anyway. Cigarettes & chocolate!!! It really was funny – but I think this camp is funnier!!! Anything [underlined] less [/underlined] like a R.A.F. station I’ve yet to see. We are billeted in log cabins which are round a small clearing in a wood All these little wooden huts nestling beneath oaks & spruces is more like a scout camp somebody remarked. Nobody [underlined] ever [/underlined] seems to do anything Talk about sleepy hollow! It all really looks very charming but its not so comfortable or convenient. The mess – another wooden shack under the firs – isnt [sic] so very hot.
[page break]
[underlined] 7 [/underlined]
The various buildings are scattered for miles – in converted crewyards, by ploughed fields, mixed up with herds of Jerseys, duck ponds, woods, fields & goodness knows what. The flying field is far away – a thundering great moor surrounded by woods and lakes. There’s no town or human habitation of any size within miles. So if I do stay here you see I’ll certainly want my bike. I shan’t mind it at all during the summer provided I have [deleted] my [/deleted] a bike to get around on. It’s fine country round here. I shall like it. It’s a lovely day & the place seems really picturesque!!!!
So don’t write here. I’ll try to let you know as soon as I can where I can be found. A pity
[page break]
[underlined] 8 [/underlined]
that that telegramme [sic] didn’t arrive a bit earlier!! Don’t be surprised if I turn up for [underlined] more [/underlined] leave but don’t [underlined] expect [/underlined] such luck!
I’ll give you this address in case you don’t hear:-
c/o Sgts’ Mess,
R.A.F. Station,
East Wretham,
Thetford.
Norfolk.
Love to all & thanks for a lovely leave.
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
P.S. Just going out into the wood sticking to get the stove going
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 and all
Description
An account of the resource
Relates journey to new station and 115 Squadron somewhere in Norfolk/Suffolk. Arrived at Honnington but no 115 Squadron. Arranged transport to correct base at Wretham. Well looked after at Honington by American maintenance squadron. Many other personnel had varying difficult journeys to wrong locations. No sign of 115 Squadron who do not want them anyway. Tells them to expect telegram cancelling posting. Hopefully will all be sorted tomorrow. Describes current location and living conditions. Asks them not to write to him at Wretham yet.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02-26
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Eight-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]430226
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Suffolk
England--Norfolk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
115 Squadron
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF East Wretham
RAF Honington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18086/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430204-0001.jpg
c917ec59992ad015a961df14ed83a11c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/18086/EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430204-0002.jpg
d60037811056664324e34fff49b837d8
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
underlined] Happy Heyford [/underlined]
Thurs. 4.2.43.
Dear Mum,
Big gen at last!!! Our crew is among among [sic] those posted. Oh gee, arn’t [sic] we lucky! As far as I can see we will be going on Saturday and I expect to be catching the 12.58 from Heyford and getting into Newark at 5.30, on Saturday night. I’ll try to confirm this on the phone and if anything turns up to hinder me from getting that train I’ll let you know. Anyway if I don’t see you on the station I’ll [deleted] w [/deleted] ring up from there.
At the moment we’re
[page break]
tearing all over the camp getting “clearance chits” signed. What a business. It looks like taking all day at least. Then I’ve all my stuff to pack & bike to see to. Don’t know whether I’m on my head or my heels at the moment – having lost 2 parachutes!!! Tonight I’m taking the address at chapel & will be saying goodbye to all my friends there.
Well, must chase off now to hand in some kit – Glad to say I have to hand in my heaviest flying clothing.
See you on Sat!!!!
Whoopee!!!
Cheerio
[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 has now received his posting and is coming home on leave. Rushing about clearing out and saying goodbye to friends.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02-04
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]430204
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--Oxfordshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Upper Heyford
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/879/17969/YHolmesWC176554v1.1.pdf
afd409937a3fb5d64878179b24c96831
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
Holmes, William
William Cyril Holmes
W C Holmes
Description
An account of the resource
Ten items. An oral history interview with Flying Officer William Holmes DFC (b. 1921, 131013, 176554 Royal Air Force), his logbook, a memoir by his bomb aimer, official documents, Guinea Pig Club memorabilia, photographs of him and his crew and a memoir of his time training in Canada. He was a Stirling pilot on 149 Squadron in 1944. He flew 17 operations before crashing his aircraft at RAF Thorney Island 18 June 1944 and subsequently becoming a member of the Guinea Pig Club.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by William and Bill Holmes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-05
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
Holmes, WC
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
July 2nd 1942. Today is the day. We paraded at 04.30 am & with usual RAF management we eventually entrained at 07.10 Heaton Park. 11.30am Carlisle. [deleted] 4 [/deleted] 16.00 hrs Gourock. Scotland & here we boarded a tender waiting to take us out to the troopship. Again the usual waiting & then finally we are off & board the LETITIA approx. 14,000 tons. Assigned to D2 deck & acquire a hammock & two blankets. We then had tea. 16 to a table & two of us detailed as mess orderlies + a Canadian corporal who is in charge. I decided to wash & shave but I reckoned with out the queue & then after took a turn on deck. 22.00 hrs. I slung or rather attempted to sling my hammock & after much effort, swearing & sweating achieved my goal. That however was only the start. One, then had to get in & stop in, which isn’t so easy. I think I did sleep after a while.
July 3rd 06.00 hrs Reveille & I turned out. “Turn” is the correct word. feeling quite sharp this morning & after inspecting the queue for the wash basins, dashed off & washed under a salt water shower. Ten minutes later I felt much “smarter” & had to rub Vaseline into my skin. Breakfast at 07.30 hrs. & then cleaning up until 09.00 hrs. The rest of the day was ours except for boat drill & a lecture telling us to sleep in our clothes & always to carry our life jackets.
21.00 hrs we are under way & we go to bed feeling very self satisfied
[page break]
July 4th. Wake at 05.30 hrs & find the ship riding quite a swell. Arrived on deck just in time to see the last of Ireland (I think) on our port bow & fast being left behind. fairly heavy swell all day & most of the lads are sick. My turn came at 8/0 pm & I then decided to put my hammock on the floor & sleep there which I did. Remembered that Marie had probably met Mum by then
July 5th. Feeling better this morning & ate a good breakfast The sea & sky are a dirty grey & we look as if we shall meet dirty weather. Our destroyer escorts are shipping seas & we have started to roll. 8/0 pm. Sea is [deleted] q [/deleted] getting rough & I am still sleeping on the floor.
July 6th. A really nice morning & not so rough. During the usual life boat drill at 10.0 am one of the ships officers starts community singing which goes down very well. The sea now appears to be light blue instead of dirty grey & it looks much better for it too. Have been wondering how Marie is getting on at Banbury & wondering if she is enjoying herself or is just bored stiff. R.a.f. issues a lot of tourist literature on Canada which is something to read at any rate. Read the novel of Al Jolson’s film “The Singing Fool” & I was as pleased with it as I was with the talkie I first saw years back. I’ll try & keep it to return to Mrs Payne.
[page break]
July 7th. The sea is very calm this morning & we all had a good breakfast. (2 Boiled eggs each). Still cheesed off with the monotony.
Fog descends in the evening & it’s a dismal sort of evening, so after posting a letter home & to Marie I turned in.
July 8th. Fog very thick this morning & our siren sounds frequently. Still very monotonous day & I turned in early. Watches put back 1 hr for the fifth time this voyage.
July 9th. Still thick fog, sea calm. We handed in our English money for exchange to Canadian dollars, in the afternoon. I again went to bed early.
July 10th. Lovely calm morning & the wind is quite warm & the sun shines. A Lockheed flew over this morning & that was the first sign of nearing land. We are all hoping to sight the Newfoundland coast this afternoon. Clock’s were not altered last night & altogether we are five hours in front of English time.
July 11th. I woke at 3.50 am & went up on deck to see what all the excitement was about. It was beautiful, the Halifax harbour & water-front was all lit up & the dawn was just breaking. One of the high spots of the war for me. Disembarked at 10.30 am & entrained at 11.0 am. Monckton 5/0pm. & dismissed at 8/0pm. Viewed the city & turned in 1.30 am. First date with French Canadian girl.
July 12th. Paid 11 dollars & promptly called home. Grub very good & plentiful. Not a bad place.
[page break]
July 13. Very hot. Scrounged as usual & went to my first flick.
Wrote & sent an airgraph to Mrs Payne.
July 14th Still damned hot & dry. Clicked for a really good permanent scrounge. Excused all parades for rest of my stay here at Moncton. Sent 2 airgraphs home. One to home & one to Gloria. Invited out 7/30pm on Wed.
July 15. Usual scrounging process. Paid $48.63. for my £11 & I now feel quite rich. Also visited 63 Bonnacord St. & had a very nice evening & supper concluding with another invitation for a car ride on Saturday evening.
July 16. After strolling in the evening I met Jean Davidson, seemed quite a nice girl & I arranged to call home for her tomorrow (Fri) at 8/0pm. I am hoping she likes me.
July 17th. Informed that smallpox had broken out on the ship coming over & had to be vaccinated all over again. pressed my slacks with an iron we had bought & christened both the iron & the slacks. Called for Jean at 8/0pm & had a really good time. she is a really nice girl & pretty into the bargain.
July 18th. Finished at 12 noon. & we went shopping early in the afternoon. 5/0pm started by car, for Magnetic Hill. had supper of N.B. pancakes with maple syrup & butter at the Hill. Rained all night from 9/0pm & we had a taxi to the camp.
[page break]
July 19. Church parade 9.30 am & Ralph & I were roped in to receive the collection. If only the padre had known us. Wrote & sent a letter to Jean at home & then took the other Jean out.
July 20th. Usual kind of day. Still cheesed. Had a quiet walk out at night & got back early for a change.
July 21st. Lee’s birthday. We bought a couple of bottles of Jamaica rum & celebrated in town. Went dancing later then got home somehow. God knows how as I certainly was canned.
July 22nd. Nasty hangover; Met Arthur Turner at the gas centre & so we got together. & had a night out.
July 23rd. Raining & looking miserable. Went to a hooch liquer place in town. Beer pretty bad & I had all I could carry.
July 24th Awful sick & a bad hangover. To hell with liquer from now on. I went along to Jean’s & stopped there until [deleted] neal [/deleted] nearly midnight talking.
July 25. 1/30pm started for the Point du Chine in the car from No 63. It’s a lovely place & the warmest water I have ever swam in. I was sorry to dress & leave for town at 7/0pm. Hot dogs & coffee on the way back.
[page break]
July 26th. Invited to dinner at No 63. Bonnacord St. Excelent [sic] meal & I stayed until about 3/30pm. Went strolling & took a few pictures & then was [deleted] hos [/deleted] invited 5 miles out of town to a bogus date. We returned by taxi sad but much wiser.
July 27th. Worked in the new gas centre until 3/0pm & then did my weekly wash.
July 28th. Last day in gas centre, the best scrounge I ever had. Went out with Arthur at night
July 29th. [deleted] F [/deleted] First day in cook house. Went to see the “Corsican Brothers” with Arthur
July 30th. Collected Jean & went to the flicks.
July 31st Clicked for fire piquet. The powers that be, are catching up with me.
Aug 1st. Out camp at 12 noon & hitchhiked to Amherst
Darn good show, we were the only cadets in town
Met Dorothy & June Gordon & met them after work finished. Stayed at “Birds Nest” & slept till 11.0 am next morning.
Aug 2nd Dined & then Bill Jones & I, again called for Dorothy & June. Left Amherst 7/0pm & arrived Moncton 10/30pm.
Aug 3. Paraded 8.30 am full of trepidation & hoping
[page break]
that we were not missed, off a fatigue party that we should have been on Sunday.
Aug 4th. Every thing [sic] under control & no mention made of Sunday. Fire-Piquet duty at night.
Aug 5th Slapped on a charge for being absent off the 10/30pm Fire-Piquet parade & I am placed under open arrest. Went out with Arthur & played bowling at YMCA.
Aug 6th. Awarded 3 days extra Piquet duties, starting tonight
Aug 7th. Usual day. Fire duty at night.
Aug 8. Wangled a 36 hr pass when I should have been on jankers & hitched to Amherst Met Dorothy & June plus their Mother. Stopped at “Bird’s Nest”
Aug 9th Went swimming at the “Quarry” Amherst & took a few snaps. Hitched back at night.
Aug 10. Roumers [sic] of a posting soon. However, when I [inserted] am [/inserted] moving Ill [sic] believe it. Letter from Dorothy & a postcard from Magnetic Hill. Fire Piquet duty.
Aug 11th. Posted to Bowden. Alberta Wrote to Dorothy & explained about the posting. Letter from Home.
Aug 12th Entrained for Montreal & slept in the luggage rack all darn night
[page break]
Aug 13th. Arrived in Montreal about 9.30 am & after marching to the C P R station we were dismissed until 6/30pm. I hurriedly viewed the city & saw the Notré Dame Cathedral. Had several beers in the first public house I had seen in Canada. I also went to the top of Mount Royal & saw the whole city from there. Also met Betty & Beryl (Note [underlined] leave [/underlined]
On arrival back at the station I was able to snap Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands complete with R M C P. [deleted] B [/deleted] in full regalia.
Entrained for Winnipeg at 8/0pm.
Aug 14th. Still travelling amidst typical Canadian scenary [sic] Excellent food on board the train. Had a chat with the driver on the foot plate at one place of call & looked the loco over.
Aug 15th. Arrived in Winnipeg where a reception, organised by last war pilots of the RAF, was held. An hour later we were given a packet of cigarettes & sweets & again entrained this time for Calgary. Stopped at Regina & Moosejaw in the evening.
Aug 16th. Still travelling in prairie land which is giving way to foothills as we get nearer the Rockies.
Watches have been set beck 3 hrs altogether on this trip
[page break]
Aug 16th. [underlined] cont [/underlined]. Arrived in Calgary at 9.30 am & were dismissed until 4/30pm. Went to a Natural History & Zoological Park in the afternoon. After entraining we had a good meal & arrived in Bowden at about 7/0pm.
Aug [symbol] 17th. Inoculated again & obtained all the gen. Allotted flying instructors etc & looked the kites over. (Stearmans.)
Aug 18th. More “gen” as regards the course in the morning & lounged about all afternoon in the crew room waiting for the first flight in Canada. Retired to the camp YM. for the rest of the evening after flying for 1/2 hr. with my instructor. Did my first flick roll & then generally stooged around getting used to the kite & the feel of the controls
Aug 19th. Usual day. Circuits & bumps for first time.
Aug 20th. Usual day. Circuits Pictures in the evening.
Aug 21st
Aug 22th. [sic] Cleared camp about 3/0pm & hiked to Innisfail where I spent the night in the hotel. Poor show. Met Susie & [inserted] Dolly. [/inserted]
Aug 23. Slept till 12.0 midday, dinner, & then called for the girls at 2/0pm. walked 4 1/2 miles out to a farm & heartily regretted it afterwards. Came back to camp by taxi.
[page break]
Aug 24th. Black Monday. Cheesed off & sick & tired of this joint Chatted to Jean in y m c a until 10/0pm & then strolled home with her.
Aug 25th Raining in torrents & flying cancelled.
Aug. 26th No flying
Aug 27th Took a few shots with a 2.9 lens camera at night.
Aug 28th Still cheesed off.
Aug 29.th. Met Margaret & had quite a decent evening
Aug 30th. Duty weekend plus flying. Saw the Smiling Ghost at the camp cinema with Margaret & went walking afterwards Learned that her people & she were Ukerainian [sic] & came from Poland.
Aug 31st. Changed my flying instructor & am now with F/O Fergusson.
[deleted] Wel [/deleted] Went walking out of camp at night. Soloed for 40 mins.
Sept 1st. Cheesed off as usual No flying
Sept 2.nd. Still bad weather & no flying. Went to Innisfail with Margaret & went to the flicks.
Sept 3rd. Weather has brightened & the sun is quite warm.
Sept 4th. Left camp 2/30pm. & hitched to Edmonton 140 miles North. arrived 6/15pm. Jock & I & two of the lads immiediatley [sic] found ourselves a pub. A smashing night & finished up in the Liquer Control board with a liquer [deleted] lise [/deleted] licence. Stopped the night in a temperance Hotel.
[page break]
Sept 5. Breakfasted on four eggs etc etc. & started back at 1/0pm. arrived home from Innisfail in a taxi 9/30pm.
Sept. 6.
Sept 7
Sept 8 Sold camera 30$ to Pat Lockton.
Sept 9 Accident at Netook & LAC Presland was killed after baling out.
Sept 10.th Duty watch in control tower, met Al Brown, morning shift. & secured some shots of Ansons, Stearmans & a Harvard.
Sept 11th. Went shopping in Innisfail & bought socks, shorts & singlets. Flt Kay & Lee collided while landing at Netook. Nobody really hurt.
Sept 12. Flying as per usual & I got a shot of the crashed kites.
Sept 13. [deleted] Ple [/deleted] LAC Presland buried in Innisfail. Did my first Instrument flying under the hood.
Sept 14th. Changed F/O Ferguson for P/O Kersey. but I did not meet him. Letter from Gloria (great news) wrote airgraph & airmail
Sept 15th. Letter from Sid. Airgraphed him too.
Sept [underlined] 16. [/underlined] Cheesed off to tears. Put in pass for weekend.
Sept 17. Night flying! Not too bad
Sept. 18 Wyne & Instructor killed after failing to pull out of a spin
Sept 19. Weekend pass. Started hitching with Jim Grimshaw with the intention of getting to Banff in
[page break]
(saw “This Above All” at night)
the Rockies. Landed up in Calgary at 6/0pm.
Rain & cold all the weekend & a lousy time was had by all. Started back 7/0pm Sunday night & arrived back at 12 midnight.
21st Sept. Instructor on leave. Night flying also. Airgraph [deleted] 22nd. [/deleted] from home.
22 Sept. Funeral of the lost. I took a few shots of the Rockies from 4,000 ft. East of Netook.
[underlined] 23rd. Sept. [/underlined] Sent films to be developed 36.
24th. Thurs.
25th Fri.
[underlined] 26 [/underlined]th Went to Innisfail & sent a parcel of groceries home Also bought Dad some socks & shirt, Two prs stockings for Mum & 1 pr of silk, hairpins & elastic. Groceries + clothes; 10$ Went to the flicks & saw 49th Parrelel. [sic]
27th. “Genning” ? for exams.
28.th Airmanship & Aircraft paper today I think I scrambled through. Jim Grimshaw left for Trenton today “shaky do”. Airgraph from “Mr” Manchester.
29.th. Navigation & Armaments exam today.
[underlined] 30 [/underlined]th. Signals etc.
[page break]
[underlined] [deleted]3[/deleted]1st [/underlined] Oct. Transferred to 63 Course (lack of flying hours.)
2nd Oct. L.A.C. Craw stops our long weekend, God help him if the boys get him on Saturday.
3rd Oct. Posted a parcel home (clothing). Went to Red Deer & bought some stockings & my suede jacket. Lee paid 5$ for pyjamas & then lost the darn parcel. Bought another camera. 35$.
4th Oct. Went to Red Deer again, this time in a T model Ford with the prop swingers. Not bad! Met a little girl from Eckville. Tried out the camera & exposed a roll of 18. Super XX. Picture’s in camp at night. “Kit Carson”
5th Oct. Usual routine day.
6th Oct. Usual routine day. Wrote a letter home & 2 airgraphs to Manchester..
7th. Sat Navigation & Airmanship again. Jeanette Mac’donald & Nelson Eddy in “I married an Angel” Not so hot.
[underlined] 8 [/underlined]th Passed both exams. transferred to 63 Course Sat all night in Canteen “composing” verse for autograph books.
9th. Jock Davidson Posted & some of the gang. Last night out together so we went on the spree at Innisfail Hotel Smashing night & we really went to town.
[underlined] 10 [/underlined]th Sat. Boy oh boy! what a head Ive got.
Very quiet evening & finished up at flick. Saw
[page break]
Jock off.
Sun 11th. Usual lousy day. Pictures in camp at night
Mon 12th. First flip with new instructor & first aerobatics
First solo [deleted] areo [/deleted] aerobatics & quite pleased with my loops.
Tues. 13.th Lads went on leave.
Wed 14th. Cross country to De-Winton Dual.
Thur. Solo Cross country to De-Winton Met Veronica in canteen
Fri. Week end pass. Started for Edmonton & landed up in Ponoka for the night. Contacted the little girls people & gave them the photograph.
Sat 17th. Started for Calgary. Arrived 3/0pm & failed to buy a camera. Tried to hitch to De Winton & got lost on some darned side road. After finally getting back to Calgary I found a room & kipped down for the night.
Sun. 18. Lovely morning in bed & hitched back to Bowden in the afternoon. pictures at night
Mon. 19th. Letters from home & one from Bill Mobbs giving me all the gen.
Tues. CFIs check & I passed OK. Answered Bill Mobbs letter. went to Life [deleted] Bou [/deleted] Buoy Follies in Recreation Hall. A smashing evening & a real wizard show + an excellent girl singer
[page break]
Wed 21st Evening in Innisfail. Chicken & mushroom supper.
Thurs. 22.nd IF Test with W/O Davidson. Pictures in camp. finished flying here.
Fri 23rd. Hoping for leave on Mon.
Sat 24th Granted leave from Mon. pictures in Innisfail “How Green was my Valley”
Sun. 25th Invited out to Mrs Dye Bowden. Very nice supper & enjoyable evening
Mon 26. Leave starts today.? Sent airgraph to Arthur (Bath).
Tues. Leave stopped on account of 63 course dinner
Wed. Drill, PT etc
Thurs. Heartily cheesed off. Sent an airmail home
Fri. Broke camp & went to Calgary for a weekend. Hitched & arrived 8/0pm. Couldnt [sic] get a room & I finally met Mrs Edwards. (Police) who took me home & insisted I stopped there the whole weekend.
Sat. 31st. Breakfast in bed & then got in town about 10/0am & then started my Xmas shopping. Finished by 1/0pm & accidently met Eleanor Jamison. Dined together & then went along to her apartment. Quite a nice kid. Left her 5/0pm & spent the usual Calgary evening. Went home in a taxi
Sun 1st November. Slept till noon & then got
[page break]
up for dinner. Sat & yarned all afternoon while it snowed like the dickens. Mr Edwards drove me down in the car & I caught the 4/45pm bus to Bowden. Arrived Bowden 7/0pm & went to flicks.
Mon 2nd Nov. Sent Mrs. Payne, Kath. Dot (Amherst) & Mum a letter. Still snowing & blowing like a blizzard Posted to Estevan. Saskatchewan on Saturday next.
Tues. 3.rd.
Wed 4th Night out in Innisfail, 15 men to a round and oh boy what a booze up.
Thurs. 5 What a headache.
Fri 6 Pack inspection for our posting.
Sat 7th. Moved out at 11.0 am & caught Calgary train at 12. noon at Bowden. 2/0pm arrived Calgary, dashed around to Eleanor’s place & took her to a show.
Left negs. At Mc’dermid’s to be sent on.
Left Calgary 9/0pm & arrived Estevan next day. at 12/noon.
Sun 8 Moved into billets. No heating except 5 blankets Looks pretty grim. Pictures at night
Mon 9. First Parade here & its not like Bowden.
Wrote to Bill, George, & 3 airgraphs to England.
Tues10 Usual business of being posted. Domestic night and every one cleaning like a housewife. Pictures at night
[page break]
[underlined] Mon. 16th Nov. [/underlined] Started Ground school lectures today & Im not feeling at all happy about them. Saw Greta Garbo in the camp cinema.
Tues. 17.th First [deleted] ling [/deleted] link trainer hr in Estevan & I had quite a time using a wheel control column instead of the old type cont[missing letters] stick.
Wed 18th Marie’s account of her holiday came, also a letter fro[missing letter] Bath & my proofs from Moosejaw. Wrote an airmail home & to Marie.
Thurs. 19.th. Obtained “The first hundred thousand” Ian Hay fro[missing letter] station library & retired early to bed with it
Fri 20th Attended 60 Course’s wings parade, very dissappoin[missing letters] effort. Went into Estevan with Arthur & supped & saw a show. (Sat 21st posted a parcel home.)
Sat 21st First time at flights, tried to remember the cockp[missing letters] check, not very successfully. & sat around in the cockpit gettin[missing letter] the feel of things. Evening in Estevan. not impressed.
Sun 22.nd. Flying & then pictures at night saw “”Tish” very good
Mon 23rd. Flying & then on getting out of my Anson I met Mobley, a [deleted] bloc [/deleted] fellow from Bon. He seemed quite amazed when I told him who I was. promised to see him & have another chat later. Read “Heidi” by Johanna Spyri. very
[page break]
good indeed.
[underlined] Tues [/underlined] 24 Had another chat with Mobley and he told me another chap from Bon is here as well. A [deleted] cop [/deleted] corporal photographer who used to work with Blinkhorn. Hope to meet him soon. No mail yet.
Wed 25th. Usual day. Saw “Iceland” with Sonja Henie. and I quite enjoyed it. Had a letter from Moosejaw & Amherst.
[underlined] Thurs [/underlined] 26 Still no mail from home.
[underlined] Fri [/underlined] 27 48 hrs. pass. Went in to Estevan & played bowls. Stopped overnight & caught Greyhound at 6/0 am in the morning
Sat. 28th 11.0 am arrived Regina. Bought an Argus f.3.5 36mm camera. Three filters & borrowed an exposure meter for weekend. Obtained a few shots, both day & night. Saw Bette Davis in “Now Voyager” very good.
Sun. 29.th Lay in until dinner time. had dinner & then went out with camera, trying a few angle shots. Caught bus[deleted]t[/deleted] back at 5/0pm
[underlined] Mon. [/underlined][deleted] 29 [/deleted] 30th Letter from home. Pictures at night. “Gunga Din” not at all bad. met Sgt. photographer from Bon. Checked on [deleted] Tues [/deleted] camera for copying work & finished roll.
Tues. 1st Dec. Filled up with SuperXX & took a few with aid of 1 photo-flood. Received winter issue.
Wed. Snowing again
Thurs. Saw “Mrs. Miniver” a smashing picture. Wrote an airmail home.
[page break]
[missing page]
themselves. Airgraph from Jean.
Thurs. 17. Still sick & light duties. Wrote airgraphs home & to Jean. letters & Cards to folk in Canada. One to Regina about my photo’s.
Fri. 18.th. Dick Bailes off the course Went to Estevan & saw the flicks. Photo’s came. very good. Xmas & birthday card from home.
Sat 19th. Two or three drinks with Dick & Andy. & lots of grub
Sun. 20th Usual Sunday In Estevan in the evening. Grub & Hostess Club. Christmas Card from Dot & a letter from Lee, Penhold.
Mon. 21st Night on the beer with Andy, Not bad. Wrote Lee.
Tues. 22nd. Night in camp & feeling very cheesed, roll on that boat.
Flew solo in first storm, “a shaky effort.”
Wed 23rd. Night in Estevan with Archer & Andy. Pictures.
Thurs. 24 Letter from Moosejaw. Night in Town.
Fri 25th. Flying in the morning. Dinner at 1/0pm & it was excellent Officers waiting on us & the RAF dance band. Stuck all my pictures in a new album. Went to Stella’s at night & had ham & eggs chips etc. including two bottles of coke, which I mixed with a half bottle of whisky. Slept well.
Sat 26th Morning in bed. Flew in afternoon Estevan at night. Pictures & grub.
Sun. 27th Walked into town & took a few snaps. Sat in hostess club all night
[page break]
Mon 28th. Card from June (Amherst). Stella’s at night.
Tues. 29.th My birthday. In town at night with Andy & Archer. Excellent meal & pictures afterwards.
Wed. 30th. Gos on 5 days leave today. Slept in Estevan & caught 6.0 am bus.
Thurs 31st Arrived in Regina 11.0 am & bought an exposure meter. 21
Caught bus at 3 & arrived in Moosejaw 5/0pm. 1035 Calton St at about 10 mins to 6/0pm & spent a quiet evening [deleted] at home with all the folks. [/deleted] including a visit to flicks etc with Mike & (hors[missing letters] Oper[missing letters] Ruth & Mary. Walked home in the snow & really enjoyed it
Jan 1st 1943. Slept till 10.0 am & then had breakfast. Stopped in all day & ate massive meals of turkey Met Ina Johnson at the party at night, also Dorothy, (Fred’s girl.)
Sat 2nd. Rose late & then went shopping. Bought a tripod & went home early because of the cold. The cold was intense & I suffered frostbite on my ears before I could get from the bus to home.
Sun. 3rd Breakfasted nearer 12.0 midday than breakfast time & waited for Mary so I could get cracking with the camera Took quite a few snaps indoors & then we all had a big sup[missing letters] of turkey & all the trimmings. Went out with Mike at night & saw the skating at the ice rink.
[page break]
Monday 4th Black Monday & I have to report to camp tonight said goodbye to everyone & travelled by greyhound back to camp.
Tues. 5th Back to work, although I had bags of mail when I got back from leave. letters from home, Marie & Ma, Lee, Jean Kath. & cables from Ivy & home for Xmas & my birthday. Spent the night replying to them.
Wed. 6th. Into Estevan & the hostess club.
Thurs. 7th Stopped in billet & did nothing all night, Finished off a film roll
Fri 8. Letter airgraph from Mum saying my 3 parcels had arrived on Dec. 18.th. Saw “Somewhere Ill find you” Clark Gable & Lana Turner & So very much enjoyed it Finished “Mortal Storm”.
Sat. 9.th. Got Somerset Maugham’s “Theatre” from library & stooged around alone. Sent a parcel of food home
Sun. 10th Walked into Estevan, saw Babe in the Canada Café. Played table tennis in Hostess club.
Mon. 11th. Pictures in camp Cross country check with Lowe.
Tues. Went to town alone & chatted to Babe for a bit, A very nice girl.
Wed 13th Went with Archer in to town & stooged the usual round of café’s
Thurs. Finished Theatre very good indeed.
Fri. Went to town & got “My Son” “My Son” from library
Sat 16th. Very cold weather No flying
Sun. 17 Very cold & getting colder No flying Stopped in all day &
[page break]
went to flicks at night.
Mon 18th. Getting still colder.
Tues. 19. Temperature 30° below freezing.
Wed 20th. Blizzard blowing up & temp. of -45 or 77 degrees of frost. Weather report so bad that we were given a 48 hrs. pass Went into Estevan at 4/0pm & did the usual stooging. Met Dorothy in hostess club & was invited to a masonic party effort. Very pleasant evening indeed & arrived back at camp 2/0pm.
Thurs. 21st Slept to 10. am Went out with the lads at 12.0 midday & waited in Stella’s for a taxi. Spent afternoon with Ladbury Joe, Braithwaite & Bonnerman in the beer parlour. Tea at 5.0pm & then dashed in & chatted to Babe “Bernice” at drugstore. Pictures on my lonesome & then met a pleasa[missing letters]
Kiddy in Deans taxi place. “Freda”. Back by taxi to camp
Fri 22nd.Slept late & then started back at ground school through about a foot of snow.
Sat 23rd. Spent night in camp. read “Marion [inserted] alive [/inserted]” Vicki Baum.
Sun. 24th. No flying still, Very cold. Telegram for birthday
Mon 25.th. No flying still, Canteen & camp evening. Wrote several letters.
Tues. 26th Getting the “gen”
[page break]
Wed 27th. Still getting the “gen” & collected for 3 day B list over missing PT.
Thurs. 28 Exams.
Fri 29 Exams Two hectic days. Went to town & celebrated.
Sat. 30.th Started B list Mrs Lackey rang up inviting me to supper tomorrow & had to turn it down as I am confined to camp.
Sun 31st More B list
Mon 1st More B list last night.
Tues 2nd. Febuary [sic]. Night in town. Deaney posted
Wed. 3 Went in with Archer & changed my look for Halters Castle. Explained to Mr & Mrs Lackey our absence on Sunday.
Thurs. Stopped in again & pasted my album up to date.
Fri. 5th Cross country with Cox. All OK.
Sat 6th. Night in Town.
Sun. 7th. Flying all day & pictures in the evening.
Mon. 8
Tues. 9 Seupplementary [sic] Signals exam. OK. Boose up with Ginger.
Wed. 10th. 3 X Country. Lots of pictures. Ginger went to Trenton.
Thurs.
[deleted] Fri [/deleted]. Concert in camp. “Gopher Pie” not too bad.
[page break]
Fri 12. Off on a 48 hr pass. Reading “this above All”
Sat. 13 No bus to Regina so here I apparently stop. Had a few beers & finished up at the pictures.
Sun. 14th. All day in the billet & its deadly. Stella’s for grub at night & then the pictures in camp.
Mon. 15. Left on 5/0pm Bus for town & wrote a few letters in the hostess club. Finished “This above All” excellent.
Tues. 16. Letters from home & one from Blondie Leicester.
Wed 17.th. Photographed for new identity card. Finished [deleted] Clad [/deleted] “Claudia” very good
Thurs 18th. Read “Shelten” by Steen. Not bad. started night flying & enjoyed it.
Fri 19. Woke at 12.0 & went to flights at 1/30 pm. told to go back & report for night flying again at 6/0 pm.
Sat. 20th. Went to see the Ice Exhibition at the rink & enjoyed it very much. Changed my library books & had the usual supper. Sent another parcel home.
Sun. Flying at night again. first Night X country. OK.
Mon 22 Started reading. [deleted] Spu [/deleted] “Fame is the Spur” H Spring Letter from home & one from Lee.
Tues 23. Usual day.
Wed. Usual day. pictures in town with Joe Berry
Thurs. Evenings photography in billet with Plumbs reflex.
[page break]
[underlined] Fri [/underlined]. 26. Low level X Country flight today. quite enjoyed it. Started a 48 hrs pass & removed to International Hotel in town. Saw “Desperate Journey” at night
Sat 27th. Lay in bed late & got up in time for dinner Roamed around with the camera most of the day. Spent the latter part of evening with Babe & Mr & Mrs Lackey chatting Had coffee etc in the Coffee bar & then went to bed.
Sunday 28th Another lay in before an early dinner. Spent afternoon in Hostess Club. 6/0pm turned up at Lackeys for supper & partook of an excellent turkey & plum pudding. Had a volume of Tennesons poems given to me. Took several pictures of Percy the cat. Back to camp on last bus.
[underlined] Mon 1st March. [/underlined] No 1 LL. X. Country with Sgt. Quinn.
Tues 2.nd. Letter from Dad Had a bust up with Grundy & F/LT Brown Pictures in camp at night. 1st Amatuer [sic] Dramatic presentation in [deleted] Duel [/deleted] Understudy for a duke.
Wed. 3rd. Went to town at night & collected films, laundry etc. Chatted in Lackeyes. Blizzard blowing up.
Thurs 4. Blizzard still raging. No flying.
[underlined] Friday 5th. [/underlined] Had supper with Lackey’s & enjoyed really super waffles + lashings of butter & maple syrup. Chatted till 8/0pm Bought a suede jacket & a tie & underwear.
[page break]
Sat. 6 Usual day of flying. Town at night & supper at the coffee bar.
Sunday 7th. Bags of polish for inspection by AOC tomorrow
Monday 8th. Slept late & collected 3 days. No mail.
Tuesday 9.th Full pack parade etc all morning & flying started at 3/0pm. New instructor P/O Enefer. Darn nice fellow & lots of gen.
Wed 10th. Last night flying session. Interview for commission.
Thurs. 11 Confined to camp again. Howie loses 230$.
Fri. 12. First wings check. I.F. OK. Went to town
Sat. Blizzard blowing, no flying. Went into Estevan as usual. The trip back was quite an adventure & we only just made it
Sun. 14. Blizzard raging & the drifts are getting very deep. I tried to get a taxi to take me to supper at Lackey’s, but they wouldnt risk it. I got ready & started for the guard house still hopeful. However I was refused permission to leave camp on account of the weather, so I eventually supped in the mess.
Mon 15. There seems no end to the blizzard & we are completely isolated. It was quite an adventure to leave the billet for meals, & we had to struggle through the storm & drifts to get there.
[page break]
Tues 16th. The weather is worse if anything & conditions are quite serious. Every man is put on rations as food is getting low.
Wed 17. At last the fury of the storm seems to be abating & we all hope to see the last of it today.
Thurs. 18th. This morning the sun is shining brightly & everything is calm. Now the real chaos can be seen & the ‘drome I U.S. until at least Sunday next. Bad news! course is again extended for another week. Road to town is blocked.
Fri. 19th. Put back a course. (Nav.) Went in & got very drunk. (Really cheesed now.).
Sat. 20. The lads are shovelling snow to clear the runways. [missing letters]urally I scrounged off it & read instead.
[missing letters]n 21st. Lay in bed all day. Went to Stella’s at night & ate an enormous supper.
Mon 22nd “Genning” for Nav.
Tues. 23rd. Sat the Supplementary & passed OK. Went to town
Wed. 24th. Stooged about all day & in to Estevan on the bus at night.
Thurs. 25th Flying started again this afternoon & 68. Co. finished off CFIs etc. I saw S/L. Bennett & asked for gen. possibility for an individual posting sometime next week.
Fri 26th.
[page break]
27th Sat Feeling lonely now that the lads are gone
28th Sun. Town as usual. Strolling around & came back early
[underlined] 29th [/underlined] Mon. Invited to supper. Wed. with local librarian
30th Tues. Went to town with Fred. Came back early & saw “Mokey” at the camp cinema. I really enjoyed it although the lads thought it mushy. He was just such a little boy that I’d love. I guess Im feeling “mushy” myself. Fred read my tea-cup.
31st Wed. Started flying again. Just got to my supper date in time. Very nice evening indeed.
1st April Thurs Flying like a ding-bat, Went to Winnipeg
2nd. Fri. Flying late & then went to camp cinema
3rd Sat. CFI check. Didnt go much on me.? Went to town & did the usual round. River very high & road to camp is under water in places. I hope it goes down soon or we will be shut off from Estevan again. sent a food parcel home.
4th Sun. Confirmed to camp by floods. No buses & road is impassable. Also collected 4 days jankers.
5th Mon. Everyone confined.
6 Tues. Started in B flight. Sent back & told to do as I like
7 Wed. Last night of jankers. Hope the river & floods are going down.
[page break]
8th Thurs. Went to town on first possible bus. Sent parcel of cosmetics etc home
9th Fri. Still Scrounging. Went out early on a[deleted]n[/deleted] chit & did a few miles on my feet. Fred & his girl came along & I took several shots of them during the afternoon. Saw “Casablanca”. very good
10th Sat. Had a wizard (salmon salad) with lashings of “miracle whip” in the Princess. After the store closed I took “Babe for a coke & bowling. Then walked her home.
11th Sunday. Went out early in the morning & finished off the reel of exposures in Stella’s.
Hitched to town with Fred. Had a splendid afternoon listening to Ron Davenport playing a church organ. “Liebenstraum”, “Ave Maria” & similar stuff to that He’s wizard on the organ. Plays under the name of Harry March professionally. His mother was Josie Collins who sang in The “Maid of the Mountains” in London. At 6/0pm I went to supper with Lackey’s & enjoyed a wonderful meal of turkey & finished up with pumpkin pie & whipped cream. An excellent evening indeed.
12th Monday. Saw the “Black Swan” very good
13th Tues Usual day.
[underlined] 14 [/underlined]th Wed. Saw “China Girl” at the Orpheum, not bad.
15 Thurs Wings parade today. Usual dreary routine & then shoals of sprog sgts, walking about town. Beer parlours are all shut & so I stayed sober. Cabled home & to Manchester.
[page break]
[underlined] 16th Fri. [/underlined] Packed everything bright & early. Chased around & said goodbye to every-one. Fred & Alf shared my taxi + two kitbags. Stopped the night with Mr & Mrs Lackeye’s
.
17th Sat. Rose at 5.45am & had a glass of milk + 2 oranges & choc. for my pocket. After saying goodbye I arrived at the station at 6.30. Entrained 7.15 & we were off on our 2000 odd mile journey to the east. 3/0pm arrive Brandon & we change for Winnipeg. Winnipeg 6/15 & I checked my webbing & had a stroll in the city. 7/20. Entrain for Montreal. A wizard set-up. Sleeping booths & a coloured boy to make our beds up. I turned in at 10/0pm & slept soundly & comfortably till 6.30.
18 Sund. Breakfast at 7.45. after putting watches on a further hour. (2 hours in all since we started). An excellent meal & then ablutions. Cleared up my kit & I now have time to observe the scenary [sic]. We are travelling through tree & snow covered territory now & in the bright sunlight it is a beautiful glistening & gleaming world.
19 Mon. Breakfasted while we drew in to Ottawa. Montreal at approx. 10.00 am. Free till 3/0pm. Strolled around the city trying to buy a camera. No luck. Looked in the Notre Dame cathedral. very impressed but as a service was
[page break]
in progress I could not stay long Had a wizard bottle of stout in the Windsor Hotel. The best drink in Canada I have ever had. Entrained at 3/15. And prepared for my last night on the train.
20th Tues. Breakfasted in St. Johns. & entrained at 7.0 am Arrived at Moncton 11.0 am. & having no reception committee, I promptly lost myself & had dinner. Reported at 31 at 1/0pm [underlined] Not impressed [/underlined] Out of camp again at 2/0pm. Stooged around as usual. Back to camp at 11/30pm. & turned in. (Wrote home & to Estevan. earlier in the evening).
21 Wed. Usual routine on being posted. with the addittion [sic] of collecting a respirator. Im still not impressed, in fact Im worse off here as a sgt. than I was in Estevan as an Erk. Met lots of lads I knew or at least knew me.
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
William Holmes memoir - training in Canada
Description
An account of the resource
Describes crossing the Atlantic to Canada and journey to Bowden, Alberta and then on to Estevan, Saskatchewan. Day by day account of activities, flying and life in Canada, Concludes with journey back across Canada
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
W Holmes
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942
1943
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Thirty one page handwritten document
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
YHolmesWC176554v1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Nova Scotia--Halifax
Nova Scotia--Amherst
Québec--Montréal
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Alberta--Calgary
Alberta--Innisfail
Saskatchewan--Estevan
Ontario--Ottawa
Newfoundland and Labrador--St. John's
Ontario
Québec
Saskatchewan
Alberta
Newfoundland and Labrador
Nova Scotia
Manitoba
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
1942-08
1942-09
1942-10
1942-11
1942-12
1943-01
1943-02
1943-03
1943-04
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
Steve Baldwin
Anson
RCAF Bowden
RCAF Estevan
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1265/17171/PWhiteheadT18010008.1.jpg
1735fd7c2200cd79ad32e0740a6e93f4
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
Whitehead, Tom. Prisoner of war album
Description
An account of the resource
Forty seven page album of prisoner of war related photographs. Contains over 250 photographs depicting camp life, sports, theatrical and other entertainment.
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
Frank Hunt's orchestral concert - Stalag Luft 3
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - orchestra on stage being conducted. Captioned 'D35 Frank Hunt's orchestral concert, Stalag Luft 3'.
Top right - orchestra on stage with conductor. Captioned 'Frank Hunt's orchestral concert, Stalag Luft 3, Feb 43'.
Centre middle - man standing on middle of a stage wearing tails with man at piano on right. Captioned 'Frank Hunt's orchestral concert, Stalag Luft 3, Feb 43'.
Bottom right - man standing on middle of a stage wearing tails and holding a flute, with man at piano on right. Captioned 'D34 Frank Hunt's orchestral concert, Stalag Luft 3'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four b/w photographs mounted on an album page
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PWhiteheadT18010008
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
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland
Poland--Żagań
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Language
A language of the resource
eng
entertainment
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1236/16933/YThompsonKG1238603v2.2.pdf
1dcb8516a19e873133be11b133f2f6f7
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
Thompson, Keith G
K G Thompson
Description
An account of the resource
95 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Keith Thompson DFC (1238603 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, photographs and training material as well as his navigation logs. He flew operations as a navigator with 101 and 199 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mark S Thompson and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-09-07
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
Thompson, KG
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
FIVE YEAR DIARY
JULY 16 ’42 to JULY 15 1943
16 JULY 1942
TRENTON, ONTARIO
[underlined] to [/underlined]
15 JULY 1943
CASTLE DONINGTON, DERBY
K.G.T.
[page break]
[calendar 1942 & 1943]
[signature]
[page break]
1238603 [deleted] LAC. [/deleted] [inserted] SGT [/inserted] THOMPSON K.G.
TRENTON. NO I “M.” DEPOT
NO. 1 AOS, MALTON.
31PD MONCTON, N.B. CAN.
HMT “QUEEN ELIZABETH”.
7 PDC PANNAL ASH COLLEGE HARROGATE
15 EFTS. KINGSTOWN,
7PPC GRAND HOTEL, HARROGATE
RAF. RGT. WHITLEY BAY. MCH. 20TH
7 PRC MAJESTIC HOTEL, HARR.
4 AOS WEST FREUGH, SCOTLAND.
28 OUT WYMESWOLD, LOUGHBOROUGH.
28 OTU CASTLE DONINGTON.
[underlined] NR. DERBY. [/underlined]
[underlined] FINIS [/underlined]
The Mind
Is a wonderful machine. It need but be just refreshed and incidents can again be revived in their former clarity.
A Line
Each Day, whether it be of the weather or of more important substances, will in time to come bring back those vague memories, worth remembering, to almost actual reality.
[page break]
Gran. M.
“ T.
U. Georg.
Maces.
Watson?
Cabins.
School RGS
Wark SPT
“ OTD
Kilnhurst Sch.
Swinton??
Dunne
A.E. & U.E.
[page break]
JANUARY 1
[underlined] FRI. 43 [/underlined]
No bfst. Parade 8-30 (?) turned out to be 9-0 am in the end & only 1/2 people on parade. Soup; turkey; ham spuds, cabbage; jelly & cust apple & orange; milk. Put on Draft. Working in P.O. [underlined] Letter from Doris & AG from Gran. [/underlined] 30c stamps Wrote AG & Ma. spaghetti & minced meat, bread & jam, tea. [underlined] Letter to Doris Posted AG [/underlined] to Ma. 8c milk 10c hot choc 5c dough nuts 2 x 6c Malted Milk
[page break]
JANUARY 2
SAT 43.
No bfst. Parade 9-0 am £3 pay. English £1 notes. HM, spuds, cabb, pud, sponge & jam, milk [underlined] NO MAIL. [/underlined] Packing. Pork chops; bean soup; tea; bread & jam. [underlined] Letter to Doris & $10 Money Order. Telegram to send watch home [/underlined] ($10.62 total.) 10c. soap; 10c hot choc & 18c. 3 packets peanuts. 15c. shoe polish. Finished packing kit bag, Everything in fine.
[page break]
JANUARY 3
[underlined] SUN 43 [/underlined]
No bfst. Parade 8-45. Just a roll call. No gen. except that we are leaving tomorrow AM Lamb, spuds, cabbage; mince pie & carnation milk; milk. No Parade. Played cards (Slippery Ann) Sleep. [underlined] Letters to Norah & Faiers. [/underlined] Lamb chop & spuds; bread & jam; tea & milk. Parade at 5-0. Assigned to train & coach (2-6) Parade 9-45 AM. Put Holmes shoes in my kit bag. 50c off Tarrant to pack kharki [sic] suit. [underlined] Letters to Doris, Allwyn & P.G. to Gran [/underlined] 20c. hot choc & egg sand 10c peanuts. 10c mints. 80c off Holmes for shoes.
[page break]
JANUARY 4
[underlined] MON 43. [/underlined]
Up at 7-0 AM. Porr. Cocoa poached egg; coffee. Collected letters for lads. [underlined] One from Doris Parade at 9-45. March out at 11-15. On train 11-45 Realy [sic] got under weigh [sic] at 1-15. [indecipherable word] haddock, spuds; peas; tea. Sleeping or at least attempted to Jerry & Williams playing chess Rotten meat; spuds & beans; soup; apple pie; coffee. Saw MO. 2 aspirins. Went to see Gwyn.
Crossed border. 9-15 PM
Watch back 1 hour.
[page break]
JANUARY 5
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; sos bread & but coffee. Had a wash cold water. Feel OK now. NEW HAVEN about 3 or 4 PM. chicken sand & ham snd. lemon cake (jam) spud, crisps, apple; sweets & milk. Arrived New York about 5-0 PM. (Electric loco pulling us.) Got on ferry boat & pulled out to midstream stopped there till about 6-30 to 7-30 PM landed on jetty. Given Mess & Bunk cards. Pork Chop, spuds, carrots, sago; brd & jam, coffee. Went to bed about 9-30 after good wash in cold water.
[page break]
[underlined] R.M.S. QE. [/underlined]
JANUARY 6
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
S/C about 6-30. Bfst. (8-0) got it at 9-15. bacon & egg, brd & jam; coffee. Walked round & round finaly [sic] saw the sea. MP’s, Yanks, all over the place. Can’t get anywhere. Didn’t have to queue long for our sup. which was OK. meat, spuds, cabbage; rice pud; jam & coffee The coffee is too strong 3d bottle of pop & 2/6d 200 fags. Played drafts with Gwyn for 2 or 3 hrs & only won last game drawed [sic] about [underlined] 4 [/underlined]
[underlined] 1 HOUR FORARD [sic]. [/underlined]
[page break]
[underlined] QE [/underlined]
JANUARY 7
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
No queue at all. Porr sos, figs marmalade, coffee. Made bed up. Went to Sgts. lounge & had read then went up to lifeboat deck. Met another of the DeWinter lads P/O. 50c (10 oranges) Meat spuds peas; peaches; jam & coffee. Ship giving beautiful rolls sliding food all over. 6/- for 12 bars choc 2/6d for 2 lighters. 20c & 1/-for calendar & photo of “Lizzy.” 9d x 4 boxes razor blades.
[underlined] 1 HOUR FORARD [sic]. [/underlined]
[page break]
JANUARY 8
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t get up for brunch. (bacon & chips; etc.) Went up on deck to stern. Saw the guns. Heard AA set off a few rounds. [underlined] Pushed [/underlined] back to PROM deck (all windows shut & blacked out.) Slept on bunk after SPEECH by W/C in charge of US. BULL about buttons, boots, press & shoes; smoking below decks, etc. etc. etc. Meat spuds, carrots; sago; jam & coffee which tasted like coffee for a change. Ship giving some bad rolls all day sea not heavy. One game chess with Gwyn
1 Hour added
[page break]
JANUARY 9
[underlined] SAT 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t get up till 8-30 AM or so. Went up to Prom Deck & Sgts canteen 5c bottle pop Sent below for Air Raid Warning. Sleeping & reading. Went for Supper with Gwyn. Lamb chop (cooked in oil.) spuds, beans, pineapple; jam & coffee Ship still gives a few heavy rolls. 2/- & 5c tube toothpaste & 3 packets of chocolat [sic] biscuits.
Time same.
[page break]
JANUARY 10
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
[deleted] Got [/deleted] [inserted] Woke [/inserted] up at 9-0 AM. Got up about 10-0. Wash & shave. Went up on boat deck. Talking to a couple of 2nd Lieuts in US. Army Gwyn not at home so I went for supper alone! (?) half a weiner, stew, spud, rice pud, jam & coffee; orange. In line for hair cut. Left it to go on the guns 8 to 12-0. Blowing like Hell & rain with it! [underlined] Put watches on another hour. [/underlined] Cocoa (weak) cheese & biscuits then bed.
[page break]
JANUARY 11
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 7-0 AM. went for bfst. Bacon, spuds & corned beef; apple sauce; coffee; marmalade. On .50” gun (mch) rain & wind. Sleep! or at least I tried to sleep. Land sighted 12-30 hrs. [underlined] Put watches on 1 hr. at 14-00 hrs. [/underlined] Supper at 1700 h Cheese; jam; ham; spuds, cabbage; coffee. Dropped anchor 18-10. Lined up for an hour & 1/4 for hair cut. Couldn’t change £1 note or $5 bill & had to borrow 1/- Went up on deck to look round Officer came in with “gen” about leaving ship
[page break]
JANUARY 12
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 5-30 for early bfst. 2 eggs & one in pocket, pears, marmalade; coffee. Back to bed & short sleep interrupted by some noisy B - - S. including his nibs Parade 10-30 in mess Hall. Speech by Mr. Jordan High Commis. for New Zealand. & Air Comm Hawe, “Groupy” & Wing/Co i/c troops on ship. Should have left ship 12-45. Actualy [sic] got on Dutches [sic] of Hamilton at 14-30. Pulled away at 15.30 after 1 hrs. wait. Landed after waiting 1/2 hr. at 16-30. GOUNOC. Pot of tea on stn. S/C at 18.00. WAVERLY 21.30 tea & extras (beans, meat etc. biscuits, sweets, sugar & coffee)
LMS train, nice new or “newish” coach, nice smooth tracks & smooth stops & starts.
[page break]
JANUARY 13
[underlined] WED 43 [/underlined]
NEWCASTLE. 1-15 AM Arr. HARRO. 3-30 AM. Lorry to Camp. bfst bacon, saus, turnip & spuds; jam tart & sauce; coffee. [underlined] Bed [/underlined] 6-0 AM Up 11-30. Beef, spuds, turnip – prunes & cust; Co. & Intel. Offs speeches. Signed & filled in forms for 2 hours. Supper 5-0 PM. Sardines on toast, tea. FFI & Dental (1 tooth) NAAFI & sgts. mess couldn’t change £1 notes.
Had kit out & sorted personal stuff from issue. Made Tigers bed.
[page break]
JANUARY 14
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Up 6-45. Shave (bad one.) Porr; meat roll (hot) fried brd; tea. Parade 9-0. Photo taken. Flying kit issued including rubber boots. New kit bag. Marked some. Lamb, sprouts, spuds (boiled & baked.) boiled sponge pud & cust. Kit inspection put down for 2 collars (664b) Pistol holster & ammo pouch (FI) Cottage pie, bread & jam; scone; tea. Night Vision Test 14/32. Could read ordinary card OK. (Second line up.) Again sorted kit. NAAFI shut 9-309 Went to Sgts. Mess. had 1 pt. br. & 1/2 pt. cider. Sgt. WAAF brought sandwiches in for us too. Bed about 11-0.
[page break]
JANUARY 15
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Scrambled egg, fried bread; porr; tea. Parade 8-45 Done Kit Insp. & Night Vis so was dismissed. Interviews Put down for Bombers & station near Sheffield. Stew, spuds, peas; apple & custard; bread & butter. Pay parade £13. Red line on kit & lable [sic] for flying kit. Fish & spuds; jam & piece of cake; tea. Walked into town. 3/- at [deleted] City [/deleted] Royal Hall “Cinderella” on 4th row centre isle. 2d programme. Walked back. Went to Sgts. Mess. 1/- for a couple of ciders. 2 sandwiches. Darts
[page break]
JANUARY 16
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
up at 7-15. Porr. bacon & sos; brd & but; tea. 1250’s issued; put flying kit in to stores. Issued with tunic & trousers, pistol holster & ammo. pouch; gas cape; tin bot & covers. Draughts with Gwyn 2-1 (lost.) Stew & spuds; rice pud (beautiful.) 664b’s 2 collars. Gave in other kit & bag. Meat pie & spuds; jam; tea 5/- for stamps, 10/- book (SPT4) Tramped around in DRIZZLE 3/6d ”Lover’s Leap” at Opera House 3d programme. 2d. for supper (2 sands. cake, tea.) Walked back (35 mins.) 6d cyder[sic] – No sandwiches Letter [underlined] to Doris [/underlined]
[page break]
JANUARY 17
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Kellog’s; sos & fried spuds; tea; marmalade. Parade 9-30. roll call & nowt else. 3d for bus fare & signed sheet saying I’m fully kitted. Beef, spuds peas; sponge pud; bread. Draughts. Lost all games. Letter to Doris. 1/- cyder. Ham, spuds; cheese; jam; tea. Swept up & help set tables in dining room. Cup of tea & talk after. 10 1/2d. chips, cheese pastie, OXO, 2 bars choc. Letter to Doris (same as previous ones) 3d for grapefruit crush.
[page break]
[symbol]
JANUARY 18
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Woke at 6-45. Went to sleep & dreamt about changes in R’Com. Up at 7-15. Porr; bacon & fried bread; tea. Dismissed to clean rooms. Swept stairs. lecture on security & secrets not to be divulged. Stew, spuds, sweeds [sic]; ground rice & sago etc., pud. Assigned to train to go home in Sgts. Mess. [underlined] Posted letter to Doris AIR. [/underlined]
Spuds & cheese; treacle; cake scone; tea. More packing & discussion on SSC etc. 5d. chips, peas & OXO (NAAFI 6d lemonade in Mess Shaved.
[page break]
[underlined] LEAVE [/underlined]
JANUARY 19
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & fried bread, tea. Up at 6-45. Washed & down to bfst at 7-00. not ready. So stripped bed & made it up. Handed sheets in at 8-30 Paraded at 9-0. Got in bus at 10-0. Arr. stn. 10-10. 2d. coffee & [indecipherable word]. Train out 11-0. Leeds 12-0. S/C 13-00. Arr. Bham. 14-30 6d. tea & pie (2 d’s) Home 3-0 in TAXI Went to office. Saw Granpa; Gaffer; Mr Haigh; Mr Brown & Miss Clayton. Went across to Ivan’s. Went to fetch Dad from Darce. 16-15. Ma across at Dunns.
Cup of [underlined] COCOA. [/underlined]
[page break]
JANUARY 20
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 11-0. Granpa, been to U.E. A. Edie “ill”. Took Pat to school. Fetch Doctor’s note from U.E. Went with Ma. to town bread & office again Dad stayed at home. Looked at photo album. & showed ‘em rest of snaps. Gave P & P watch & Ma [deleted] couchin [/deleted] cushion cover Played cards with P.P. Ma & Dad. Kissed P & P Good Night.
Drizzle all Day
[page break]
JANUARY 21
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Up 10-0. Cleaned bike & mended & cleaned all bells & pushes. Went for short run on bike. Granpa & Mr. Haigh both came to see us. 40 children killed & 50 injured in raid on London. Went into town with P.P. & Ma. Up to No 8 in Car. Had tea there Showed ‘em picture PC’s & Maps. Walked back.
[page break]
JANUARY 22
[underlined] FRI. 43 [/underlined]
Up at 10-0. RAIN!!!!
Went to GPO & sent [underlined] cable to Doris [/underlined] (2/6) also went to library to see about ATC. Granpa & A. Ella to see us. [underlined] Shaved [/underlined]. Looked for lock & chain. Went to school. Saw Arnie & heard tale. Mr. Atkinson wants a buzzer for daughter. Just saw old Freddy. Cards & Stamps.
[page break]
JANUARY 23
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 10-0. Went up to Greenbro to take key back. Dad home for dinner. Went across to Dunn’s for tea. Played bagatel [sic] with David, Barbara & Mrs. Dunn Babs won. Stayed till 12-0 AM. [deleted] W [/deleted] U. Edgar came for me to shut gas fire off. Policeman there wanting to know details.
[page break]
JANUARY 24
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 11-0. Went to see Maces Saw Mr. & Mrs & Syd. Joan was out with cousin. Dad home for dinner. P & P gone to church just before Bobby came to see Pat. Went for run Saw Mr. Carpenter. Went with P & P. David & Sally to Clifton Park. Barbara David came to tea. Mrs. & Denis came later. black music etc etc.
[page break]
JANUARY 25
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 10-0. Work about 11-15 to 11-30. Gave fags round. Saw Cyril, Tish, Wilf, Reg. Machin, Mr. Skilicorn, Harry, Ted, Mr. Smith, Syd, Turner, Methley, Mr. Duke, Office Reg, Tom, Peg, Joyce, Jack Lodge Went up to School Saw Freddy, Bob, Aitchy, Johno, Tiffin, Ticker, Perky, Jones, Morris, Simmons, Doc. [underlined] Lovely RAIN all day [/underlined] Dad out. At a wedding playing “sax”. Got away with stamps.
[page break]
JANUARY 26
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 11-0. Went to O & D for dinner. Dad gave me 1/- for same. Beef, spuds beans; treacle pud; tea with Mr. Carpenter & Stapleton. Went round the works to see all the chaps. Handed fags round. Came to [indecipherable word] Gerard with Mr. Mullet Gran, T & Florrie stayed till 4-30 but I wasn’t in! Played cards & sorted (?) Meccano.
[page break]
JANUARY 27
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Set off 11-0 for Kilnhurst Mr. Wilkinson left. Went to Green Lane. Saw Mr. Halifax & Waffenden & Mrs. & old Mrs. Thompson, [deleted] Mable [/deleted] [inserted] Marge Noble [/inserted] Went on to Swinton to Seniors. Saw Mr. & Mrs. Frank & Maureen (2 cups tea, biscuits &pork pie) Went to Gathard’s Mr & Mrs in Billy came in from pit. Saw Walt. Baldwin in town. Had dinn. about 4-0. Went to Gran Thompson Gilbert & kid there Nellie followed me in. Colin & Marg. came afterwards. Florrie gave me two photos of herself Gaile etc. off bell
[page break]
JANUARY 28
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
[underlined] shave. [/underlined]
Up at 10-0. Hunted out bits belonging to my buzzer. Started one for Atkinson Dinn with P.P. & Ma. Finished buzzer. Took Sally to meet Pam. bread shop shut. Took photo’s to U. George Asked me to stay to tea but returned home. Dad brought covers for rail cards. Babs brought rabbit to be skinned. Dad skinned some & one he brought for me.
[page break]
JANUARY 29
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 10-15. Babs called for rabbit. Went to Royal then went to work to Dad. Fetched a loaf. Went to town with Ma Tickets from Regent (2/3d) Shoes (Pate) Diary (2/3d) Bread. Snack and down at Regal for 5-5. Dad arr. 5-15. Show “First of the Few” Leslie Howard & David Nivien [sic]. (2/-) A really good picture. Tea. Went to David’s. Bagatelle & a nice supper. Left at 12-0
[page break]
JANUARY 30
[underlined] SAT – 43. [/underlined]
Down at 10-30 P[deleted] at [/deleted] [inserted] am [/inserted] & Ma up. Granpa called. Rain. Went up to school to take buzzer & see Arnie. Gave Acka buzzer & helped him fit it up. Gave me 2/- for buzzer. Arnie gave me 4/- for diary. NO SPUDS P & P wouldn’t fetch ‘em. Went to Timpsons with Ma’s shoes & Boots for Aspirins. Also fetched 3 loaves. Saw Joe & Oscar. Went run round to station. Saw Elsie & her Ma. Went to Darts. Pretty Good!
1/6d Commem. Stamps
Ran up 400 mls. on cyclometer
[page break]
JANUARY 31
[underlined] SUN. 43 [/underlined] SHAVE
Up at [underlined] 12-0 [/underlined]. Went to work with Dad to see Mr. Coleman. He was busy so couldn’t see snaps & photos. [underlined] RAIN in buckets [/underlined] Went up to Gran’s with Dad. Went on to Aunt Minnie’s & Uncle Jack’s. Went back to Gran’s. Ma & P & P only just arrived. Had tea. Aunty Emmaline & U. Laurie came about 9-0. Had a real good laugh. Home about 12-0
[page break]
FEBRUARY 1
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 9-0. Down in Square at 9-25. Bus out at 9-30. Arr. 10-0. Went to Uncle Wilf’s then to Aunt Emma’s. Left Great coat there & went to Uncle Joe’s Got to wrong house at first then when we found it he wasn’t in. 2/6d off Aunt Emma Bus back at 1-0. arr. 1-30 PM. Went to town with Ma & Pa. Regal (2/-) “Who Done It” Abbot & Costello & “Dr. Broadway.” Fish & chips. Went across to Dunn’s. Dog misbehaved by time we returned
BATH!!
[page break]
[underlined] HARROGATE [/underlined]
FEBRUARY 2
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Up at [underlined] 11-0 AM [/underlined] later than I wished. Shaved. Went to SPT to see Joe. Saw Jack Wright too. Gus on after’s so missed him Nos. King at Shef. University. More RAIN. Went about taxi. Took library books back. Hair cut 1/- & more RAIN. Packed kit with struggle. Ma packed me some supper. Phoned for taxi. S/C 5-40 arr Leeds 7-30. S/C 7-55 (10 mins late) arr Harr. 8-30 Walked to Grand Hotel. In room with Arty, Willie & Holmes. Supper which Ma Packed for me. Drew blankets & pillow.
[circled 2/6d taxi]
[page break]
FEBRUARY 3
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 7-15. Bfst; porr; bacon, cabbage; coffee. Parade in Mess for roll call & lecture (gen talk) Got kit bags “out”. Sos, spuds, cabb.; macaroni coffee. Parade at 2-0 with flying kit. Dumped same after roll call. Back to room at 3-15 Lads playing cards. I read. Stew & spuds; tea; bread & jam. 1/6d at Scala to see “Coastal Command” & “Women arn’t [sic] Angels” Robertson Hare. Walked back & was in for 10-10.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 4
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 7-20. Porr; toast & scrambled egg. Parade 9-0. Meat; spuds; sponge pud; coffee £7..10 pay after long wait. 6d in red X soap coupon. WO. Came for me at 2-15. POSTED. Going to Carlisle. Lecture on security. Got flying kit & packed rest & turned it all in FFI. Cheese on toast; cake; jam & tea. 3/6d Opera House “Eden’s End”
3d program. 3d MN fund. 3d drink. 2 1/2d. choc.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 5
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined] Up 6-0. blankets 6-30 Porr. sos & mash; tea, rations (dry sandw’s. & bun) Parade 7-30. S/C stn. 7-35. arr. 7-45. S/C Leeds. 8-40 arr 9-25 [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] 4d tea & meat pie at Y. Tommy bought lunch. Loaded kit. Got on train 10-20. Shld S/C 10-30. S/C at 11-15 for Carlisle arr. 2-30. RAIN & WIND all way. Bus to stn. & HUTS. [underlined] Din [/underlined] meat pie & spuds. [underlined] NO DRINK. [/underlined] Short lecture & ditto form. Sheets & pillow case. Got blankets. WASH. Herrings & cocoa. 2 bars choc. OXO. 3 gills. packet of crisps Bed about 11-0.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 6
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Up 7-55. WIND & a little rain Too late for bfst. Lectures by C.O. & CGI. Spuds, carrots, spare ribs; tart & cust. VP & First Aid lecture. FFI. Cleaned up. Buttons & shoes. Pie & soup.
ENSA Concert (6d)
Bert Davies & Dave Hunter (comed’s) Joy & Muriel (Brun Blonde) – Margaret Smart (BBC violinist)
Georgina Emmett – soubrette – Jane Arnott vocalist
GORDON RITCHIE – pianist
[underlined] 1 [/underlined] gill
[page break]
FEBRUARY 7
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 9-0. Down to camp (nowt) doing so walked back. Made fire. Went to NAAFI. Shave. Veal, spuds & coffee; rice pud Walked in & around Carlisle. 2/- sos & spuds; buns. Ginger Rodgers 2/- in “Kitty Foyle” pretty good. 2d on bus back. 6d chips & coffee. Letter too [sic] Ma
[page break]
FEBRUARY 8
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Fried spam & spuds; porr; tea. C.O’s parade. Tea & cake (NAAFI) Lectures. Prem, spuds, cab; soup; sponge pud. Lectures. brd & jam, tea. Fiddled with kit.
Film 3d. “Flat Spat.” Betty Grable, [deleted] Carol [/deleted] Coral Lordis & Victor Mature.
1 gill.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 9
[underlined] TUES 43. [/underlined]
Missed bfst Took flying kit down. RAIN. Film show. Meat pie, cab, spuds; plum pud. Took 4 rifles to range. Chips & prem. cake & tea 6d cheese & chips; coffee in NAAFI. Letter [underlined] AIR MAIL [/underlined] to Doris
[page break]
FEBRUARY 10
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; spuds & sos. RAIN. Astro Lecture. Stew, spuds; tart & cust. More RAIN. Bread & jam & cake. 2d bus. 2/- Arthur Askey [inserted] Evelyn Dalle [/inserted] in “King Arthur was a Gentleman” & Penny Singleton in “The Boss said “NO””
2d bus. NO eats.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 11
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
porr, spuds & bacon. P.T. & bit of Drill. Letter from Ma & Dad. spare ribs, spuds carrots rice pud. Brains Trust. letter to Ma. bread & jam & tea. letter. Meat pie & tea.
ENSA concert
Pretty good. A lot of crude jokes.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 12
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; scrambled eggs; tea. Parade at 8-45? roll. Drill. Lectures in Cinema. Aircraft Rec. Veal, spuds, cab; ground rice pud & raisins. Lecture on StenGun then lecture on Russia. Bread & treacle; tea. Made fire & had wash. Chips & sos roll, OXO, tart (in NAAFI). RAIN & MORE RAIN & wind. Had read in Anteroom then went & had a gill. [underlined] Posted letter to Ma [/underlined]
choc ration.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 13
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Went to Aero Café for bfst. 1/4d bacon & toast; coffee. Went back for camera. Bus into Carlisle. 1/2d din sos & chips; brd; tea. Roamed around. Picts full. Couldnt [sic] find bus for Gretna. 1/6d tea. chips & welsh rarebit. 2/- show. “The Devil Pays Off” (DeMott steamliner. Mutiny) & Gene Autry in “Sierra Sue.”
[page break]
FEBRUARY 14
[underlined] SUN. 43 [/underlined]
Porr, sos & spuds. Parade as usual. ROUTE MARCH after Church Parade Meat, spuds; cab; rice & tart Read in anteroom & tried to sleep. Sos & spuds for supper.
“Ride ‘em cowboy” Bud Abbott & Lou Costello.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 15
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
porr & prem, CO’s parade RAIN & WIND. Lectures on Pilot Nav & map reading. Chicken roll, spuds; plum pud & cust. Further lecture on map General bind about the station. Had tea. Made fire & had a wash Scallops & chicken roll. [underlined] NAAFI. [/underlined] 2 shortbreads & coffee. LETTER from MA
LETTER to Doris.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 16
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr, bacon & spuds. FLYING. bus to KP. 60 mins pin pointing from KP to Kingstown. Ribs, spuds, cab; plum pud. Worked out a cross country & set off. Went to KP first then went round X country. Tommy got last NOT returned. bus back from K.P.
2 welsh rarebits
LETTER TO MA.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 17
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Porr & sos. Gen talk. Supposed compass swing stew & spuds; jam & cust. Cross country S/C but had to turn back. Low cloud so set course back half way along second leg. Made it OK. Cheese, jam & cake. Went to see “Twin Beds” & “Sunday Punch” AGAIN. Choc.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 18
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Cornflakes; jam; tea. Route march, unarmed combat. Ground Signals. MEAT PIE, spuds, cab. ground rice. Flare paths. Letter to Pat. brd & jam. Took gt. Coat to Mary at din. time. Meat, spuds & cabbage; tea; jam. 2 buns from NAAFI. Show in Mess. “Holiday Inn” Fred Astaire & Bing Crosby. Fetched gt. coat which Mary had finished Bed. 11-0 PM.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 19
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; jam; tea. Roll call. Route March round perimeter track. Cinema at 11-30. Talk on [indecipherable word] by P/O Pilot. Stew, spuds, sweede; [sic] rice pud. Lecture on Mediterranean by War Office chap. Tea, bread & jam Wrote short note to Ma & sent £10 with it. Cheese & spuds for DINNER. 2 biscuits & coffee. 4 bars choc [underlined] SHOWER [/underlined]
[page break]
FEBRUARY 20
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; sos. Cross country with Fred. Ran into low cloud on high ground. Wind & deviation all over place. Turned back. Letter from Ma. & cable from Doris. Din (stew spuds, cab; & tart.) Flying washed. Messed about on box & bar in crew room doing PT? Had tea then DINNER? ONE HERRING!! Went & had chop & chips & peas in NAAFI. Talk with Fred & Tom. Glass beer in Sgts. Mess
[page break]
FEBRUARY 21
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 9-0 AM. Café shut so went to NAAFI. cake & 2 cups coffee. Went back to camp & cleaned up Set off for town. Got a lift in van. Stopped TWICE by SP’s for ident. card & had name taken for leather gloves. 3/- din (soup; spuds, minced meat & sundae) Set. Bob off back 3d cake & buns 2d bus back. Tea, usual, in camp, Met Mary at 6-30 at bus stop. Went to see (4/-) “China Sea” Darn Good film. Walked back to camp.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 22
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Porr, spam & spuds lectures & Aldis Comp. Sos meat spuds, beans; sponge pud. NAAFI coffee. lecture & quiz (NAV) also quiz regarding welfare on the station. Usual tea Sos meat jam & tea for [underlined] SUPPER [/underlined] NAAFI coffee
Letter to P & P & MA
Made Date.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 23
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/UNDERLINED]
Porr, bacon, spuds. Set out for Hexham & Hawick. Cloud chased us back AGAIN on 2nd leg HOT POT!?! rice pud. Recconnaisance [sic] with Turner. Looking for bridges Changed sheets 2 Registered Parcels from Ma. Tea & Jam Bus 6-30. Went to see “Flying Fortress” 4/- Walked back. One X.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 24
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Porr, sos, spuds, RAIN. Station Flying Orders signed some. NAAFI Lecture on dinghy drill. Stew!! spuds cabbage; tart & cust. Fred & rest returned from Reitz VIA “RAIL”. WAITING IN CINEMA. CO asked for our names (in Ante room) Letter & Valentine (MA & D) Usual tea. 1/- spam & toast RABBIT spuds & sweeds [sic] NAAFI coffee. Date again
[page break]
FEBRUARY 25
[underlined] THURS 43 [/underlined]
Usual type of meals. Supposed to be on lectures but none of the lecturers arrived. Had supper. Went to the City and saw “Dangerously they Live.” & “About Face” X’s & Good Night
[page break]
FEBRUARY 26
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr, scrambled egg. X. country HEXHAM & almost to HAWICK WITH Sgt. Stockill Stew, spuds, sweede; [sic] rice pud. Short X. country Penrith to Silloth. Flew back from KP for din. Sgt. Stockill did a few Cities at [underlined] my request. [/underlined] Made log book up to date. Cheese & spud pie, jam, tea. cup coffee Show by neighbouring station. DAMN GOOD!
[page break]
FEBRUARY 27
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
1/4d bfst. bacon & toast. choc biscuits, coffee. Darts in NAAFI. (coffee etc) Din in Mess. Waited in NAAFI for Watson 6d for tea, toast & salmon 2/- to see “Son of Fury” George Sanders & Tyrone Powers ([deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted])
[page break]
FEBRUARY 28
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Porr only. S/C for PERTH with Turner. Got to MOFFAT where clouds closed in. Chop, spuds, cab; jam tart. Flying washed but went with ANNAN with F/LT SMYTHE. Cottage pie, sweede [sic] & cocoa. Chin wag in Ante Room. NAAFI.
[page break]
FEBRUARY 29
[blank page]
[page break]
MARCH 1
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Co’s parade. Porr; spam spuds; jam. Went to KP on the bus but didn’t fly Ribs, spuds, cab; jam & concret [sic] tart. No flying. Sent laundry etc. home. 1/-. 2/6d stamps. Letter from & too [sic] Ma. 12 chips for supper. Coffee & cakes in NAAFI.
STEVE & DICKENS
[page break]
MARCH 2
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Billet Insp. by C.O. George Flying on search. Coffee & biscuits while writing letter to Ma. Paper from Ma. Meat, spuds (stew!) ground rice pud. No flying bread & jam tea. Night flying “Gen.” at 6-15. Supper; - “slice” of potted meat & beet; cocoa. Had coffee in NAAFI. Flew from 9-0 till 10-0. Just round a wide circuit Beaufort! Had cup of tea in NAAFI x 2. Bed about 12-0
[page break]
MARCH 3
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 8-0. Went ‘SICK’ for Turner. No parade. 1/6d for egg, toast & tea breakfast. Kit sorting. Usual type of dinner. Letter & parcel from Ma. Reconnaissance flight with Watson. Tea as per usual. No night flying! “All thro’ the Night” 2/- at Lonsdale. Walked back X’s.
[page break]
MARCH 4
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Porr for bfst. To [sic] big a queue. Completed log bk. £7/2/- pay. Hand key & inter-com & sheets back. Coffee etc in NAAFI. Stew, spuds, rice. 3 letters from Doris one from Gran & one from Watson. Mary gave me 6 bars choc. X. Packed & [indecipherable word] lorry. 1/- for sos & mash (twice) Train 6-45. Arr. H. 1-30. Bed at Majestic 2-0 after tea & pie
[page break]
MARCH 5
[underlined] FRI. 43 [/underlined]
Up at 8-0. Just had wash. 1/7d welsh rarebit & toast. Film “Next of Kin” Very Good. Beef, carrots, cabb, spuds tea, jam. Moved to Grand. Nowt to do or be done. Kit still at the Majestic Sent letter home (just a short note) Fish cake, spuds, tea & jam. Went with Staff & Tom to see “Date with an Angel.” Darn Good film. 1/6d sos, egg & toast, 2 teas. Chip shop sold out.
[page break]
MARCH 6
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Kellogs; ham & spuds, Room inspection. OK’d Not wanted on parade so went & had coffee & biscuits. 6d. Cold meat & veg, salad; trifle; coffee. Washed my feet & put clean socks on. £6 money order. (6d) Looked for writing case. None to be got. 10d torch batteries. 10d pie, cake & coffee Sat in park. Meat roll & beet, brd & jam roll; tea. 2/6d at Odeon “Wake Island” & Moon over Havana” 1/6d sos, egg; toast & tea.
[page break]
MARCH 7
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
porr, meat roll, fried spuds, coffee. Went to station. train 10-20 Didn’t go to Leeds. Went to YM. to [sic] early & packed. so went to café Had cheese on toast & coffee, jam 2/- had din at Majestic after darts. Meat, spuds, cab & carrots; rhubarb & cust. [underlined] Letter to Ma & Mary. [/underlined] Tom sleeping Nice tea. Went to see what shows [deleted] are [/deleted] [inserted] were [/inserted] on. Met Hayes & pal. 2/6d. “International Sqdn” & “Strange Alibi.” Went & had supper. Spam & chips (1/9.) 2/9 for beers. Learned one or two puzzles. Bed about 11-15.
[page break]
MARCH 8
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Up 7-10. Bfst. Porr, ham & fried spuds treacle & tea. Went to Thirsk café. Had rarebit & coffee & toast 2/1d. Looked round Smiths. [underlined] Letter from Ma. Mr Coleman [/underlined] Meat pie, spuds & sprouts; rice pud; coffee. Parade 2-0. Names taken etc. then buzzed off. 1/- tea & pikelets. [underlined] 2d. parcel to Ma. [/underlined] Fish cake & chips, brd & marmalade. [underlined] Letter to Ma & SPT. [/underlined] Went out & posted same then went to bed 10.15
[page break]
MARCH 9
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
porr, spuds & fish, tea. Set on sorting mail. Letter from Ma & Doris from Canada. Beef, [inserted] cocoa [/inserted] spuds, cab & parsnip; “Mickey Roony” & rhubarb Sat in Park. Had small drink from well. Magnesia & Sulphur. More mail sorting. Took redirected stuff to the Spa. Went round the cinemas. Had tea. 2/6d at Odeon Monty Wooly in “Pied Piper” also “His Neighbour.” [underlined] 3/6d [/underlined] chips & rabbit pie & 2 cups of tea.
[page break]
MARCH 10
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t get up for bfst. Mail Tea coffee & 3 buns. More Mail. Stew, spuds, cab; peas; apple & cust; coffee. Went to Majestic. No mail & canteen closed. Boys back from Whitley Bay. Went with Gwyn to see White Rose Players in “Gas Light” 3/6d. then went to Maj & had glass sherry
[page break]
MARCH 11
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t get up for bfst. 9-0 Room Inspection. Sorting Mail Parade at 10-30. Reserve for posting. Beef (boiled) spuds, sweeds; [sic] boiled pud & cust. Registered Parcel from Ma. AG from Joyce. Parade 1-45. Dismissed Shave. Parade again at 3-45. No Gen. Letter from Ma & another reg. parcel. Meat & spuds jam roll. Went to see Victor Mature in “Seven Days Leave” & “Highways by Night,” 2/6d.
[page break]
MARCH 12
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 9-15. Parade 10-45. Went to Maj. for registered parcel (socks etc.) Roast beef, mashed & roast spuds, cab; cust & tart. 13/6d for fags from Mr. Dixon (200) 2-0 parade for FFI. NOT REQUIRED so had tea 11d. Fish spuds, & treacle also collected rations. Parade 4-45 not wanted again. Went walk with Gwyn. Tried to get Pass. Gwyn & lads went at 7-30. Wash. Went out with Tom. 3/9d for beers.
[page break]
MARCH 13
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 8-30. To [sic] late bfst. NO PASS. Mail to & from Spa. Stew, spuds, cab, sweed {sic] & boiled pud; cocoa. Started letters to Ma & Mary sitting in the park. Turned coal [sic] so had a walk round & eventualy [sic] went to see “Seven Sweethearts” & “The Green Cockatoo.” 1/6d. Went & had chips & fish cakes [underlined] 2/10d [/underlined] & cup of tea.
[page break]
MARCH 14
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
egg & sos. Church parade. Walked round the town. Beef, roast spuds, cab, & carrot; maccaroni [sic] pud. Walked round the park & the town till 2-25 when we were given tickets for a concert at the Royal Hall. A pretty good show! Flan, beet & pie (meat) & jam for tea. Went a roaming again & eventualy [sic] went to Regal to see “Three Silent Men” & “Wild Geese Flying” Took ATS girls back to camp. Came back & had coffee & meat pie at Hollywood.
[page break]
MARCH 15
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Usual bfst – lectures after being squaded. Din similar to usual. Lectures again. [underlined] Fried egg [/underlined] & spuds & cocoa for tea. Spear not going. Williams going instead 5/- at Scala to see “My Sister Eileen” Walked back to ATS camp & back to Craven’s Had fish cake chips & carrot steamed pud; tea 3/6d
[page break]
MARCH 16
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon, spuds & fried bread; tea. Room insp. Clay pigeon shooting 10/21. Finished letter to Mary in small café 6d for coffee & cake. Beef, spuds, cab & carr, prunes & cust; cocoa. 13-30 parade. Lectures. Arms, intell & navi. Meat pie, chips; treacle & tera. Card for fags (Mr Dix) Sent pyjamas home to be washed Wrote letter to Ma. Posted it & Mary’s.
[page break]
MARCH 17
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Scrambled egg on toast; tea. Kit Inspection & nothing else. Sos & mash, cab & sweed [sic] steamed pud. Sent parcel to Ma. Went on short route march out towards ATS camp. Steak & chips. “Night Mare” & “Mrs Wiggs of the cabbage patch” 2/-. Coffee at Hollywood.
[page break]
MARCH 18
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Bacon & fried spuds. Fetched Battle Dress, helmet, etc. from Majestic. £7 pay at Grand. Beef, spuds, cab & sweed; [sic] lemon curd fritter. Letter from Ma & Gwynn. 664b’s cleared up. Having none Tom & I went & had cup of tea & cakes 1/-. Salmon & beet for tea. Took Tiger with us this time. Saw “If the Lady is Willing” Marlene Deitrich & Fred Mc.Murray. & “Fingers at the Window” 5/- 2/- cigs. Walked back to ATS camp. X’s.
[page break]
MARCH 19
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
kidneys on toast, porr. tea. Lecture on security by S/Ldr. Handed in kit bag containing personal kit. FFI. Stew spuds, cab, sweed, [sic] peas; apple pie; cocoa. 2-10 parade. 1/1 1/2 coffee & cakes. Inspection by S/Ldr on full webbing parade. Letters from Ma & Mary. Sardines on toast. Tiger didn’t turn up so we went to Opera house (3/6d seats) “Old Acquaintance” X in the dark. Put ‘em in taxi another X. Had cottage pie & chips at Craven 3/6d
[page break]
MARCH 20
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Missed bfst. Up at 8-10. Roll call 8-45. 1/1d coffee & toast. Parade again at 10-30 in full kit. Marched to stn. S/C 11-35. Bought newspaper Tom & Willie got sandwiches arr. 2-30 PM. Roast mutton spuds, cab, beans; jam roll & cream. Put into billet & issued with blankets. FFI & foot inspection. Ham & spam & pickles also raw carrot; tea. Had 2 pints. Sent P.C. to Ma.
[page break]
MARCH 21
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Egg on fried bread; porr; tea. Church parade then stores. Issued with rifle bayonet, boots & webbing Roast beef & spuds, cabbage, York. pud; apple pie & cust. Sleep & read. Cheese & potato pie, spam & raw carrot, tea, marmalade Walked back to billet again. Firemaking. Wrote letter to Ma in Mess. Speech by Churchill. cocoa & sandwiches.
[page break]
MARCH 22
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
bacon & spuds; tea. Parade & inspection at 8-30. Lecture by G.C. & Sqdn. Comdr. Fitted webbing together. March to Din. Mutton, spuds, & beans; fruit pud. Marched to Golf course Lecture on camouflage. Golfers!!! Lecture by F/O. on general “gen”. Tea, fried spam & chips. Couldn’t eat spam Felt rather sick. Went for haircut. Barber shut so went to ENSA concert. Russian troupe. Darn good. Cup of coffee in Mess. Sewed buttons on trousers. SIREN. GUNFIRE
one down.
[page break]
MARCH 23
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
fish & spuds. Couldn’t eat it all. Rifle Drill; Bayonet Drill; P.T. on beach; “Load” & “unload!” Marched to Din meat pie, carrots & spuds; rice pud & prunes. Ate all of it. Grenades; cleaning rifle, setting sights for range; Thrust & parrie & a bit of unarmed combat. [underlined] Fish [/underlined] pie & spuds, bread & jam; coffee. 1/- haircut. 1d on bus, cleaned rifle, chopped sticks. Started letter to Mary at dinner time.
[underlined] Finished letter to Mary [/underlined]
[page break]
MARCH 24
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
bacon & spuds; tea. [inserted] range [/inserted] [indecipherable word] Lewis gun; obstacles & carrying (firemans lift.) FISH & SPUDS, fruit pie; water. Route march & exercise on observation P.A.D. Stew & SPUDS NO BREAD! dry biscuits tea. [underlined] 2 letters from MA. [/underlined] P.A.D. parade before tea. Had glass of beer & sos roll. Bed by about 10 but had to get up at 12-0 for PAD. Guns & one or two Bombs. Had cup of tea in SSQ. Bed again by 2-0 AM.
Passive Air Defence.
[page break]
MARCH 25
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t get up till 8-0 AM consequently missed bfst Lewis loading & unload advance, fire & retire. Grenade throwing. Sten Gun. Beef, spuds, (boiled & baked) cab; sponge pud. Cross country & streams. Swinging across a stream by a tree branch I ended up in the stream!! face down. Spuds, thin thin [sic] stew Bread & JAM!! tea [underlined] Letter from PAM. Letter to Ma [/underlined]
Bed 10- PM.
[page break]
MARCH 26
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t get a call so didn’t get up till 8-0. Shave. Anti Tank grenade; run & walk (PT.) Lecture by W.O – F/O Middleton & S/Ldr i/c 1 WING on Sgts. Mess; & charges. Liver & bacon, spuds, & cab; currant sponge; water. Cross country route march to Obalesk. I had to march flight to golf links where we split up into parties. Welsh rarebit; peanut butter & tea. Went to Stn. OXO’s on fire.
[page break]
MARCH 27
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
sos meat; spuds; porr; coffee. rifle inspection, unarmed combat. Gas chamber. 295’s issued. Wash & change. bus into town. 20/4d return ticket. Train to Newcastle just made 1-0 PM at Newcastle. Met AB. Mills train to York & from York to Rotherham arrived 4-25 Walked up home. Ma bad in bed. Cold. Pork pie for tea. Plates, cuts & odds & ends.
[page break]
MARCH 28
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 10-0. Shave & wash till 11-0. Mucked about with dyno & rear light. Cleaned both & refitted latter. Took P.P. & S to meet Dad at dinner time. Park clap. Dad went to work at 3-0. P & P to S. School. Went to Dunns just before din. Went to Grans just before tea. Saw Elsie. Went 5 mls (1/2 hr. on bike) Stamps. S/C for stn 10-25 arr. 10-50. Train at 11-5 tea & sandwiches at Shef. Train pulled out 1-45 AM
[page break]
MARCH 29
[underlined] MON. 43 [/underlined]
arr Newcastle 6-40. Ebc train 6-50 to Monkseaton. Parade at 8-30. Insp. Drill, Sten Gun, P.T.. Took stens back to armoury. Meat pie, spuds, cab, beans, beet rice & prunes. Went to Cinema to see “Desert Victory” & “Sherlock Holmes in Washington” Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce. Meat pie & jam; tea.
Letter from Mary.
Letter to Mary & Ma.
[page break]
MARCH 30
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr, bacon & spuds, tea. Insp. 30 mins to clean billets [sic] Cinema (films on all sorts of things.) Beef, spuds, cab; sponge pud; water. WIND & more Wind. Went on to golf course & did charging of the guard & mounting of guards. Challenges, how & how not. Cheese pie (twice) & cake; tea. Letter from Ma. pint of beer. Letter to Ma. Had tea & cakes at Beach café at dinner time.
[page break]
MARCH 31
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
porr; sardine & spuds baked spuds. Gas café respirator & webbing for gas lecture. Then LMG. PT. (unarmed combat.) STEW, spuds, cabbage choc sponge pud minus sugar! coffee! Sten gun on the field. Grenades. Sighting etc. on landscape. Sos meat, spuds, raw carrot & turnip, tea, brd. & jam. Parcel from Mary & Betty containing 5 raw carrots. Night manoeuvres on golf course. 1/2 pint & 2 cups of cocoa. 4 sandwiches.
[page break]
APRIL 1
[underlined] THURS. 43 [/underlined]
Porr; bacon, spuds; MA’s jam. Parade in best blue 9-15 Insp. by cpl. Insp. by flight sgt. Paraded again at 10 to 10. Marched down to Rex. mucked abate by SWO. Insp by groupy WHEN he EVENTUALY [sic] arrived LATE per ardua. Bags of “bull”! Army Band. Marched past Groupy & [deleted] [indecipherable word] Ensign. Dismissed. FISH, spuds, cab; raisin roll; 1/- cakes & tea. 1-30 in khaki with towel & soap. £7.10s pay £1 stamps, 15/- Cert. Shower. Station & walk around. Meat roll & spuds; cake; tea. [underlined] Letter to Doris. [/underlined] Sandwiches & coffee in Mess.
[page break]
APRIL 2
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr, sos & spuds, tea. Drill, Assault course. PT. Beef (2” [symbol]) spuds, cab. York Pud; trifle, Cap projector for grenade L.M.G. fire etc. NO PASS. [underlined] Bacon rind mixed with spuds [/underlined] & spuds, a little jam; tea. 1/1 chips & pie; cup tea Letter from Mary. Cleaned rifle. cat. Tom & firemaking.
WATCH going WEST.
[page break]
APRIL 3
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Kellogs; cold Ham; tea. Rifle Inspection. Cleaned billets. Lecture on “forms”. PT in kit. Cold Beef, spuds, beet, cress; prunes, plums & cust. Cakes & tea 1/- Changed & went to see Parade. Saw PT display. Salmon cress & beet; cake, tea. Walked around the town then went to see “Bambi” & “Moonlight Masquerade” John O’Keefe. Sandwiches & coffee in the Mess. Bill brought dog up with him.
WATCHES ON ONE HOUR
[page break]
APRIL 4
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 7-45. Kellogs & bacon & egg; marmalade & tea. Started reading “The Man in Grey” laid on bed covered with a blanket. Meat, spuds, cabbage; trifle (kinda sort of) coffee. Continued reading book on golf links beside sea. Cold meat & spam, beet; marmalade. PAD parade. Finished book. [underlined] Wrote & posted letters to Mas, Mary & Gwyn [/underlined] Tea & sandwiches in Mess
[page break]
APRIL 5
[underlined] MON. 43 [/underlined]
Porr; bacon, lard, egg, spuds, Marmalade. Collected Sten guns. PT.. Sten (“load” etc.) Drill, Sten in respirator Meat pie; spuds, cab, beans raw carrot etc, rice & stewed pears. Field exercises. Battle Drill. Rifle cleaning. Went for Reg. Parcel & WAAFS just left. Cottage pie, peas; jam; tea. [underlined] Letter from Ma & Doris [/underlined] HELL of a WIND all day. [underlined] Letter to Ma & Doris Collins [/underlined] Didn’t go out all night.
[page break]
APRIL 6
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & spuds; tea. PT (run) Battle order grenade throwing & field craft. (moving under cover.) Stew meat, spuds cab, beans; cust & ginger pud. No Mail. L.M.G. for two periods then AT mines. Went for parcel & asked about form for S.P.T. Sardines in oil & toast, marmalade & treacle; tea. 1 pint beer. Choc, nuts & sweets (7 1/2d.) Letters to Dennis, Joe & Joyce.
[page break]
APRIL 7
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Kellogs; bacon, spuds; tea. PT in denems. [sic] Rifle Drill for firing on range. Cleaned grenades. Scoring & sighting. Beef, spuds, cab. ginger pud. Route Mch. about 3-4 miles. Rifle cleaning. Sos & mash jam (knife.) 1/6d at Empire to see “ITMA” with Tommy Handly & gang. also “The Great Impersonation.” Coffee & Sandwiches in mess.
[page break]
APRIL 8
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; fried Spam & fried spuds twice; tea Parade outside Prudloe & collected ammo. Battle order carried ammo to range. Fired 5 grouping. 5 application 5 snap shots & 10 rapid shots got 76/100. Tom 81 Top 84. Had 2 helpings of stew from field kitchen, cocoa to Drink Fired a dummy grenade. Cleaned rifles. Fish cheese & treacle, tea. “RAF on Parade” at Empress 2/6d for program. collection coffee & Horlicks. Tea & a sandwich in Mess. LETTER from Ma.
[page break]
APRIL 9
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon RIND rissoles & spuds; tea. Sten (firing) & Grenade throwing. Rifle Inspection. Liver & bacon, spuds, carrots & parsnips; rice pud with raisins; coffee. Football on the beach. PAD at 4-30. Shower in Prudloe. Supper 6-15. Fish, bread & a little treacle, terra. Changed & went to barbers SHUT. so went on the stn for ticket 20/4d. 1/- at Wonder Bar for coffee & sandws. £1 stamps (savings.) Made fire.
[page break]
APRIL 10
[underlined] SAT 43. [/underlined]
Porr; liver & spuds; tea. Inspection in denims; P.T. (cross country.) Parade in best blue to go through passing out parade. Parade at 10 to 12 for pass Lift on lorry to stn. Train at 12-15. NEW. 12-45. 10 1/2d for pie & 2 sandwiches. Stood up to York & stood up to R’Ham. [indecipherable word] to Coop. Got bike out & went looking for barber. Saw Dad & Ma & P & P in library Stamps
[page break]
APRIL 11
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 11-30. Shave. Went for 1/2 hr. run around houses. Had dinner & then got stamps & books etc. etc. cut & straightened em up a bit. Went to Grans with P & P. Saw Mrs Dixon. Had tea at home then went for a walk in Boston Park. Saw Geoff & Phil Prinnett. Queen Elizabeth spoke in 9-0 PM news. Ma & Dad packed tin of tuck then I packed kit including stamps. Ma & Dad walked to stn. with me & saw me off. 2 cups of tea, biscuits & cake. at Sheff. YMCA on stn..
[page break]
APRIL 12
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Train out 1-30 & I got a seat Arr. 5-30 AM. Cup of tea at WVS. Train out at 6-5 arr. Monks 6-35. Bfst. bacon & table spoon full of spuds; porr; tea. Parade at 8-20 in best blue Paraded again at 10-10 & marched down to REX insp by CI. GC must have still been in bed. Meat & spud [deleted] pie [indecipherable word] [/deleted] [inserted] soup [/inserted] & cab; raisin pud [indecipherable word] Rifle inspection & sleep. Chips, meat pie; treacle, tea. Letter from Mary & Doris Collins. Parcel from Mayoress’ Fund. 1/2 pint beer. Fun Arcade. Hot Choc, biscuits
KINGSWOODS BUDGET.
MORE TAX ON PICTS..
[page break]
APRIL 13
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t go for bfst. To [sic] tired. Had scone Ma packed. Transfered [sic] to No 1. Sqdn. 4 Flt. Carried kit down in 2 trips. Meat pie, spuds, carrots; rice pud & stewed fruit; tea. Parade at 2-30 for gen & roll call Straightened kit out a bit. Swapped stamps. Fried sos meat, spuds & carrots; bread & jam; tea. Letter from Ma. 1/6d at Empire “Nine Men” & “Rubber Raquetters [sic]”.
[page break]
APRIL 14
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & spuds; tea. Parade in Battle order. Marched to Golf Links where Demonstration Sqd practiced “signals in the field” We then did a tacticle [sic] exercise. 3 blanks Mutton, spuds, cabbage; prunes & cust; water. Demonstration again & exercises (games) on night manoeuvres. [underlined] 1/4d Telegram Home. MA’s watch broken. [/underlined] Sos & spuds & treacle; tea. letter from Watson.
[underlined] Letter to Ma & Doris C. [/underlined]
[page break]
[inserted] Letter from Ma & Doris M.R. [/inserted]
APRIL 15
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; sos & spuds; tea Went to range to see rifles harmonized & see tracer bullets fired from rifle & L.M.G. Sos & spud pie, spuds, cabbage, sponge pud; water. Wrote letter to Mary. Pay £7.10. 5/- stamps [inserted] savings [/inserted]. Pass & run over LMG procedure. Loaded two mags. Missed tea & went to see “Gone with the Wind” 4/- & well worth it. Had coffee & sardine s’d’chs in Mess. These coupled with film set me thinking what a World it is & wondering about myself compared with Scarlet O’Hara.
[page break]
APRIL 16
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; fried potted meat & spuds, tea. Out on range fired 5 single shots & 15 in 3 or 4 bursts with LMG Loaded magazines. Fired 15 rounds in one long burst. Stew, spuds, beans; jam sponge sandwich & cust Parachute control & landing. Shower. Letter from [underlined] Norah [/underlined] & Joyce. Meat pie & salted spuds, cake & marmalade; tea. 20/4d for ticket. Letters to Norah, Joe, Dennis & Joyce. 1/2 pt. beer. cup tea & sandwich. 3d choc.
[page break]
APRIL 17
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; haddock; tea Parade in Battle Order. Went for route march got back at 12-15!! Rapid change & on my way by 12-30. Caught 12-44 & just made the 1-2 which was late pulling out. York 3-0 Rham 4-15. Ma. Pa. P. & P. met me thought I was home for 2 weeks. Got busy with watches. [underlined] 2/6d B.D. greetings to Denis. [/underlined] 2/6d book of stamps. Mother ironed shirt.
55 planes lost bombing Scoda & another arms plant
[page break]
APRIL 18
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 10-0 had shave. Run around on bike up to Keple [sic] Column. Dad returned from work. Had to alter watch again. Winder too small. Went to see Doris Collins after dinner. Then after tea we all went to see Mr. Carpenter. Train left R’ham at 10-45 PM for Sheff Walked to stn. from terminus Tea & biscuits in YM. only 1 bomber lost over Italy
[page break]
APRIL 19
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Train out at 1-40. arr. 5-45. 6-5 from N’castle. arr. at billets for 7-0. Bfst. Porr; bacon & powdered egg; tea. Small manoeuvre on golf course. Stew spuds, carrot; stewed fruit & sago curr cust; coffee. Handed kit in including rifle. Tea & cakes in café. Drafts. Cheese & spuds, jam, tea. Went to ENSA show.
Swapped stamps with Mess Sgt. till 1-0 AM.
dripping sandwiches
[page break]
APRIL 20
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
NO bfst. up too late. Finished sandwiches & pasty. Parade & roll call. Dismissed. Went to café against [underlined] all [/underlined] orders. Played drafts. Went up to mess & resorted & cleaned stamps. Beef, spuds, leek; jam bakewell & cream cust; soup; water. [underlined] Letter from Ma. [/underlined] Stamps again. [underlined] Letter to Ma. [/underlined] 4-0 PM FFI at Priory. Meat pie & spuds; [underlined] bun [/underlined] & [underlined] treacle [/underlined] tea. 2/- pics “One Day of War” & “Rose of Tralee. Packing till 1-0 AM
[page break]
APRIL 21
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 5-0 handed blankets into stores. Bfst 6-15. Porr; fried egg & spuds, jam & tea. Rations. Parade 7-15. Marched into town then to station. Train out 8-15. Arr. 8-45 Newcastle. S/C 09-20 arr. 12.00 hrs HARR. Marched to Majestic. Liver, bacon, spuds, carrot & rice pud, Collected kit from Grand. Got room (434) Met Joe after tea. Had a couple of shorties then we had supper. 1/6d chips & spam 2 1/2d bar of choc & 1/2 pt. from mess. [underlined] Letter to Ma [/underlined]
[page break]
APRIL 22
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Shave. porr; bacon & beans. Exchanged Canadian Shirt & collars Liver, sos, spuds & cab; fruit pie & cust. Dismissed for day. Roamed around town. 1/- stamps & 1/- jam [inserted] tart [/inserted] & coffees. Spuds & stewed meat, jam roll, marmalade & tea. 2/6d to see Fred Astaire & Rita Hayworth in “You were never Lovlier [sic]” 6d coffee & bun.
[page break]
APRIL 23
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; fried bread & spuds, egg (dried) tea. Rain Room inspection. Dismissed from Parade. Finished the book “Knight on Wheels.” Beef, spuds, cab, carrot; stewed apple & cust. Watched snooker game. Had tea in camp. Pretty good Went to see “Orchestra Wives” a very good film. Then went & had a pint at the Victoria.
[page break]
APRIL 24
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
All Bran; bacon; tea. Dismissed so went to Knaresbro on bus. Took photo of viaduct & castle. Sos & chips 2/-d. 2d for 1/2 pt. at the Dropping Well. 6d. to see the well & wishing well. Met Violet, Winnie & Mavis took them to see St. Roberts Chapel & house in the rock. Left ‘em & then had the [inserted] sos & [/inserted] chips. Took ‘em to Harrogate on bus. Went walk thro’ gardens. Had tea at “Grog Café” 1/9 each. Got changed & went 7/- to see “The Sport of Kings” White Rose, Bought train tickets 7 1/2d. Supper at Melody. 2/-d. Put the girls on the 10-40 train back
[page break]
APRIL 25
EASTER [underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Kellogs; egg (fried) on toast, tea. Parade at 9-0. Walk around tea & sandwich in YM. Beef, spuds, carrot & cab; jam roll & cust. 4d on 1-30 bus. 2/- for row (1/- deposit) for boat. Had walk around. Then went round the castle (1/-) Walked back to caravan. Key lost but door opened without. Had tea in relays. RAIN Took Violet to Church. Had a look round it. 1/- for booklets 1/10 1/2d. tickets. Wandered back to caravan. Put blackouts up. X. Looked around for Tom & Bill. X on stn. Train in at 10.15. Another X as train pulled out.
[page break]
APRIL 26
[underlined] EASTER MON. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & beans; tea. parade 08-40 dismissed till 0940 hrs. Squaded (102 sqd) A/C recc. & PT. 2 letters from Ma. Mutton, spuds, beans & cabbage; rhubarb pie & cust; water. Navigation quiz. Dinghie [sic] drill in the baths. Signals. [underlined] Registered Parcel from Ma Including watch. [/underlined] Had tea with a bit of a [indecipherable word] Met Violet at bus stn. Went to see “Arabian Nights” & “Berlin Correspondent.” at Scala. 3/6d Spam & Chips supper (2). Got tickets to Starbeck because there were no platform tickets. Saw Vi off on 10-40. Coffee in Hollywood.
[page break]
APRIL 27
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; sos meat & spuds. Nav; Intel; P.T. Stew spuds cold carrot; [deleted] [two indecipherable words] [/deleted] [inserted] black currant [indecipherable word] [/inserted] & cust. [indecipherable word] cake at Smiths. 4 FAST Intelligence. Signals Met films. 2 lots of fish & spuds, jam, tea. Blackout squad. Letter to Ma. bar choc 1/6d sos & chips, coffee. 3d lemonade & 3d choc. Watch 5m. fast at 9-0 PM. Blacked out at 9-30 on 200 floor. Bed 10-30
[page break]
APRIL 28
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Kellogs; toast, egg (dried) spuds fried. Rifle & Revolver Range. 75/80 & 19/60. 6d coffee & cake at Grog Café Sos, spuds, cab & carrot; apple & cust, water. DR flat (interception) had look in Sun Gen room. Intel talk on Coastal Comd. Meat pie spuds, treacle, scone, tea. 4/- for uniform (old, cleaned & pressed.) [underlined] Letter from Ma LETTER TO DORIS. [/underlined] 3d lime juice. missed choc. 1/2d meat roll & chips at Melodys List of stamps
[page break]
APRIL 29
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; sos & fried spuds; tea. Signals (lecture.) Pay £7.10/- for stamp catalogue. Beef, spuds, cab, carrot; apricot & cust. Navi sigs (D/Fan loop) Dinghi [sic] drill (turning it over.) Spam, lettuce, beet, pickles; jam & tea. No Mail. Opera House booked up so joined pit queue. Tom & pal didn’t arrive before I got in. 1/6d & 3d programme “The Farmers Wife” very good & funny. 1/6d sos & chips, bread & coffee. Bed 10-30.
[page break]
APRIL 30
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr, beans on toast, [underlined] JAM. [symbol] [/underlined] & tea. A/C rec. Sigs (lecture) PT (RAIN.) Stew, spuds, carrot & cab; sponge pud & cust. nav. (reading “op” logs) sigs (loop) A/C, rec. film. Sardines on toast & fried spuds; jam roll; marmalade. Letter to Ma. 16/- & 1/6 stamps. Mounted stamps. 20 lengths at baths (500 yds.) meat savoury, chips & carrot; coffee. 3/4d. bed 10-30. Lemonade & crisps.
[page break]
MAY 1
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & liver; marmalade tea. Intel. (Fighter Commd.) Sigs (buzzer.) D/R compass. Meat pie, spuds, cab & carrot; rice pud. Parceled [sic] laundry, books & watch etc. Sorted kit out a bit. 1/1d for parcel. 12/6d stamp & duplicate book. Bread & treacle, buns (currant) fruit tart, tea. 2/6d. at Odeon “Natasha” Russian Nurse in front line. “Footlight Serenade” John Wayne Vic. Mature & Betty Grable. 1/6d chips, spam & coffee.
[underlined] Letter from MA. [/underlined]
[page break]
MAY 2
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Porr fried egg & bread; tea. Church Parade Went to OD service (2d.) coffee at Hollywood 3d. Went with Tom to St. Peter’s. (6d) Beef spuds, cab & carr; trifle & water. [underlined] Letter to Ma. [/underlined] 3d choc. From Mess. M.O.I. films in B.R. “Lancaster,” Poland weighs anchor. “Terrence De Marney & 20TH Cent Fox News. [underlined] Ham. [/underlined] lettuce & water cress marmalade & cake. “Messiah” at Church (2d) Walk thro’ wood & gdns. 1/2d chips & spam & coffee. Guns from Grand “pullover”. [indecipherable word] special on 9-0 pm news Going to bed 9-30 PM.
[page break]
MAY 3
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; beans on toast & bacon, tea. Posting Parade Kit Inspection packed some. Stamp Cat no in yet. Stew, spuds, peas, sweeds; [sic] rhubarb pie & cust; coffee. More Packing. [underlined] P.C. to MA [/underlined] FFI & starts. Ran around for mail. Cheese & spuds, & spuds (fried) jam & tea. Mail at Mag. & Spa. NONE at ALL. Pay Accounts. Put allotment up to 3/6d. 1/6d to see “Panama Hatti” again! 1/2d corned beef & chips. 2d lemonade & choc.
2/- subsistence.
[page break]
WESTFREUGH.
MAY 4
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; egg & spuds. Parade 7-30. Train 8-40 from Har Leeds 9-30 leave 10-30. Stafford; 2 Kit bags short. Cheese sandwich & cake at 12 AM. Arr. Carlisle 2 PM. 2d cottage pie & spud Went to EPTS but all girls out. Arr. camp. 22.00. Chips & meat roll & tea for supper. Got bedding & billet. Joined up with the rest of the lads.
[page break]
MAY 5
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 7-0. Porr; liver & spuds; marmalade & tea – Collected harness & books etc. Beef, spuds, beet & mixed veg; plums & cust. Gen talk. Marking Possns on Maps; PT. Kidney & liver on toast; jam; coffee. Stamps. [underlined] Letter to Ma. [/underlined] Liver & spuds; tea. Talk with the WAAF’s in Mess. Unpacked kit & sorted it out.
[page break]
MAY 6
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 7-45 & consequently had no bfst. Marking Flight plans. Ditching drill & parachuting drill. Beef, spuds & cabbage; trifle & biscuits. Gen on radio work as an aid to nav & a bit on requirements of exercises (F2330 etc.) Dinghy drill actual inflation of dinghy with CO2 bottle. Egg & chips; butter & jam; tea. Set watch at 6-0 PM. More [indecipherable word] on maps. Chips, sos & spud pie; tea. Got bed side “TABLE” Got to bed about 11.15 after waiting for bridge players who were using my bed.
[page break]
MAY 7
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & egg (dried) marmalade tea. DR details for logs Pay accounts. Lecture by G.C. of stn. Stew spuds & sweeds; [sic] sponge currant pud. Gunnery Sights & sighting & the 303 Browning Machine Gun. Welsh Rarebit, treacle, tea. Letter to Len. Gill (Stamps) & to Ma. Meat pie & spuds; biscuits; tea. RAIN. Dancing lessons at Education office.
[page break]
MAY 8
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 12-0 for dinner Had shave. Spam, spuds, beet; rhubarb & cust. No mail. 2-30 bus into Stranraer. Went to P.O. book of stamps 2/6. & 10/-, 5/- & 2/6d stamps 2/4d at Kinema to see “Clark Gable & Jean M. Don in “San Fransisco.” 1/- fish & chips & cup tea. bus back 6d (each way.) Meat pie & [deleted] spuds [/deleted] [inserted] [indecipherable word] [/inserted] cake & dry bread, tea. NO MAIL. Blowing like HELL & cold as CHARITY also a spot of rain.
[page break]
MAY 9
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Egg & fried spuds; porr; tea. Browning Mch. Gun & A/C rec. Beef cold, spuds, cabbage; trifle. NO MAIL 5 Sun Shots. Photography revision. “Mickey Rooney.” treacle, cake & tea. Fitting oxygen tank & mike together. Unpacked flying kit. Meat roll & beet for [underlined] SUPPER [/underlined] with coffee.
[page break]
MAY 10
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 6-25. Kellogs; beans & bacon; bread & [indecipherable word]; tea. Flight Canceled [sic] bad weather. Ops. Room & Met Gen. Started Plat. Soup; stew, spuds, carrots; raisin & current pasty; tea. Finished Plot. Soup; stew, spuds, carrots; raisin & current pasty; tea. Finished Plot. £3.10. pay. Fried meat roll & spuds; scone & butter; tea. [underlined] Letter from MA & Dad!!! [/underlined] Spuds & dried egg, tea & dry bread. Plotted my 5 Sun Shots. All OK & no need to “cock” them either. Shave. Wrote letter to Ma.
[page break]
MAY 11
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & dried egg; tea. First flight executed OK. STEW, spuds, carrots; soup; stewed apricot & rice pud. 10 Sun Shots. Worked them out, a bit. Then went into see DRI. [deleted] B [/deleted] Good idea too. Aldis Comp. Sos roll & spuds; cake; marmalade & butter; tea. Reading Gen. book. Flight Cancelled for tonight. THICK SOUP for SUPPER & RATION BISCUITS!! coffee & TEA MIXED!! Continued reading Admin. & Conduct Gen (252) 6d for half pint. Bed 10-30 [underlined] Posted letter to MA. [/underlined]
[page break]
MAY 12
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t get up for bfst. D.R. Trainer all AM. acted as Navigator Gwyn as pilot. Soup; steak & chips, cabbage; cinnamon pud & cust. A/C recc. Photography. 1/- haircut. Minced meat, spuds; scone jam & tea. [underlined] LETTER FROM MA. [/underlined] 3/10 1/2d rations (7 1/2d charge) Wrote letter to Ma. Potato, - cheese & scone; coffee. Worked out Yesterdays Sun Shots. Bed about 10-0 PM.
[page break]
[underlined] VIOLET & ANNIE [/underlined]
MAY 13
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Rain! Flight washed! Porr; bacon & fried spuds; tea. D.R. Interception, Critical Point. Stamp Catalogue & laundry registered mail. Critical Point (DR.) Cold beef, spuds, cabbage; prunes, rice pud; tea; DR. Gas Mask check. Gas chamber. Getting loops on Marconi. Chips & sos roll; jam, cake & tea. [underlined] Posted letter to MA. Wrote & posted to Violet & Annie [/underlined] Sardines, chips, beet; tea. Glass lime juice.
[page break]
MAY 14
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 6-15 AM. Porr & hadock. [sic] Bus to Turnberry to hospital to do dinghy drill in outer suit & with “Mae West.” Bus back. Meat pie, spuds & peas; stewed apricots & cust. [underlined] NO MAIL. [/underlined] Game of football. Sos & spuds for tea. Read newspaper in Mess. Hadock [sic] alone for supper. Night flight. Not so bad. Landed 00-50 [deleted] E [/deleted] Took 10 star slots. Had [deleted] fr [/deleted] breakfast in Perm. Sgts. Mess. Chips & hadock [sic] prunes & ground rice pud.
[page break]
MAY 15
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Sewed buttons on trousers. Got up 11-30. Cold beef, cold spuds & cold mixed veg; rice pud. 1/- bus into Stranraer. 9d parcel of laundry home. 2/4 at Kinema Sabu in the film “Jungle Book.” 6d chips & pop. bus back. [underlined] Letter to MA. [/underlined] Meat pie; treacle, cake & cocoa. Letter acknowledging receipt of SG. Stamp Catalogue to [underlined] Len. Gill. [/underlined] Harrogate.
[page break]
ELSIE.
MAY 16
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; egg & spuds (real egg) tea. Sighting. [deleted] & [/deleted] Church service. 11-0 Took collection Browning stoppages. Beef, spuds (boiled & baked) cabbage; trifle. Turrets, hydraulic system. A/C rec. Tongue, mixed veg, spuds; cake, butter & jam, tea.
[underlined] Letter to Elsie Storey. [/underlined] “Mickey Rooney” & cocoa. Had a fag with Donbarand. [underlined] Short letter to Ma. [/underlined]
[page break]
MAY 17
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t go for bfst. Astrograph Room; photo taken of course Meat pie, spuds, cabbage; stewed apricots & cust. Flight. Landed at NUTTSCORNER for air for brakes. Towed in big tractor. Valve US. One out of gun circuit substituted. Magic Eye. U.S. Given beds by S.W.O. Ham, onion, beet; butter & cake, tea. Walked around billet. 1/6d egg & sos; bread & butter; tea. Tried to get some eggs but couldn’t make it.
[page break]
MAY 18
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 7-15. Wash in Mess. Kellogs; bacon & fried spuds; bread & butter; tea. Walked to Flying Control. Ran to kite. Got her started & away we went. Reported to F. Control & then F/Sgt. Warren. Lads flew last night so have day off. Steak, chips, cabbage; cust & rhubarb. Mess Meeting (Cinema) Set out 2-20 to walk to Portpatrick. Arrived 6-0 PM. [underlined] Went to eat. [/underlined] 10d. bus to Stran. 1/8d. chips & fish; bread; tea. 6d cake & pop at WVS 1/6d beers. 6d. bus.
[page break]
MAY 19
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Up 6-0 AM. Sos & mash. Flight 1st Nav. made a mess of it. Stew, spuds, carrots; plum duff & cust. Log analasis. [sic] Photography. DENTAL PARADE which turned into GARDENING & SNOTTY remarks by PTI Sgt. Minced meat. [underlined] Letter from MA, Violet & Doris [/underlined] Started letter to Doris. Welsh rarebit; tea. letter to Doris cont.. [underlined] Posted letter to Doris. [/underlined] Worked out Grnd. Star Shots. Chips peas & chop; rice pud; tea. Start sleep 12-30 to 1-0.
[page break]
MAY 20
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Got nearly to Boderely Pt. when we were recalled. Spuds, peas & liver; rice pud; tea. Bed! till 12-0. Soup; cold beef, spuds, cabbage; prunes & cust. [underlined] Letter from MA. [/underlined] 1/0 1/3d. coffee biscuits & writing paper [underlined] Wrote letter to MA. [/underlined] Plotted Sun & star shots. [underlined] Letter to P & P & Mary. [/underlined] Sos, beans; bun, cake, marmalade & tea. [underlined] Posted above letters. [/underlined] Took off 10-30. Radio went U.S. landed at VALLEE 11-30. Eventualy [sic] went for supper about 2-30 AM. Chips, bacon & egg; tea. Bed about 3-15 AM. Had to make our beds [deleted] up [/deleted] down. [underlined] Letter to Violet [/underlined]
[page break]
MAY 21
[underlined] FRIDAY. 43. [/underlined]
Got up 11-0 AM. Lift to Sgts Mess. Stew, spuds, cabbage; apricot tart; coffee. Lift to Flying Control. Took off & went to Llandarog. Radio came in OK. but stbd. engine oiling up. Missing on one cylinder. Transport to Mess. Spam, beet, lettuce; tea. Took 10 to 15 min to start stbd. engine. Left at 6 – o’clock. Arrived base 10 past 7. [underlined] Letter from Ma & Elsie. [/underlined] Sardines, tomato, onion; chips & pie; tea & coffee. [underlined] Letter to Ma. [/underlined] Soup; tongue, spuds, peas; prunes & ground rice pud; coffee Flight washed.
[page break]
MAY 22
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Wrote letter (8 pgs) to Elsie Went to sleep 3-30 AM. Up at 11.15. Tongue, mixed veg, spuds; trifle. No Mail. Bus into town. £8 money order. [underlined] Posted it & letter to Ma & letter to Elsie. [/underlined] 2/6d to see Jack Oakie in “Navy Blues” seen it before but it wasn’t so bad. Bus back. Usual tea. Sorting stamps give me by Willie. Sos roll, chips; tea. Joan plauging [sic] me. Lent ‘em ground sheet. Still sorting stamps. 11-30.
[page break]
MAY 23
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up 6-15 AM. Porr; egg on toast; tea Flight down to Holyhead. Line-overlap & stereo 5. Beef, spuds, cabbage; soup; apple pie & custard. Making astrograph problems. Signals (morse & gen talk.) [underlined] Spam & beet; tea – spoonful of marmalade [/underlined]; scone & tea. Stamp sorting & sticking in. Minced meat & spuds, tea (WHAT A SUPPER!!!) More stamp sticking. Backed Catalogue.
[page break]
MAY 24
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & beans; tea. In flying suits on Turrets BP. & FN. Filling & bleeding system of FN. Soup; stew, spuds, beans, sweede; [sic] bread pudding. 1/- raffle (2 X 6d) for chicken proceeds to POWFd Sighting again & evasion & tactics. PT. Stafford pulled a leg at rugger. [underlined] Parcel (clothes, finger & stamps) from MA. [/underlined] “Mickey Rooney” cake, jam & butter. [underlined] Letter to Ma. Soup & bread for Supper [/underlined] !!!! Finished letter. Wrote logs up as far as possible Put wick in lighter.
[page break]
MAY 25
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr, bacon & dried egg; tea. Log analasis, [sic] stuck amendments into AP1234. Soup; chips, carrots, peas, steak; lemon curd tart, cup water. Had SPOON LIFTED NO MAIL. Late afternoon flight. Not so bad & not so good. 6-45 chips & treacle; tea. Sat talking to lads & WAAFS [underlined] Couldn’t eat the supper [/underlined] but had 2 cups of coffee [underlined] Letter form Violet. [/underlined] Reading Agony Column again.
[page break]
MAY 26
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t get up till 4-0. Shave. A/C recco. 4 1/2d coffee & cake at Scotch Hut. Sighting, Browning. etc. Soup; stew, spuds, cab; stewed apricot & ground rice pud. Turret, sighting & Browning exam. 34 for Browning [underlined] Letter from Ma. [/underlined] Sos meat & spuds; cake & jam, tea. [underlined] Letter from Doris C. & Walker. Letter to Violet & Doris [/underlined] “Mickey Rooney” & coffee. NO 2nd NAVS so wrote letter to MA.
[page break]
MAY 27
[underlined] THURS 43. [/underlined]
[deleted] Porr; bacon & dried egg. Sticking amendments in AP1234 Log analasis [sic] Chips, carrots, peas, beef steak; lemon curd tart; soup. Had SPOON LIFTED NO MAIL. [/deleted] Got up 8-45. Learning WING spare. 3 1/2d coffee & cakes. Devioscope. Photo (line overlap.) Soup; taters, carrot & sweede, [sic] mutton; rhubarb, [underlined] Letter from Mary. [/underlined] DRI. Pilot for Gwyn. A/C rec. exam. Cheese, onion, beet, water cress cake, jam; tea. [underlined] Letter to MA. CHIPS & TEA for Supper. [/underlined] 22-30 take off. Went to Blackpool. Couldn’t see the tower.
[page break]
MAY 28
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Chips, bacon; ground rice pud & raisins; tea for early Bfst. Got to bed 3-0 AM. Up at 11-0 AM Had bath & put clean clothes on. Soup; beef, spuds, cabbage; bread pud. Parceled [sic] laundry. 6d bus into town. 10d laundry. 2/6d stamps & 2/6d envelopes 6d tea, cakes & mints. 2/6d Circus. Set off to walk back. Lift by ATC officer. Filled “doins” for leave. Supper not too bad. [underlined] Wrote letter to MA. [/underlined] amid hulabaloo. USA [indecipherable word] drunk “ON DUTY.”
[page break]
MAY 29
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Up 8-15. Porr, sos & bacon breakfast. Working out air shots. Took 6 shots on Sun with IX A Sextant. Tongue, spuds, mixed veg; trifle. 3-0 PM flight. Up to Perth & back. Cheese, onions, lettuce, water cress. Plotted air shots & this mornings 6 sun shots. Started turning kit over ready to pack. Soup; cold beef (NICE) spuds lettuce & onions; trifle; tea. Flight washed out.
[page break]
MAY 30
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up 11-0. Beef, spuds, cab; sponge pud. Sight plotting & loging [sic] & time loging. [sic] Fired several rounds in FN turret at moving tgt. Not so bad. Meat ball, spuds, pancake; treacle & tea. Finished making log book up to date Packed all my kit. Fechini”, Arty & Durrant flat out!! Went to Mess to see how the others were. Sing Song. Bed 1-15 AM
[page break]
WF – TRAIN
MAY 31
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Up 7-0 AM. Shave. Porr; fried spuds, HAM (boiled.) Tea, Handed NAV equip in to stores. Handed NAV equip. in to stores. Handed bedding in & parachute harness 4/9 Mess Bill. £6 Pay. FFI. Soup; steak & kidney pud, spuds; semaelena [sic] & WATER Handed books into library. SHORT!! Lecture by C.O. & CI. Cheese & spuds; jam & butter; tea. Sat in Mess talking to ACH/GD & Joan. Welsh Rarebit & tea RAIN. Bus to Harbor Stn. 10-0 PM pulled out.
[page break]
TRAIN – HOME
JUNE 1
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Arr. WIGAN 4:15. 3d tea & sandwich. 6:00 pulled out (5:35 timetable.) Arr. Manchester 7:00 1/- taxi to London Road. cup tea. 2d wash & brush up. 1d in “SLOT.” Pulled out 8:20. Arr. R’HAM 10:00. 2/- taxi home. Bfst. Cleaned bike. 7 1/2d bulb. Short run. Saw V. Geog. Dinner. Unpacked one or two odds & ends. Tea. Took Sallie for a walk in the Caper af seeing Elsie (9:30)
[page break]
JUNE 2
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 11-0 AM. Had a shave. Gran here sewing TENT. Fitted mirror on bike. Went to get hair cut. Barber in hospital so went to see Mace’s (Mr. Mrs. & Joan in.) Barber at top of Far Lane too full. Granpa come for tea. Mrs. Dunn & David called in. Went a run as far as St. Ann’s Road then up Don. Gate and along Bds. Moore Lane Saw Elsie’s brother. Took Gran & Pa home with Sallie Saw Elsie’s brother again. Had a Pint with Granpa in Park Hotel.
[page break]
JUNE 3
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Woke up at 12-0. June still in bed. Drizzle!!! Went to S.P.T. about 3 to 1/2 past. A lot of new lads & girls Went in to see Mr. Duke. Went to Grans. about 8 o’clock. Pat gone for music lesson. Took Sallie with us & let her have a run. Dad gone to dance. Got back about 11-30.
[page break]
JUNE 4
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Up about 10 to 1/2 past. Went up to school. Din at home. Took Sallie to be klipped [sic] then went for a hair cut myself. Went to find Ma at Granpas. then went on to [deleted] Macea [/deleted] Mace’s for tea. Left between 9 & 10 & went to Elsie’s. Left about 11-0.
[page break]
JUNE 5
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 11-0. Went for a WALK round the town Bought stamps (1/6d) in Woolworth’s & Bob Martin’s powders for Sallie. Jackie called to see if I’d heard anything. Went to see if Baths were open & found ‘em shut. Brake chain on bike in process. 4d for new link. 4d, for straps for hubs. Went to Gran M with June. Went to see Annie and found where Watson lived. Decided to go up to see Gran & Granpa. T. Met Baldwin & Baker learning dance.
[page break]
JUNE 6
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 1-0 PM just after news, Telegram from RAF. Went up to Sheffield to get ticket changed. 25 min each way. & 6.3 mls. distance Saw Lanc & Martlet. Come back soaked in sweat. Had cold bath. Went to see Dennis then went on to Granma Machin’s and had tea! there also had supper. Went to Park and had a Pint. Got home about 11-30.
[page break]
JUNE 7
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Down at 10-0. Got to Dad’s about 11-0. Went across to S.P.T. Saw Mrs Skilcarne. Got £7/15 for 5/- a week dependants [sic] allotment. Din. at home. Judy Garland in “For me & my Gal.” RAIN! Time of train (LNE) Walked home in rain. Packing Went across to Dunn’s Back & bed 1-0 AM.
[page break]
JUNE 8
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 10-0. Rang up for taxi from Dunn’s. Elmores engaged so ordered Moorehouses for 1-0 PM. Finished packing. Taxi 1-2 PM!! Station 1-15 2/- + 6d. Dad arrived just after. Train on time arrived Sheff 1-35. 6d. for kit bags. Met Woodruff. Train out 2-5!!! arr. 4-10. NO TRANSPORT so went to eat 2/2d chips & rarebit & tea. TRANS arr. 6-30 just 2hrs 20 mins out!! Ran around camp a bit & eventualy [sic] ended up at 7 site. Sos & spuds in Mess. Tom & Garry in Ante Room. Walked around. [underlined] Wrote & posted letter to Ma [/underlined]
[page break]
JUNE 9
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Up 7-15. Bfst. 8-0. Porr; bacon & tomato. Went up to G./S then back to Dental & FFI Filled form in re pay, flying clothing etcetra. [sic] Din, soup; meat & spud pie, cabbage & spuds; rice pud. Parade 13-45. Marched! to G/S. Photo in CIVIES. Lectures by WO, CGI, ACGI & CAGI. Collected sheets. Pilchards cheese, marmalade & swiss roll & nice hot tea. [underlined] Wrote letters to Mary & Ralph [/underlined] Meat roll, tomatoe; [sic] cocoa!! Took PT kit & 2nd. suit of blue out of kit bags.
[page break]
JUNE 10
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
PT. at 6-30!! Kellogs; [inserted] lemon [/inserted] curd; sos; tea. Lectures on NAV. Soup; steak, spuds & cabbage; plum pud. More lectures & one on Int & Security. Spam & chips; marmalade; cake; tea. [underlined] Letter to Ma. [/underlined] Spam, beet, cheese, (egg provided by Willie) cocoa. [underlined] Letter to Doris (R) [/underlined]
[page break]
JUNE 11
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon, spuds & cabbage; tea. Lectures (loop etc.) Soup; fish, spuds, peas; pears & cust. NAV & NAV & NAV. [underlined] Letter from Ma. [/underlined] Cottage pie; marmalade; cake & tea. RAIN Storm. Sewed buttons & darned pocket. Welsh rarebit without toast; cocoa. [underlined] Letter to MA. & Dennis & Elsie [/underlined]
1/2 pint. & writing paper (1/4d)
[page break]
JUNE 12
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
PT at 6-30. Porr; beans on toast tea. 8-0 Parade. DR Plot at double time. as pilot. Soup; stew, spuds, cabbage; sponge pud; water. Crewed up with (Allen & Dick (BA) Lots of sunshine. [underlined] Letter from MA. [/underlined] A/C rec. test. NAV (maps & charts.) Ship rec. with Int. Officer (B. good fun) Cheese savoury; marm; cake & tea. [underlined] Letters form Gwyn, Violet, Doris (2) & A/G from Doris. Letter to Ma. [/underlined] stewed meat, spuds; cocoa. [underlined] letters to Doris & Violet. [/underlined] Pantellaria & Lampedusa FALLEN to our bombers.
[page break]
JUNE 13
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Didn’t get up for bfst & of course it was EGG. Lectures (navi; etc.) Soup; beef, spuds, cabbage; trifle. More lectures (Wimpey fusel, A/C rec. TEST again!! NAV.) [deleted] Ha [/deleted] Tongue, spuds; jam & cake; tea. No mail being Sunday. Sat reading in the mess then fetched writing paper. [underlined] Wrote to P & P. [/underlined] Cheese, trifle; cocoa. More reading. [underlined] Finished P & P’s letters. [/underlined] Started one to Doris. 2 fags & one pint (5/- for beer for 5 of us.) Tom, Art, Stew & Joe. Lent Pat 2 soap coupons.
[page break]
[circled JUNE 14]
[underlined] MON.43. [/underlined]
PT at 6-30 AM. Shave! Kellogs, bacon & fried spuds; tea. lectures (fuel system, turret Int) Soup; meat pie, spuds, cab; bread pud. Met [deleted] Int [/deleted] Med. Officer on Night Vis. O2 & VD. Cross Country. Salmon & cheese; marmalade; swiss roll; tea. [underlined] Finished 4 page letter to Doris [/underlined] Meat roll, spuds; cocoa. [underlined] SHOWERS. [/underlined] Bed at 10-30
[page break]
JUNE 15
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon; [inserted] & dried egg [/inserted] tea. Lectures (NAV (maps) DR Trainer.) Soup; stewed steak, spuds, peas; trifle. [underlined] 2 letters & cards from MA letter from ELSIE & Mary Card from Doris. [/underlined] Lectures (Signals; [inserted] mag [/inserted] compass, map reading [underlined] Rhur. [/underlined]) Cheese; jam; swiss roll, tea. [underlined] Letter to Elsie. (5 pg) [/underlined] Started one to Ma. Dried egg & bacon; cocoa. [underlined] Finished letter to Ma. [/underlined]
[page break]
JUNE 16
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Shave; Kellogs & sos; tea. W/T aids, DR Trainer. Soup; beef, spuds, cabbage; apple pie; water. Gyro, Signals, Intel. Spuds, fried spam, marmalade & tea. Couldn’t get to change boots so left ‘em in F/Sgt Disips office. [underlined] Letter from MA BD. Cable from Doris. Letter to MARY & Ma. [/underlined] Cold meat; cold veg salad; cocoa [underlined] Letter to Doris (R) [/underlined]
[page break]
JUNE 17
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
PT. Porr, bacon & spuds; tea. NAV (astro & DR comp.) Soup; spuds, cab; liver & kidney; choc. sponge pud. 6d choc, 6d cider. More lectures. Minced meat & spuds. Taxi 1/2d. Pint (1/2) Picts Robertson Hare “Women Aren’t Angels.” Went to Dance. Danced with ANN (WAAF) and Hilda ATS girl. Took her out to her transport. Waited till 1-15 for taxi [underlined] 5/6d [/underlined]
[page break]
JUNE 18
[underlined] FRI. 43 [/underlined]
Porr; beans on toast; tea. NAV (astro & general revision) Soup; beef, spuds, peas; rice pud. Signals; [symbols]; Intelligence. RAIN & MORE RAIN. [underlined] Letter from MA & DORIS. M. R’L also 2 from Doris Collins. [/underlined] Spam & spuds. Walked up to Met with Tom, Saltaw & Stev also arrived on bikes. Nattered. Went in HORSA. Liver savoury & cocoa. Swotted! 1/2 pint. [underlined] Letter to Ma. [/underlined]
[page break]
JUNE 19
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Drizzle. No PT. Porr; bacon & fried bread; tea. NAV (DR Comp) Signals (loop swing.) Photography. Bombing. Soup; spuds, cab, steak & kidney stew [inserted] sponge pud. [/inserted] NAV exam OK. Fetched Registered parcel & [underlined] asked ADJ. if times couldn’t be altered [/underlined] Potato & cheese, jam, tea. [underlined] Letters from Ma & Violet [deleted] 2 from Doris Collins. [/deleted] [/underlined] Examined kit. Stewed steak & kidney, tea & cocoa. [underlined] Letter to MA. [/underlined] 1/2 pint.
[page break]
JUNE 20
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & tomato; tea. Signals, Gee. Met. ? . Soup; spuds, cab, beef; apple & raisin pie; orange juice. More lectures. Dinghy & Para. Drill. Pyrotechnics Demonstration of Pyros. Gunnery & bombing range orders. Ham & lettuce; cake; tea. Cleaned buttons & boots. Finished “50 Candles.” Cheese, lettuce, pickles; cocoa [underlined] Letter to MA. [/underlined] glass orangeade. NOT juice!! 10-15 PM bed!!
[page break]
JUNE 21
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; beans on toast; tea. Nav plotting a short exercise. Pay accounts 11-0. £1 pay!!!!!!! Intelligence (Targets) Soup; Stew, spuds, peas; trifle; glass orangeade. Course photo P.N & B. Wops & A/Gs separate. More Dinghy; Airgunnery; Aircraft Recco. Sardines; bread & jam; tea. [underlined] Letter from Gwyn. [/underlined] Reading novel (thriller) mystery Meat & potato pie & spuds cocoa. Early Bed
[page break]
JUNE 22
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
PT. Porr; beans on toast. Sigs exam, [symbol] etc. Soup; beef, spuds, mixed veg; prunes [underlined] Letter from MA. [/underlined] [symbol]; M.O.; film, Briefing Room. Cake, sos meat fried & spuds; tea. 2/10d taxi. 2/9d picts. “Moon & Sixpence” Georg [sic] Sanders. 3/- taxi back bed about 12-0.
[deleted] [underlined] Letter from Mary. [/underlined] [/deleted]
[page break]
JUNE 23
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; tea (sos.) Lecture NAV & G. Marks 82% [underlined] New Shoes. Letter from MA. [/underlined] Soup; [inserted] meat & [/inserted] spud pie, cab, spuds; apple & cust MOUSED GAT. Lectures (Sigs 83% Exam, Crew coop, Dinghy Drill. Meat & spud pie; jam; tea. Voluntary Dinghy Drill [underlined] Joe £1. [/underlined] Turned kit over. Cold meat & beet, cocoa. [underlined] Letter to Violet & Doris C [/underlined] Choc & cig. rations. 1/2 pint beer ([symbol]) Shower.
[page break]
JUNE 24
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 8-0. Kellogs; beans on toast; tea. Collected pass. Packed up & cleaned up. Pay parade 12-0. [underlined] £4-5s [/underlined] !!! Ran for taxi. 7/2d train ticket home. 12-46 train. Changed at Trent 2-45 Sheffield. Came on train from there as next train was 3-45. Arr home 3-30. Went for run on bike. Tea at home. Went for another run round. Saw Ken, Elsie’s brother. Saw Elsie & her Dad. Les & H. passed me while I was there. Didn’t know me! Mom, Dad & I went for walk with Sallie.
[page break]
JUNE 25
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 10-0. Shave. Fetched meat ration. Went to work. Saw Mr. Methley. Had dinner with Reg. in Staff Canteen. Saw Peg & rest. Left about 3-45. 2/- B.D. cards. for Pam & Elsie. Met Ma Went to butchers for potted meat then went with Ma to the office. Tea at home. Went to Grans. Elsie’s at 10-0 till almost midnight (23.59!!)
[page break]
JUNE 26
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 10-0. Got Pat out of bed. Went shopping with P & P. bought them a book each. Couldn’t find anything for Elsie. Met Dad in Town. Walked back home. Had Din. Went with D.M. P. & P. for a pair of shoes for Pat. Library 2/6d Envelopes. Tom called to see us. Left RHAM 7-35 to 40. arr LOUGHBORO’ 10-0 PM. Went short run round. [underlined] Posted card to PAM [/underlined] 4 miles to camp (20 mins.) Had pint. [underlined] 2 letters from MA & one from Doris [/underlined]
[page break]
JUNE 27
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Up at 7-15. Porr; egg on toast. Parade 8-15?? Handed old O2 mask in & drew a new one & 3 sets of underclothes Packed with difficulty. Didn’t have soup; cabbage & spuds, stew; prunes. Chased all over camp with clearance chits. Lettuce, cheese, beef, tomatoe [sic] marmalade; tea. Transport to C.D. on back of lorry. Bike near light bust & bit. Cocoa & lettuce for tea (2nd.) Didn’t like looks of beans for supper. Unpacked Mended lamp. [underlined] Letter to MA [/underlined]
[page break]
JUNE 28
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; egg (dried) on toast; tea. Gen talks by ACGI, CGI & one or two others. Went over to flights. Talk by Flt. Comdr Drew mike & earphones. Soup; spuds, cabbage, steak; boiled pud. Took flying kit down to flights. Went to see NAV officer & had gen talk. Meat roll, lettuce; fried egg; lemon curd; tea. [underlined] Letter to Mary; Elsie & Doris (CAN). [/underlined] Went to CD. with Charlie on bike 3d of chips. 1/2 pint of beer. Cycled back.
[page break]
JUNE 29
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; fried spuds, smoked bacon. Waited till 10-0 then had “gen” talk by NAV officer. Read orders & signed some. Had sextant checked. Dinner. [underlined] Letter from Violet. [/underlined] Plotted dromes SBA etc onto chart. Had tea, twice chips & corned beef. 2/6 taxi to Lough. 2/- picts “Star Spangled Rythm.” [sic] 6d chips. 2/- taxi back to camp.
[page break]
JUNE 30
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; sos; tea. Waited for a flight but didn’t go up. Soup; beef, spuds, cauliflower Circuits & bumps. Then did one solo. Late tea. Chips, meat pie and cake; tea. Wash. Lecture on P. & W. at 8-0 PM. 1/2 pint all round crew except Dick. Walked back to billet
[page break]
JULY 1
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; beans on toast; tea & cocoa mixed. Waited for a flight then went and had talk by NAV officer. Soup; beef, spuds, cabbage; plum pud; water. Dual & solo. Dick had a do at flying. Egg on toast; butter & jam; tea. Hurricane concert in Mess. [underlined] Letter from Ma. Letter to Ma. [/underlined]
[page break]
JULY 2
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Kellogs; bacon & tomato; tea Eventualy [sic] went to lectures No actual work done. Soup; spuds, cabbage, meat; custard & [blank space]: water. Flew at about 15.00 after taking about 4 sun shots. Had to come in as the weather closed in. Cold meat & pickles; jam; cake; tea. [underlined] Letter from Ma. [/underlined] 1/2 pint with the lads. Put turning points on chart.
[page break]
JULY 3
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; sos; tea. Took 12 sun shots and made out route seven. Didn’t fly. Soup; meat & spud pie, spuds, cabbage; rhubarb & cust; water. [underlined] 2 letters from Ma. One from Elsie & Norah. [/underlined] Went on C’ & L’s but IC was U.S. so came in at 4-0 PM. Cheese on toast jam, tea. Finished working shots out. 2 plates of chicken broth; cocoa. Charlie & I plotted our shots. Went up to see W for William. Started letter to Ma. Had feast in billet.
[page break]
JULY 4
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Continued feast till 12-30. Up at 7-35. Shave. Kellogs egg on toast; tea. X Country Route 7. Briefed, Met Gen. etc. Managed to get round to Ragdale & back to base. A BAD trip Sextant went haywire. Soup; mutton, spuds, peas, cauliflower; corned beef, lettuce, onion, tomato; jam roll, jam & tea. [underlined] Letter to MA. 8 page letter to Doris (R) [/underlined]
[page break]
JULY 5
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon, cabbage? & toast; tea. Wet dinghy drill at Loughboro College Baths. Coffee & toasted tea cakes in café. Briefed for X Country. Soup; minced meat, spuds, cabbage; tart & custard. X. Country washed. Set off for bombing trip. I/C US. & recalled by W/T so returned before we left. [underlined] Letter from Ma, Doris (R) & Mary. [/underlined] Sardines on toast, jam; tea. Bike repairs.
[page break]
JULY 6
[underlined] TUES. 43 [/underlined]
Porr; egg (dry) on toast. No flight. Kite US & weather same. Soup; meat pie etc. Eventualy [sic] went & bombed at Ragdale also took photos & sim-bombed. [underlined] haircut. 1 orange [/underlined] & tea (similar to usual.) Joe got teleg. [sic] Took him into Loughbro on Dick’s bike. 3d chips & half pint. Got half way back & a cpl. rode Dick’s bike back to billets. [underlined] Bed 12-0 [/underlined]
[page break]
JULY 7
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Kellogs; bacon on toast; tea. Went up & did formation flying. Kite U/S. so didn’t go bombing. Soup; beef, spuds, caulif [sic] currant pud. Did low flying then went bombing. Target hard to see. [underlined] Letters from Ma Violet & Doris C. [/underlined] Sardines on toast & cottage pie; cocoa. [underlined] Letter to Doris C & Ma & Elsie [/underlined]
[page break]
JULY 8
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; spuds & fish. Eventualy [sic] went out to bomb. Cld. base 2,500 so couldn’t bomb. Took photos. Went down to Kettering. Soup; minced beef & onion, spuds, peas, cabbage; rotten hard sponge pud. No flight. Finished plotting shots. Sat and studied photos in Intel. Library. [underlined] Collected Reg Parcel Letter from Ma. [/underlined] Meat pie jam, tea. Went to Castle D. had pint then 8d of chips then 1 1/2 pints.
[page break]
JULY 9
[underlined] FRI. 43. [/underlined]
Kellogs; fried bread & ham No flight. Went to see photo & bombing results then went to Intel. Library. Soup; stew, spuds, broad beans; rhubarb & cust. Helped WO Brown with DR trainer plot. [underlined] £5.5s pay. [/underlined] Cheese on toast; tea. 3/- taxi. 1/9 “Once upon a Honeymoon” Ginger Rogers 2/6d Dance. 3/- taxi.
[page break]
JULY 10
[underlined] SAT. 43. [/underlined]
All Bran; sos. Early flight cancelled about 9-30 or 10-0. Read “[indecipherable word]” on bed. Soup; mutton, spuds, beans, 2 x pud. Shower. Parcelled laundry. RAIN. Spuds & minced meat; tea. Cycled to Loughboro in rain 7/- for chicken, Worthington etc. cycled back in 35 mins in 35 mins [sic] (7.8 mls.) Went & had 2 pints in mess Had a dance or two Got to bed about 12.30
[page break]
JULY 11
[underlined] SUN. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; egg on toast; Waited for a flight. In the end helped W.O. Brown construct an SHA chart with star altitudes on them. Soup; beef, spuds, cab; york pud (?) bread pud. Sight log book arrived and flying log. Eventualy [sic] went flying. Took off 4-30 back at 9.30. Corned beef, lettuce, tomato; jam; tea. bed about 12-0 PM
[page break]
JULY 12
[underlined] MON. 43. [/underlined]
All bran; cocoa & “bubble & squeak. Prepared to do route 6 in reverse. Eventualy [sic] went out to go bombing. This also washed. RAIN. Soup; MEAT (??) spuds, cab; rice pud. Nowt doing! Went into Intel library & read gen on German atrocities in Russia. Welsh rarebit; jam & tea. Started letter to Ma. [underlined] Posted laundry home [/underlined] & Charlie’s Regd. parcel. Minced meat & spuds; cocoa. [underlined] Finished letter to Ma. [/underlined]
[page break]
JULY 13
[underlined] TUES. 43. [/underlined]
Porridge (sweet). [underlined] BOILED EGG [/underlined] tea. No flight. Duff gen & lines by F/O Wood. Soup; meat pie, lettuce, spuds, onion; jam tart & cust. Log analyst. Reading in Intel. Library. RAIN. Sos & mash, tea. Bombing trip. [underlined] Letter & papers from Ma. [/underlined] Supper in the Airmen’s Mess Cheese, lettuce, pickles; cocoa.
[page break]
JULY 14
[underlined] WED. 43. [/underlined]
Porr; beans & bacon. No flight. Weather US. Eventualy [sic] went out to dispersal Started up then detail was cancelled. Soup; meat pie, spuds, peas; cust trifle. RAIN. Nattered in NAV. office then went to Intel. Library. Fish, cake, tea. [underlined] NO MAIL. Letter to Mary & Ma. [/underlined]
ENSA. Concert. pint beer. B – awfull [sic] stuff.
[page break]
[circled 19.43]
JULY 15
[underlined] THURS. 43. [/underlined]
All Bran; bacon & toast. NO flight – Cloud! Map reading in Bombing teacher then went to [symbol] Room. Afterwards went to Intel. Library. Soup: spuds, cab etc. STILL NO FLIGHT. Made SBA CHART for P/O Simpson. Had tea then cycled to Loughboro with Ken. 2d for bike. Orangeade; coffee & waffers. [sic] 2/- Dance. Got back about 01.00 hrs. nice clear moonlight & starlight night.
[underlined] FINIS [/underlined] !!!!
[page break]
TRENTON – TORONTO
[circled 1942] JULY 16 [underlined] 1942. [/underlined]
[underlined] THURS. [/underlined] Kellogs; sos & tom; coffee Gave bedding in at 8-0. Parade again at 1-30. KTS. Mess. Pork, spuds peas; vanilla pie; cup milk Arr. stn 2-15 on lorry. Arr TOR. 5-30. Stood on stn. till 6-30 then went out to lorries & only just caught ‘em. Drew sheets & pillow Minced meat, spuds, lettuce; bun & tea. 10c. choc ice on stn) 25c. st. car tickets. 15c doughnuts & coffee. None of girls working in White Chef.
[page break]
RCAF MANNING DEPOT TORONTO
JUL 17
’42 [underlined] FRI. [/underlined]
Grape juice; bacon, beans & toast; coffee. FFI. Transfer to 7 sqdn. 7 flt. Beef, spuds, carrots; sponge pud; tea. Found bunks & fitted kit up. Sewed buttons on summer tunic. Meat pie, spuds, lettuce; date pie; milk Met Doris on her way to see “Birth of a Baby” $1.20. & “Calafornia [sic] Junior Symphony.” Glass Milk. Went up to Bloor St. White Chef with D & boss Took her home after giving her photo’s of her & Freida, and me. Got photo of her Kissed her “Good Night” STORM Back in camp 11-35 PM
[page break]
[symbol]
JULY 18
[underlined] SAT. ’42. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & boiled egg; toast & coffee. Route march to Sunnyside & PT. Beef, spuds, cabb; cust pud; 2 cups tea Moved chairs in Big Arena. [underlined] Letter No. 7 to Ma. Paper from Ma. [/underlined] (20c for stamps.) Beef, cheesed spuds; jam sq; cup tea & milk. 25c. st. car. 5c. milk. Gave Doris ‘brooch. She had to go to wedding party I went to Imperial (60c.) Jeanette Macdonald & Nelson Eddie in “I married an Angel” and Gary Cooper in “The Real Glory.” STORM. 15c cust. pie and cup coffee.
No. 7 to Ma.
[page break]
JULY 19
[underlined] SUN. 42. [/underlined]
Kellogs; flat cake & syrup; coffee. Read People & “Tizer. Ham, spuds, carrots; date pie; cup milk. Going out. 12-0. Choc. shake & ice cream. Snarky Lilian (Doris’s pal.) & I went for walk Took several photo’s. Sos, beans, peas, tomato, lettuce & glass of milk. [underlined] 25c. [/underlined] film. 20c total on Wurlitzer. Feeling homesick & far from home and everybody. [underlined] STORM [/underlined] & [underlined] RAIN [/underlined]! [symbol] ? [symbol] Took Doris home she like me is very tired.
[page break]
X
JULY 20
[underlined] MON. 42. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & fried egg; toast & coffee. Dental Chart Parade. Having one I was dismissed. Hair cut 25c. $1’s Worth of stamps Beef (nice & tender) spuds, cabb; rice pud; cup milk. $1.03 for [underlined] Cable to Ma. [/underlined] Maths exam. SIMPLE. Minced meat, spuds, veg. salad; jam & cake; tea. 25c. st. car. 7c coke. 24c for film. One of lightning turned out. Gave other film in ready. WED. 29c. tooth paste. Remarks re Doris unprintable. Mended top on fountain pen.
[page break]
X
JULY 21
[underlined] TUES. 42. [/underlined]
Scrambled egg, tomato; porr, coffee. Ensign hoisting parade 7-30 AM. Drill & P.T. Ham, spuds, sprouts; pumpkin pud; cup milk. 5c. for 1/2 pt. carton of milk. [underlined] Letter from Ma [/underlined] & [underlined] Norah, card from Joyce R. [/underlined] Astro Chart & Signals. Ham, spud & tom salad; scone & tea. Undecided whether to go out or stop in. Think I’ll go out. 25c. st. car. 5c. glass milk. 25c. film (split $10 bill) 5c. coffee. 7c. soap from YMCA [underlined] IN CAMP [/underlined] (8-30.) Going to write letter to Ma. SOLDIER.
No. 3 from Ma
[page break]
X
JULY 22
[underlined] WED. ’42. [/underlined]
Porr, boiled egg & bacon; toast & coffee. We nearly got fatigues but got PT instead. Beef, spuds, carrots; date & raisin pie; cup milk. Nearly finished letter to Ma. $15 pay. Hamburger, spuds; tomatoes; raisin pud & tea. 10c. stickit. 5c milk. 24c films, 60c at Loes Wallace Beery in “Jackass Mail” with Marjorie Maine, also Will Tracey in “About Face.” 12c. straw. sundae & coke. [underlined] CABLE from MA. [/underlined]
[page break]
X
JULY 23
[underlined] THURS. ’42. [/underlined]
porr; toast, fried egg & tomato; coffee. P.T. Pork, sage & onion, spuds, cabbage; pumpkin sponge; cup milk. 5c. choc. milk. No lecture. Dismissed. Filled in form for pass. Finished letter to Ma. Re bound pen top. Meat, spud salad, beet; almond blancmange & lemon sauce; cheese & tea. [underlined] POSTED letter to Ma. Wrote [deleted] cable [/deleted] airgraph to Joyce. & posted same. [/underlined] 30c stamp. 30c. Warren William in “Secrets of the Lone Wolf.” & Gene Autry in “Cowboy Serenade.” 5c. glass milk, 10c Wurlitzer. Tried to have it out with Doris but she wouldn’t give any reason
Letter No. 8 to Ma.
[page break]
JULY 24
[underlined] FRI. ’42 [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & beans; toast & coffee Squadron route march & PT (HELL) 5c. peanuts & 5c. milk. Finny Haddock, spuds, beet; egg cust. & pumpkin pud; 1 1/2 cup milk. Lectures & suggestions by & to Flt. Sgt. Fish, toast fried spuds, beet; choc, cake & sauce; 3 slices brd & straw. jam; 2 cups tea! Oh! what a tea! Washed 2 prs. socks & kharki [sic] shirt. Helped one of RCAF boys pack his kit bag. Reading magazine on bed.
[page break]
JULY 25
[underlined] SAT. ’42. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon, boiled egg, toast & coffee. Route march to Sunnyside. 5c ice. 10c choc milk & 2 donuts. Meat pie spuds, cab; caramel cream & cup milk. 36 hrs pass 25c st. car. 50c bed at YM. 2c split rings. 15c glass milk & lemon pie. 42c Uptown theatre “Eagle Squadron” Damn Good. 25c. sos, spuds, peas & coffee. st. car to Sunniside. [sic] Walked back 01.10 hrs 10c mints from “Woolies.” 2 cups coffee. 10c. egg & milk 10c. Bed 12.0 AM.
[page break]
JULY 26
[underlined] SUN. ’42. [/underlined]
Up at 12-0 PM. Sos, spuds, peas tom; egg & milk (35c.) St. Car to High Park. Sleep, a little not much. St. car back to YM. Picked kit bag up. Kellogs; salmon, lettuce, tom, peas; egg & milk (50c) 25c st. car. Camp 7-15 PM. Tired and have not exerted myself. Cut buttons of kharki [sic] tunic ready to have it pressed & cleaned.
[page break]
JULY 27
[underlined] MON. ’42 [/underlined]
Orange; porr; bacon & fried egg; toast & coffee. NO SWIM [underlined] NO P.T. [/underlined]!!! 5c choc. ice. 5c milk. Beef, spuds, carrots caramel cream & apple. Route March with band, to Sunniside. Dismissed for 1/2 hr. Sunbathed. Wish I’d had my costume. Ham & cold beef, spuds & salad; cake, jam & apple. 2 cups tea. Washed 2 pairs socks.
Gave kharki [sic] suit in to be cleaned also put some laundry in (ready WED.)
[page break]
X
JULY 28
[underlined] TUES. ’42. [/underlined]
grapefruit juice; poached egg & tom; toast & coffee. Thrown off CO’s parade because we were wearing our blues. Dismissed at “Sally Ann.” Lift down to Sunnyside. Baths didn’t open ‘till 10-0 and it was 45c. so didn’t go in. 5c. choc. ice. Lift back to barracks. 50c for uniform. Meat pie, spuds, cabb: raisin pie; cup milk & coffee. Drill, P.T. 10c. choc. & vanilla ice. Stewed meat, spuds & beet; cake & jam; tea. Just MUCKED ABATE generaly. [sic]
Papers from Ma.
[page break]
JULY 29
[underlined] WED. ’42. [/underlined]
[underlined] RAIN. [/underlined] Porr; bacon & boiled egg; jam, toast & coffee. Parade in Arena. Posting but not for me. LECTURE by corporal. Pork, sage & onion, spuds, cabbage; pumpkin pud; milk. 40c. laundry, gave some more in (ready FRI.) “Sally Anne” 10c. choc. shake. Cold meat, spud salad, lettuce; sponge cake; tea. 10c. egg & milk. 60c. at Loes. Walt. Pidgeon & Greer Garson in “MRS. MINNIVER” A Great film Very touching & realistic.
20c. egg & milk.
[page break]
JULY 30
[underlined] THURS. ’42.
cool. [/underlined]
Grapefruit juice; fried egg, tomato; porr; toast & coffee. P.T. Beef, spuds, carrots; sponge pud; tea. 10c. choc. milk & ice. Cpl bought an ice each for four of us. Minced meat, spuds, lettuce; blancmange; milk, tea. 5c glass milk. 30c. show “Old Bill & Son” & “Sing for your Supper.” 15c. egg & milk. Had word or two with Doris. 25c. st. car tickets.
[page break]
X
JULY 31
[underlined] FRI. ’42. [/underlined]
[underlined] MORE RAIN. [/underlined] porr; beans & bacon; toast & coffee. $14.20 pay. $2.40 back off Harding Returned his $2 1/2 gold piece. Fish, spuds, tapioca; date & raisin pie; tea. [underlined] Letter from MA & GRAN [/underlined] both posted together air & sea. WHAT a SERVICE. Took two benches from Arena to Grandstand. 20c (choc. milk shake; choc. ice; carton of milk) 41c. laundry Fish, spuds, salad; cake; milk. 60c. “Daughter of Rosie O’Grady” & Charlies Aunt” Jack Benny. Egg & milk; lemon pie.
Letter NO. 4. From Ma
[page break]
X
AUGUST 1
[underlined] SAT. ’42. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon, boiled egg; toast & coffee. 25c haircut. [underlined] Letter No. 9 to Ma & to Norah. [/underlined] Beef, spuds, carrots; bread pud; milk. 36 hrs pass. 25c. st. car. 5c shoe laces. 2c. drink. 30c film, (XX) 50c bed at YM. 15c. mints. Enquired about boat to Niagara. 35c. tom, lettuce, spud salad, ham; egg & milk. Walked down to Pier. St car to Sunnyside. 5c ice. St. car back. 24c to see Gene Autry in “Mexacali [sic] Rose” and “Our Russian Front.” 20c. egg & milk and cup coffee. 5c. milk at YM.
[circled 12-30]
Letter No. 9 to Ma
[page break]
X
AUGUST 2
[underlined] SUN. ’42. [/underlined]
Up at 11-0 AM. Sos, spuds, peas, toast & marmalade; coffee; cust pie (40c.) $1.65, return, for ferry ticket. Left at 3-0 PM Arr. Niagara, in bus from Queensbury at 6-20 PM. 25c for views. 5c for 3 P.C.’s. 2 “nickles” for 4 x 2c stamps. [underlined] Posted a card to Ma. [/underlined] Roast beef, spuds, kid beans; apple pie; milk. 60c. Address of people from Sheff. Bus to Queen. 10-30. Boat got in ‘bout 12-45. In meantime community singsong. 20c. hot dog & coffee. Arr. Toronto 3-30 AM. St. Car to Jarnies. Picked up kit bag. Arr. barracks 4-45. [underlined] Bed 5-0 AM. [/underlined]
[page break]
X
AUGUST 3
[underlined] MON. 42 [/underlined]
porr; bacon fried egg; toast coffee. Route march. 15c. drink & donuts. [underlined] Letter 6 from Ma. [/underlined] Beef, spuds, carrots; rice pud; milk Soft ball game. Ham, Veg salad, beet; cake, jam; tea. 2 rolls film ready Wed. 5c. Milk. 30c. Chester Morris & Jean Arthur “No Hands on the Clock.” and Alex. Dumas’ “Corsica Brothers” Doug Fairbanks Jnr. Talk with Agnes. 10c. egg & milk (plain.)
[page break]
[circled X]
AUGUST 4
[underlined] TUES. 42. [/underlined]
Grape, juice; porr; fried egg, tom, coffee & toast. CO’s parade. 12c. Pepsi Cola & tub of icecream, 5c phone call. Stew, spuds, cabbage; raisin pie; milk. [underlined] Letter No. 5!! from Ma & letter from David. [/underlined] Sally Anne! 2 x 5c tickets. choc ice. Talk with SA man. 2 x 5c phone calls. (Doris.) 3-30 PM gave “kharki” [sic] in to be cleaned. 5c. phone call to Eric B. Date for Wed. call him at noon hrs. Meat, cold, spuds, beet; cake, jam & tea. 15c. choc. milk & egg. Took comics for Doris. TIZER & COMICS from Ma. Walked back to camp 5c. Aero. 75c. VR’s & Gt. Britain’s
Letter 5 from Ma. & David
[page break]
X
AUGUST 5
[underlined] WED. 42 [/underlined]
Grapejuice; bacon, 2 boiled eggs, toast & coffee. Service parade. Too late when we got there. Pork, spuds, carrots; choc. blanc. milk [underlined] Letter no. 10 to Ma’s No. 5. Letter to David. [/underlined] 50c. uniform 5c. phone call to Eric. Cold meat, spud & veg salad; sponge cake & jam; tea. Out at gate 5-15. where Eric was waiting. Met his two little girls. Had another “supper. Went to ball game. Fetched beer. Mrs. (Nell) set me on smoking (had 7 fags.) Eric took me back to camp. We picked 6 lads up at King. In for 1-30 AM.
Letter 10 to Ma.
[page break]
X
AUGUST 6
[underlined] THURS. 42 [/underlined]
porr; tom & scrambled egg; toast marmalade & coffee. Sent back to barracks to tidy bed. Clothing parade list. Ice cup at Sally Ann. Pass application £1.00 stamps. Usual type of din. Clothing parade cancelled [underlined] Wrote letter & posted to Gran [/underlined] Started one to Ma. Hamburger meat, spuds, beet; cake & jam tea. 25c st. car. 48c films of Niagara. 15c. egg & milk. 30c. “The Yukon Patrol” & “Blondie in Society.” 7c. pot of tea.
[page break]
AUGUST 7
[underlined] FRI. 42. [/underlined]
Grape juice; porr; bacon & fried egg; toast, jam & coffee. March to Sunnyside. Choc. milk & donuts. 10c. Meat pie, spuds, carrot; brd pud; milk. Sally Ann. 48 hr. pass. Took tunic to have G. Britain’s fastened on. Beef, spuds, beet, lettuce; cust. tea 15c. choc. egg & milk. 60c. “The Magnificent Ambersons”. 20c 2 cheese sand. hot tea.
[page break]
AUGUST 8
[underlined] SAT. 42. [/underlined]
porr; bacon, boiled egg; toast & coffee. 25c. st. car. 5c. milk. $1.00 st. car tickets and map of Toronto. 25c. candid camera photo. 30c. film (vari.) 10c. mints from “Woolies.” 25c. sos, chips, beans; tea, hot. 42c. Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent in “In this Our Life” Salmon, lettuce, etc. tea; 35c. George Brent, Joan Bennet “Twin Beds.” “Danger in Pacific” 42c. 12c. tea & donuts. Met RAF lad on st car. Went with him to Sunnyside & back to camp.
[page break]
AUGUST 9
[underlined] SUN. 42 [/underlined]
Kellogs; flat cake; toast & coffee Church parade & communion A very nice service; very nice indeed. Edward Bush took me to his home. Had light lunch. Went walk. His dad took photo’s of us. Dinner about 6 or 7. RAIN. Mr. took me to see their ARP H.Q. and model of his section. Still raining at 10-0. when we set off back. Got back to camp at 11-15 PM.
[page break]
[symbol]
AUGUST 10
[underlined] MON. 42. [/underlined]
orange; porr; bacon & egg; toast & coffee. Route March, with band, to Sunnyside. 15c. icecream. Stew, carrots, spuds rice pud, milk. Sally Ann Bought 2 x 5c tickets but didn’t use same. [underlined] Letter from Doris. [/underlined] Cold beef, ham, spud salad, lettuce; cake & jam; tea. [underlined] Letter NO. 11 to Ma [/underlined] & Niagara Snaps. Bed 9-30 PM.
Letter from Doris (.2nd.) Letter 11 to Ma.
[page break]
X
AUGUST 11
[underlined] TUES. 42 [/underlined]
grapefruit juice; tomato, poached egg; toast, jam, coffee. Co’s parade Route March to Sunnyside. Beef spuds, cabbage, raisin tart, cheese & milk. Boot repairs didn’t come off. Hamburger spuds, cheese & cake, tea. 15c. egg, choc. milk; fetched photo’s. Took 3 negs to Liggs’ 35c. 1/2 lb. chocs. 5c. milk Took Muriel to see Jeanette MacDonald in “Smilin’ Thru” 60c. 11-0 when we come out so couldn’t take her home. [underlined] Posted letter to Doris [/underlined] Other film was “Knockout” a boxing show as per name. Took kharki [sic] suit in to be pressed & cleaned.
[page break]
AUGUST 12
[underlined] WED. 42. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & boiled egg; coffee & toast. Swimming Parade to Sunnyside. Sqd Ldr went with us. We sang all the way. 10c to go in the “tank”. Veal spuds, carrots; choc. blanc. milk. Issued with 2nd suit kharki [sic] & fatigue trousers. Cold veal, spud & green salad tomato; tea & cake & jam. Took shirt, blue & kharki [sic] pants towel & collar to be washed [underlined] Card to Joe & Watson. [/underlined] 30c stamps. 15c. choc. egg & milk. 12c. Prints. 42c. Eleanor Powell Red Skelton in “Ship Ahoy” with Tommy Dorsey’s Orchestra. 12c. tea & cake.
[page break]
[symbol]
AUGUST 13
[underlined] THURS. 42. [/underlined]
grapefruit juice; porr; tom & egg; toast & coffee. Route march to Sunnyside. 10c. choc ice. [underlined] STOMACH ACHE. Cable from Ma. [/underlined] Received parcel I sent over a month ago. Beef, spuds beet; pumpkin pud; milk. [underlined] 67c cable to Grandpa. [/underlined] 50c. for uniform Marched to West End YMCA. Had a good swim. 6c choc. Hamburg square spuds, beet; cheese; scone; brd & jam; tea. 25c. Dura Glit. 15c choc, milk & egg. $1.20 at Imperial”Syncopation” & ”Mexican Spit sees a Ghost.” Took Muriel home or at least she put me on the Spadina st. car.
[circled Letter 7 from Ma [symbol]]
[page break]
[symbol]
AUGUST 14
[underlined] FRI. 42 [/underlined]
grape juice; bacon, scrambled egg, toast coffee. $20 pay. Meat pie, spuds, carrots; raisin & date pie; tea. FFI. handed sheets, etc. in to stores Cleared of station. [underlined] Letter 7 from Ma. [/underlined] 32c. laundry Packed kit. Bottle of beer and fag (given by Ross) Cold meat, spuds, lettuce & salad; cake & jam; milk Bert arrived here. 15c. egg & milk 30c. “Among the Living” & “Sullivan’s Travels.” Pot tea & date sq. 12c. 50c. bed at YMCA.
[page break]
[circled X]
AUGUST 15
[underlined] SAT. 42. [/underlined]
Up at 11-30 AM. [underlined] $2.99 parcel to home. [/underlined] 10c mints, 25c sos, chips beans; milk, 10c Coke. 30c “Swamp Woman” & “Duke of the Navy.” 7c coke. 35c salmon salad 10c cake. 25c st. car. 42c “Juke Girl” Ann Sheridan & Ron Regan Went around with Snarky in PM. Gave Agnes two photo’s. Lemon pie, hot tea. 17c. Bought farthing for 2c. and then forgot to give it Muriel. Took her home then went back to [underlined] camp. bed 2.45 AM!!?!! [/underlined]
so I walked her home. Introduced to her Da & stepma. Cup cocoa & biscuits Bus s/c 11.30. arr. 12.10 app.
PARCEL
[circled LETTER TO PHIL]
[page break]
[underlined] TORONTO – NO. 1. AOS [/underlined]
AUGUST 16
[underlined] SUN. 42. [/underlined]
7-30 AM, bfst, Kellogs & flat cake; coffee. Finished packing Took kit down to arena & then out to back of Colesium [sic] Loaded up on lorry. Drizzle Took about 1/2 hr. to get to Malton. Drew sheets & pillows. FFI & general look over. Teeth & throat. RAIN. Ham, spuds, peas; raisin pie; milk. Unpacked & repacked. Pass till tomorrow AM. Gave boots in to be repaired at long last. [underlined] Letter to Phil. [/underlined] $1.20 10 bus tickets. 5c milk. Gave Muriel a farthing. “Tommy” bumped into me on st. car on way to church. She & Doris, her pal, from Gt. Brit. 10c. church 2 choc. shakes; apple juice; veal cuttlet [sic] peas, spuds; cust, rice & raisins 90c Doris took me to “Jane” Only 10 o’clock
[page break]
AUGUST 17
[underlined] MON. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 orange; x; bacon & egg, toast; milk. Given pass by adj. P/O Wood our instructor I/C. Pea soup; [deleted] chicken roll [/deleted] [inserted] beef [/inserted], spuds, cabbage; rice pud; D.R. navi & instruments issued. Did a few problems. Chicken roll lettuce, a tomato; peach & milk Finished navi. [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] problems Ensign lowering. Letter to Ma. Handed kharki [sic] in to be pressed etc. 25c. haircut Bunk inspection at 12.30 & 4.30. F/Lt. found some not made up right on his rounds.
[page break]
X
AUGUST 18
[underlined] TUES. 42. [/underlined]
tom sauce; porr; sos, toast; coffee. DR. sigs, air recc. test. Veal, spuds, carrots; raisin tart; milk. DF, Maps, Magnetism. Cooked meat, spuds, tomatoes; prunes; milk. [underlined] Letter 12 to Ma. [/underlined] Navi class after [deleted] sp [/deleted] supper. flag & more navi. 12c. drink & spud crisps. 7c Coca Cola.
LETTER 12 TO MA.
[page break]
AUGUST 19
[underlined] WED. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 orange; cream of rice (x); bacon & egg; toast & coffee. Drill; DR signals. Went to hospital but have had injections & tests. Bean Soup; beef, spuds, peas; choc. blancmange; milk. Magnets, reconnais pyrotechnics (fireworks) Boots returned repaired with RUBBER sole & heels 7c. Coca Cola. Sos, spuds, beet, celery; water melon; blancmange (choc); milk. Navi & mag. notes. Flag.
[page break]
AUGUST 20
[underlined] THURS. 42 [/underlined]
grape juice; bacon & scrmbled [sic] egg; toast & coffee. DR. & DR test. S.M.O’s lecture. 7c. Coke. Stew, spuds, peas; soup, alphabet; mincemeat pie; milk. Maps, DRILL? Met. Ham, spuds, lettuce; peach; milk. DR. plot 48. “Film show, “Alexanders Rag Time Band” darn good show. 55c. uniform, clean & press. 5
[page break]
AUGUST 21
[underlined] FRI. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 grapefruit; bacon & flat cakes, milk; cream of wheat. CO’s Parade. DR. 5c. Coke. Soup; fish spuds, cab. sponge pud & sauce; milk. Met, Reconn, Insts. Soup; meat roll (cooked) spuds, beans; pears; milk. 2 x 5c Coke. Did, or tried to do a bit of DR. Set out back for Aircraft Rec. A number of lads missing off ensign lowering parade. Shower. 5c potato crisps.
[page break]
AUGUST 22
[underlined] SAT. 42. [/underlined]
grape juice; toast; bacon & egg; brd, marmalade; coffee. DR. Had look round an Anson. Soup; cooked cold meat, spuds, cabbage; cream fruit pud; cup tea & 1/2 cup milk. 5c. Coke + 5c I owed machine Aircraft recc. Rain storm. 2 snaps of same. Soup, steak spuds, salad; creamed fruit pud; peach; milk. Planned out 2 of the routes we may take tomorrow AM. 7c. coke 3c paper. Sing song in lecture room. Bed 10-30
[page break]
AUGUST 23
[underlined] SUN. 42. [/underlined]
cream of wheat; bacon & boiled egg, toast; coffee. Drew [deleted] shute [/deleted] harness. Briefed in hanger. Airborne 8-45. Landed 12-15. Veal, stuffing, spuds, peas; cream pie; milk. 11c. choc. & crisps Physics book from library. Church parade 1-45 to 2-30 Nice little service in GIS. TARRANT & GWYN forced landed. Ham, spud salad, tomatoe, [sic] cheese; cream pie; milk. Took shirt, pyj’s socks and towel to laundry. TARRANT returned OK at 6-30 PM. One wing of plane completely wrecked. He & GWYN. OK except for a shaking. Engines konked [sic] out at MIDLAND. Bed 9-15 PM
[page break]
AUGUST 24
[underlined] MON. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 orange; bacon & egg; porr; coffee [underlined] COLD [/underlined] freezing during night. DF. signals & met. Soup; spud salad, beef; rice pud; milk. 5c coke; 10c phone call to Mr. Berkimbler. He’d gone to lunch so wasted the 10c. DR. etc. 2 slices brd & butter; rice pud; milk. Lift from Malton in old jalopy to Toronto with Tarrant. 25c. st. car. 15c. choc. milk & egg. 5c. Record. 60c. at Shea’s. Rosalind Russell & Fred McMurray in “Take a letter, Darling.” 10c All Bran. 5c lemon square 5c coffee. Bus back to camp. Arr. 12.00. (23.59)
[page break]
X
AUGUST 25
[underlined] TUES. 42. [/underlined]
Grapefruit; cream of wheat; bacon & flat cakes; coffee, DR. & Mag Soup; veal & dressing spuds, sweede [sic] mincemeat pie; milk. [underlined] LETTER 8 from Ma. Posted on 11th [/underlined] 7c Coke. Lecture by WO. Abs returned from England off opps in Hampdene. 67c cable to Dad for his BD. YESTERDAY. D/F & DR. Ham & spud salad; prunes; milk. Started letter to Ma. 25c haircut. DR. 7c. coke. 5c Crisps. Duke of Kent killed in air crash. Eclipse of the Moon
[underlined] LETTER 8 from Ma. [/underlined]
[page break]
X
AUGUST 26
[underlined] WED. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 orange; porr; scrambled egg & toast; coffee. Flag at half mast for H.R.H. the Duke of Kent. Drill; DR; signals. Soup; beef, spuds, beet; choc. b. mange & cake milk. [underlined] LETTER 13 to Ma. [/underlined] Met. Mag, Games. Soup; sos, spuds, peach: milk. 3 x 5c Cokes. Flight plan for tomorrow.
[circled LETTER 13 to MA]
[page break]
AUGUST 27
[underlined] THURS. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 grapefruit; bacon & bld egg; toast coffee; cream of wheat. 3 1/4 hr. trip. Heavy ground mist. Soup; boiled bacon, spuds, cabbage pumpkin pie; milk. D.R. drizzle. Soup; cold cooked meat, spuds, corn cob; pears; milk. 5c Coke. Flight Plan for tomorrow. 5c Coke ”Lloyd of London” film in GIS.
[page break]
AUGUST 28
[underlined] FRI. 42. [/underlined]
tomato juice; sos & flat cakes; porr; coffee. Flight washed out. DR & Insts. Soup, fish spuds; cust pud milk. DR. Wings Parade. Sardine spuds, celery; pears, milk. Lift to Cooksville (7 mls TORONTO) then into TORONTO (BLOOR.) Middle aged chap. Gave me address & phone No. 5c. Phone to Doris. 29c toothpaste. $1 bed at YM. 2 x 5c. to Tommy. Not at home. 10c mints. 30c. picts “South of Santa Fe” & “Louisiana Purchase” Bob Hope. 25c. sos, peas, chips; coffee.
$1.05 for old “blues” REPAIR?! [symbol] & clean & press.
[page break]
AUGUST 29
[underlined] SAT. 42. [/underlined] 11.30 AM arose & SHONE!?! $1.12 stamps. 25c beef sandwhich [sic] & peas & chips; glass milk. 5c. phone to Tommy. Ring her again at 4-0 PM. 15c BLACK ink. 10c mints 5c darning wool (“woolies”) 25c film. 10c Regd stamp. 7c Coke (YMCA) 5c phone Tommy not back. 7c grape drink. 5c Tommy going away for weekend. May be back Sun. evening. 47c. Bloor St. White Cheff. [sic] Salmon Salad date sq. & Pepsi. 60c. at Uptown “Pacific Rendeyvious” [sic] & “Maisie gets her man” Red Skelton. 20c. glass “Honey Dew” & ice cream. Saw Leslie (on bondiers [inserted] B.A. [/inserted] course) 7c Orange Stubby at Y. 25c. st. car.
[page break]
AUGUST 30
[underlined] SUN. 42. [/underlined] 10-0 AM.
10c. Church. no communion. 40c beef, spuds & carrots; custard pie; tea & milk. Chummed up with RCAF lad. Took snap of church & YMCA. Went out to Park. Snaps of Polar Bear, zebra etc. Supper at Chinese place below White Cheff [sic] 30c. liver, chips, peas; boston cream pie; milk. Left film at Liggetts. Went to church 10c. Tommy didn’t turn up. 10c. Doughnuts & milk. Walked up to Bloor & along same. St car to bus stop. Seat OK on bus Arr. in camp 23.59 hrs
[page break]
X
[underlined] LANCASTER [/underlined]
AUGUST 31
[underlined] MON. 42. [/underlined]
Cream of wheat; bacon & egg; 1/2 orange; coffee; DR. Went to see [circled LANCHESTER] at aero factory. Speechs [sic] & photo’s etc. etc. All turrets fully armed. Didn’t have soup; cold meat & spuds, milk. Flight. Didn’t do too good. Just managed to get supper. Cold meat, tomato & spuds, milk. & an apple DR 7-0 to 9-30. 2 x 7c cokes! [underlined] Tizer & Cable from Ma. [/underlined]
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 1
[underlined] TUES. 42. [/underlined]
tomato juice; bacon & sc’mbld egg, porr; coffee. DR etc. [underlined] Tizer from Ma. [/underlined]7c coke Veal, dressing, spuds, sweede; [sic] cream caramel pie; milk. AA. (DR.) Photography, games. Photo of flight. Sos, spuds, sweed [sic] choc. cake; milk. DR & flight plan. 7c bottle of lime Bed 10-15 PM.
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 2
[underlined] [deleted] TUES [/deleted] [inserted] WED [/inserted] 42 [/underlined]
Cream of wheat; bacon & egg; 1/2 grapefruit. Took off 8-45 app. landed 12-25 app. Not a bad trip on the whole. Arrived at MALTON 1909. my ETA for BRAMPTON. Beef, spuds, beet; rice pud; milk 10c. phone call to Mr. Burkimshort. DR. Sigs, Ham; fried spuds; spud salad; cake; milk. 7c Coke. Lift to Jane Bloor by Manchester man. Been out here since 1910 app. 65c Imperial Cary Macdonald in “Dr. Broadway” & Ray Milland & Betty Field in “Are Husbands Neccessary” [sic] 6c cordy. 15c choc egg & milk shake. 5c glass milk. 25c st car 7c coke back on camp. 8c film prints. Only 2 turned out OK
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 3
[deleted] WED [/deleted] [inserted] THURS [/inserted] 42
Porr; bacon, egg & toast; coffee. 3 legged flight to navigate on. Starts with met W/V. Finished it OK. Cold meat roll, spuds, beans; pie; milk. 55c for kharki [sic] uniform & 28c for ordinary laundry. Nothing else out of the regular routine except DF lecture by Sgt WAG on an actual DF loop & Radio receiver. Supper similar to usual. 7c x 2 Coke. Film show “The Rain Game” (?) an old film. Pretty good.
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 4
[deleted] THURS [/deleted] [inserted] FRI [/inserted] 42
Cream of wheat; 1/2 orange; bacon & lat [sic] cakes; coffee. Prepared flight for this afternoon. Fish, spuds, carrots; cream fruit pud; milk. Parade of whole station in atempt [sic] to recover stop watches, observe for use of. Radio transmitter NBG. switched planes and WAG had to B - - R about with other one to get it to go. Finaly [sic] got off at 15.00. Trip not too good as far as NAVI went (EX.6) Sardines, lettuce, spuds, tomato; peach milk. [underlined] AIRGRAPH [/underlined] from Ma (sent AUG. 15TH) Wrote letter to Ma.
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 5
[deleted] FRI [/deleted] [inserted] SAT [/inserted] 42
Porr. bacon, egg (boiled) toast Tom, juice, coffee. Flight across lake Ont. Hamilton down to Lake Erie & back Pretty nice trip (2nd NAV) Veal, spuds, & salad; choc cream & cake; milk. 10c C. Mr. Berkimisher. Not in but he will write Tuesday. Bus into Toronto. St. car down to Queen. 8c mints; 10c glue (Woolies) 15c. choc milk & egg shake. 3 x 5c phone calls to Tommy (drug store, Y & Red [symbol].) 30c. Rio “Night of Jan 16th) Meeting Tommy at 8-30 PM. Liver onion spuds; coffee. (30c.) $1.20. at Uptown “Private Bukaroo” Harry James’ band. “Invisible Agent” Flora Massey. 12c. coffee 25c st car tickets.
[circled LETTER 14 TO MA]
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 6
[deleted] SAT [/deleted] [inserted] SUN [/inserted] 42
Got up 11-30. All Bran; sos, chips peas; tea, pot. 35c. Took film to Liggetts. Got another 25c. Went to Museum. Phoned Tommy but she’d gone to her sisters. Saw John Hodgson. Met chap in AFS, Canadian, for Great Brit. Tea & cookie at Y. Walked down Younge & back. Ham, chips & peas; coffee, 30c. at Cheff [sic] Gave Joe Hannah home address Met Gwyn at car stop. Muriel followed us on st. car. Sat on mudguard [underlined] inside [/underlined] bus, back in camp 12-0.
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 7
[deleted] SUN [/deleted] [inserted] MON [/inserted] 42.
Porr; scrambled egg & toast; TEA. DR all morning. Cold meat spuds, cabbage; billberry pie, milk. A.A. Mag. & Air Rec. [deleted] Soup [/deleted] Stew, fried spuds, tomato; apple; milk. 2 x 7c Cokes. Put names on card with photo of flight on it. Damned ink ran too. Pulled flag down at 8-0 PM. Mended, in a fashion, Huddarts alarum [sic] clock.
[page break]
X [underlined] CABLE TO MA [/underlined]
SEPTEMBER 8
[deleted] MON [/deleted] [inserted] TUES [/inserted] 42
Tom juice; bacon & hot cakes; cream of wheat; coffee. RAIN. DR & Mag. Veal, spuds, sweeds; [sic] cust rice pud; milk. [underlined] LETTER from PHIL. [/underlined] Photography, signals. Should have been sports but it was raining. [underlined] 67c. Cable to Ma. [/underlined] 7c Coke. Finished photo of flight. Not too good a result, but t’aint bad. Shepps pie, spuds, peas, sweeds; [sic] prunes; choc cake; milk [underlined] LETTER TOO [sic] PHIL. [/underlined] air recc. RAIN! RAIN! RAIN! 2 x 6c choc. 7c drink.
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 9
[underlined] [deleted] TUES [/deleted] [inserted] WED [/inserted] 42. [/underlined]
1/2 grapefruit; porr; bacon & egg; toast; coffee. RAIN. Took laundry in. NO PARADE. Rest of day pretty wet. Sos spuds etc. milk for supper. 25c [deleted] fe [/deleted] hair cut. 2 x 7c Cokes. Rained so we didn’t pull flag down. Went into Malton about 10-30 with Flowers to dance. Had a bit of a dance. Cookies & coffee refreshment. Finished at 12.0 AM. Lift back to camp in officers’ car. shower. Bed about 1-30.
[page break]
!? [three symbols] ?!
SEPTEMBER 10
[underlined] THURS 42. [/underlined]
Cream of wheat; egg & fried balony coffee. Flag hoisting DR & band. Liver, spuds, carrots; sponge & cust; milk. Flight washed out, low clouds, bumpy. So had P.O. Pleuman all afternoon. Cold cooked meat; spuds; beet; sponge & cust; milk. [underlined] Letters from Ma, Norah, Eric Berkinsh & Doris (Toronto.) [/underlined] 7c Coke “Rise & Shine” Jackie Oakie. 7c Coke.
[circled LETTER NO. 1. FROM MA]
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 11
[underlined] FRI 42 [/underlined]
Porr. sos & cakes, syrup; coffee. Sunshine. Co’s Parade. Wings Parade rehersal. [sic] DR exam. Fish, spuds, cabbage; mincemeat pie; milk. Wings parade. Cold cooked meat, spuds, cabbage lettuce, celery; apple; milk. Stand by for night flight. Rolled flag down. Took chairs back to GIS. Changed furniture round in lecture room. (desk plotters.) [underlined] Wrote letter to Doris., [/underlined] Posted same. 2 x 7c cakes. [underlined] Airgraph from Ma [/underlined] 25c stamps, 5c. crisps.
[page break]
[symbol]
SEPTEMBER 12
[underlined] SAT 42 [/underlined]
Bacon & egg; cream of wheat, coffee. Test on Reconn, Mag & Comp. Maps & Charts, & Insts. Pork, spuds, white sauce; bread pud, milk. [underlined] 2 Airgraphs from Ma & Letter. [/underlined] Photo Clip washed out so we had game of football. Just about knocked me all up but we enjoyed it even so 6c choc. Ham, spuds, celery; jam tart; peach; milk. [underlined] Letter to Eric & Ma [/underlined] 5c choc milk Mitchel, Huddart, & Piper had fly papers & card put in their bed.
[circled LETTER NO. 2. FROM MA 15 TO MA]
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 13
[underlined] SUN. 42. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & egg; toast & marmalade; coffee. Went back to bed. Tarrant & I flitted to opposite side of room nearer other lads Chicken, toast, spuds; [inserted] cake & cream [/inserted] fruit salad Church parade. Football game Ham, spuds, sweet pickle, lettuce, celery; 4 plums; choc cake; milk. 7c. coke. 25c. laundry. 7c coke. Prepared for night flight. Air Recc. back too. Filled one or two places in on Mercator chart. 10c. choc milk & crisps. Whittle, 10c for stamp. Flight washed out. Ground Mist. 10c phone call to Doris. Dated her for tomorrow night.
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 14
[underlined] MON 42 [/underlined]
Cream of wheat; bacon & egg; coffee. DR photo. & more DR. Veal, apple sauce, spuds; choc, blancmange; milk 27$ pay. Ham, spud salad; peach; cake; milk. Hitched to the end of Younge. Had to street car it to Jane. Arrived finaly [sic] about 7-15. Doris waiting in powder blue outfit gloves and handbag blue. Some colour hat very much like a berrie. 20c. film. $1.20 show Tommy Trinder “First Commando” & “Miss Annie Rooney” Shirley Temple. Walked her half way home then went back to join lads. 50c. taxi.
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 15
[underlined] TUES 42. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & egg: toast & coffee. FOG ??? DR & usual [underlined] Airgraph from Ma. [/underlined] Ham, spuds, cauliflower; raisin pie; milk. 7c Coke. Arms, Drill, Sigs. Meat Pie, Spuds, peas; plums; cake milk. 5c. Coke. Compass swinging, DR. 2 x 5c crisps. 5c milk choc. 10.10 PM cleaned buttons & boots for AM. and now going to bed.
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 16
[underlined] WED 42. [/underlined]
1/2 orange; cream of wheat; bacon & eggs & toast; Coffee. C.O’s parade for drill. DR & Aldis. Salmon stake; [sic] spuds, turnip: cake & lemon sauce; milk. [underlined] Letter from Joe Cutts. [/underlined] Mag, Insts, Met (test) Sos, spuds, cheese; milk. CO’s parade Marched into Malton & 1/2 way back. REST DISMISSED WE & 56 MARCHED BACK TO CAMP WHILE THEY HAVE BAGS OF FUN. 3 x 5c Cokes, 5c Coke.
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 17
[underlined] THURS. 42. [/underlined]
tom. juice; porr; bacon & egg; toast; coffee. Bull – parade in full dress. 5c Coke. DR. Flight Plan, Maps. Beef, spuds carrots; pumpkin pie: milk 8c. Soap, carbolic. [underlined] Letter from Eric. Posted letter to Norah [/underlined] Flight MO. W/V all to H ----- Ran into storm after I’d got a decent wind & was on TS. O.K. Had to return to Base. 7c Coke Cold meat: spuds: pumpkin pie: milk. 10c for coppers I owe Coke machine. [underlined] POSTED LETTER TO JOE. [/underlined] 5c Coke. 2 x 5c. Crisps.
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 18
[underlined] FRI. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 orange; cream of wheat; bacon pancakes; coffee, COs parade. DR & DF. [underlined] letter from Pat & June [/underlined] Pork apple, spuds, cauliflower, caramel cream & cake; milk 5c Coke. 28c laundry. Fish, spuds, celery; caramel & cake milk. Sgt. took us, Tarrant & self right to [indecipherable name]. $1.00 for bed at Y. Arrived at Doris’s 7-10 PM. Went to Eglington (48c x 2) “Glass Key”!! Doris wouldn’t let me pay for supper. I had spud salad & choc milk shake. She had a sundae. [circled 50c] 2 x 6c. choc. bars. Took her home Sat on veranda & talked. X 25c. st. car. 12c. tea & date sqr. Slept on settee at Y. Had real good sleep too.
[page break]
[symbol]
SEPTEMBER 19
[underlined] SAT. 42 [/underlined]
10-30 AM. Phoned Doris 15c before I connected with her at work [underlined] $2.95 parcel to home. [/underlined] $1.00 stamps 25c. st. car. Fish, spuds, tomatoes; ice cream & pot tea (Doris paid $1.15.) 2 x 30c Dot Lamour “Fleets In” & “Jimmy Valentines Affaires.” 35c. Chocs. Took Doris home. [circled RAIN] She took 2 snaps of me. 9c. mints. 30c. at Spadina “Blossoms in the Dust” Greer Garson & Walt Pidgeon also the “Great Walty” sos, chips, peas; apple pie; coffee & glass milk. Walked to Bathurst with Can. lad, walked back to Y. 7c. grapefruit Stubby.
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 20
[underlined] SUN. 42 [/underlined]
10-30 AM. 5c phone to Doris. 70c. Apple sauce, spuds, peas; pineapple. Went with Reid out on the Queen Car to terminus walked across to Bloor Car. Went on Bloor Car to St. Clair. Took Doris for walk in the Park. Went rowing on Grenadier Lake 50c. ($1 deposit on the boat.) Took Doris home. 40c. salmon salad & milk. Went to St. James’ (25c.) 2 x 20c. Malted, Choc Milk Shake. Walked back as far as Christie (St.) St. Car back to Doris’ X. Cup coffee 5c. at “Corner Road House.” Sat on mudguard of front wheel of bus back to camp.
Freezing cold night.
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 21
[underlined] MON. 42. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & egg; toast; tom, juice; coffee. [indecipherable word]. Drill, Morse Photog. Beef, spuds, turnip; fruit & sago; milk; DR & ASTRO GRAPH. [underlined] 2 Newspapers & Airgraph from Ma. Letter from Phil. [/underlined] 2 x 5c. Cokes. Weiners, spuds, turnip; apple; milk. 2 x 6c choc. bars. Lowney’s Caravan Show. Darn good as at Trenton. Had it in the small hanger.
[page break]
[symbol]
SEPTEMBER 22
[underlined] TUES. 42 [/underlined]
1/2 orange; cream of wheat; bacon & egg; toast; coffee. [underlined] COLD again [/underlined] DR. Sigs. Reconn. [underlined] Letter from Doris, Miss French, Photo’s from Eddy & Airgraph from Ma. [/underlined] Ham, spuds, cauliflower; bread pud; milk. Photo. flight ROTTEN. Sos, spuds, lettuce & tomatoe; [sic] apple stewed; choc, cake; milk. DR. lads out on night flight May go myself at 12-0 PM. We 4 didn’t go up at all in the end.
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 23
[underlined] WED. 42. [/underlined]
Porr, bacon & egg, toast, coffee. Arms (rifle & revolver.) Sos, spuds, beet: choc blancmange; milk: DR & flight plans for tomorrow AM & PM. Minced beef, spuds, beet; pear & choc cake; milk. Lift to Jane Bloor. Arr. Doris’ 6-10 before she’d had dinner Sat & played with kitten, cup tea. Took Tizers. 28c. for films (reprints.) 60c. “Babes on Broadway” Judy Garland & Mickie Rooney also “Man Made Monster” 25c. St. Car. 50c. taxi. Doris came to corner café with me 10c coffee. RAIN.
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 24
[underlined] THURS. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 grapefruit; cream of wheat, bacon & toast; coffee. Reconn flight. Met W/V OK. Dropped bomb on target near Weston. Bumpy & cold 2 to -2o c. Soup; beef, spuds, wheat; mince pie; milk. (Didn’t feel very hungry.) Air Plot on 1:1,000,000 Mercator. Pt. Perry. etc. Met. W/V OK. Bombed target near Milton West. [underlined] Finished letter to Ma. Wrote letter to Doris. [/underlined] Posted both 14c Cokes.
[circled LETTER 16 TO MA]
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 25
[underlined] FRI. 42. [/underlined]
Porr, bacon & egg; toast coffee. C.O.s parade. Route March. DR. Air Analysis. Reconnaissance. Fish spuds, carrots; bread pud; milk. Flight plan. Air Anal. Liver, spuds, carrots, tomato; cheese & cake: milk. No mail today. 30c. laundry. 7c. Coke. 7c Coke. [underlined] Letter to Eric. [/underlined] 10c phone to Doris. 6c toffee. 5c Crisps. Looked over “letter box” & contents (Films, letters etc.)
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 26
[underlined] SAT. 42. [/underlined]
Bacon & egg; 1/2 orange; coff DR & Compass swing. Stew spuds, cabbage; sago & fruit; milk. Bus into Toronto. 25c. st car. 50c bed at West End Y. 5c. phone to Doris. 84c at Uptown, George Formby in “Keep Fit.” & “Moscow Strikes back.” 70c. (Honey Dew) Chicken á la [deleted] Mache [/deleted] king, milk. Walked down Young to Imperial $1.20 “Cross Roads” Hedy Lamarr & Wilm. Powell. 25c. st car Rain so we poped [sic] into Corner Café at Young & Bloor. 30c. cheese sandwich & coffee. 1,2,3. Kissed her. Good night Bloor & a Carlton car back to Y. More RAIN.
[page break]
SEPTEMBER 27
[underlined] SUN. 42. [/underlined]
Still more rain. 5c. phone to Doris (11.0 AM) 60c. beef, spuds & spinach; coffee. Another address and word or two with RAF lad. St. car to Museum. Doris there and she’d been waiting 1/2 hr. Had a good look round. Took her home. 40c. egg salad, milk. Met Doris at bottom of street 6-25. Went to St. James’ Cathdll [sic] 10c. collection. Chocolate shake (40c. Doris paid.) Collected kit bag from Y. Walked up Bdway to Bloor. St. car back (10-30) Looked through Star. 2 kisses when I left at 11-5 to catch the bus. Used last ticket, sat on heater. Rain storm just as we got to camp.
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 28
[underlined] MON. 42. [/underlined]
cream of wheat, bacon & egg, coffee. DR. Insts. Maps. Ham, spuds, peas: rice pud; milk. Met; Football game (fine except for two lakes in middle of pitch.) Cottage pie, spuds, celery; pears & plums; milk. DR & star gazing. Wrote letter to Doris & Miss French Bed about 11-0 PM.
COLD.
[underlined] Letter from Ma also AG. Letter from Norah. [/underlined]
[page break]
[symbol]
SEPTEMBER 29
[underlined] TUES 42.
Posted letter to Doris & Norah AG. From Ma. [/underlined] 1/2 grapefruit; porr; bacon & egg; coffee. Photog, Maps, DR. Ham, spuds, turnip; cake & choc. sauce; milk. DR & Drill. Ham spuds; beet; rhubarb & cake milk. 2 x 7c. Coke. [underlined] Letter to Phil. [/underlined] George Formby “Turned out Nice Again.” DR. 5c. crisps. 2 x 6c Lifesavers. 5c [deleted] Ch [/deleted] Coke. Bed 11-0 PM.
$27.50 pay
[page break]
X
SEPTEMBER 30
[underlined] WED. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 orange; cream of wheat; egg & bacon; coffee. Route march DR; Met; Beef, spuds, cab, pumpkin pie. 12c. lifesavers. 2 x 7c. Coke. D/F; Aldis; Compass Swing. Cold cut, spuds, lettuce, beet; rhubarb & milk. [underlined] Letter by sea from Ma. [/underlined] 7c. Coke. [underlined] Letter to Norah [/underlined] 2 x 5c Coke. 10c. phone to Doris.
[page break]
[symbol]
OCTOBER 1
[underlined] THURS. 42 [/underlined]
porr; bacon & egg; coffee. Recon. Plot. A/C reccog. [deleted] Veal [/deleted] M.O’s lecture on first aid. Veal spuds, carrots: caramel cream milk. 55c. blues. 39c laundry [underlined] Letter from Doris. [/underlined] 2 x 7c. Coke. DR (Sun shooting.) D/F goniometer station. Liver, spuds carrots; bread & jam; cake & jam; milk. [underlined] Letter 15 to Ma. Letter & negs to Doris. [/underlined] No flight tonight. 5c. milk. 12c. toffee bars (2.) 5c. spud crisps. Phone to Doris. Not at home.
[circled LETTER 17 [deleted] 5 [/deleted] to MA]
[page break]
OCTOBER 2
[underlined] FRI. 42. [/underlined]
porr; bacon & flat cakes; coffee. Co’s parade; D.R.. Beef, spuds, beet; bread pud; milk. 3-25 hrs flight. Fair[deleted]es[/deleted] keeping track by drift. Fish pie, spuds, beet; cheese & cake; 2 pears; milk. [underlined] Telephone call from Doris. She was worried because there’d been reported a crash here at Malton. [/underlined] Night flight. Took off undercart wouldn’t wind up Landed & “LOST” both props. Took off again I got round OK. No more mishaps. Tomatoe [sic] & meat paste sandwiches, 2 cups coffee. Bed about 12-0 AM
[page break]
OCTOBER 3
[underlined] SAT. 42. [/underlined]
Porr; 1/2 orange: coffee. DR & Air Analasis. [sic] Spare ribs; spuds, beet; blueberry pie; milk. Did a bit of overtime at DR. Drew K land Air. Almanac. Sos, spuds, beet; mincemeat pie; milk. A/G. from Ralph Walker. 3 x 7c Cokes. 5c. crisps; 6c toffee; 5c choc. milk. Late night flight. 10c phone to Doris to let her know I can’t get Mon. Flight washed out. Got cup of coffee from mess. Fitted up earphones & mike.
[page break]
[symbol]
OCTOBER 4
[underlined] SUN. 42. [/underlined]
1/2 grapefruit; porr; bacon & boiled egg; coffee. Went back to bed. Boiled chicken (more skin & bone than meat.) spuds, cauliflower; fruit salad, cake & cream; milk RAIN in large lumps. Church parade. 7c coke. [deleted] Let [/deleted] A.G. to Ralph Walker Ham, spuds, beet; apple; milk. 10c. phone to Doris to tell her first bus from Toronto was at 5-20 & NBG for her. First flight washed so wrote to P & J & Eddy Bush. 7c x 2 Cokes. 2nd flight washed so am going to bed 11-30.
[page break]
X
OCTOBER 5
[underlined] MON. 42. [/underlined]
Porr, bacon & 2 pan cakes; [sic] coffee. DR. Sigs & Maps (Gnomonic Praj.) Beef, spuds, peas; bread pud; milk. [underlined] 2 AG’s from Mum, letter from Doris. [/underlined] Photography exam Met. D.R. Shep-pie, spuds, celery; bread pud & apple sauce; milk. 50c. sports fee, 25c hair cut. 7c Coke. 7c. lime rickey. 3 x 6c toffee & life-savers. 5c x 2 crisps & biscuits. RAIN & more rain. Flight “washed” consequently.
[page break]
XX
OCTOBER 6
[underlined] TUES. 42. [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & pancakes; 1/2 orange; coffee. Mag & Insts Photography 44/50 for test. Air/C. Rec. Test. Ham, spuds, some sort of spiced sauce; ground rice pud; milk. [underlined] A/G from Gran M [/underlined]!! D.R. Liver, spuds, peas; rice pud; milk. Binding Flight, astro so we didn’t go up. 1 star shot [indecipherable word]. [underlined] Letter to Doris. [/underlined]
[page break]
X
OCTOBER 7
[underlined] WED. 42. [/underlined]
porr, bacon & egg. DR & route march. 30 sun shots. Brawn spuds & sauce; blueberry pie, milk. [underlined] Paper from ma. Letter from Doris & Alwyn Crapper [/underlined]!!! Sports ----------. Cold cut, spuds, sweeds, [sic] plums; milk. Star Shots & plotting of. 10c. phone to Doris. 5c Coke. More [deleted] Star [/deleted] Sun Shots. Flight at 12.00 midnight. St. [indecipherable word], Owen Sound & back to Brampton. All others recalled. We got right round OK.
[page break]
[symbol]
OCTOBER 8
[underlined] THURS/42 [/underlined]
Peanut butter sandwiches & 2 cups of milk. Bed 4-0 AM. Up at 10-30. Finished Sun Shots and corrected several. [underlined] NO MAIL. 10c Coke [/underlined] Beef, spuds, peas; sago & fruit milk. DR. Flight Plan & Exam. [underlined] Wrote Letter to Alwyn [/underlined] 5 x 3c Stamps. 15c Cokes (2) [underlined] Temp 88o in the lecture Room. [/underlined] Ham, spud salad, celery; 2 apples; milk. D/F 1000 readings. Sun Shots. Gwyn on D/F loop readings
[page break]
OCTOBER 9
[underlined] FRI/42 [/underlined]
Porr. Bacon & egg. D/F & Astro flight AIR PLOT. FAIERS 1st. NAV. Fish, spuds, beans; milk. Wings parade after Reco. & Maps exam. Lift to West End. Y. 1.25c for bed (50c on key) 25c. St Car. 5c phone call. Tyrone Power & Joan Fontaine in “This Above All.” Very Good. Doris paid she also would not take money for reprints of 14 odd negatives. 50c. Sundae & Cokes. 25c. St. Car. 2 x 2 Got back to Y about 12-1 AM. No Pyjamas. Janitor not around.
[page break]
OCTOBER 10
[underlined] SAT/42 [/underlined]
Up at 9-45 AM. 35c ham & egg & coffee. Fiddled about and eventualy [sic] got a bed in dormitory 50c. Met Doris at CPR on Younge. Took 2 rolls film to Liggetts & bought 2 more x 35c. 40c milk & sandwiches. 25c. st car tickets. 2 x 6c Aero Choc Ferry to Island. Walked round & sat to watch the lake & the waves. $1.50 for din after D had phoned her Ma. Fish chips, peas; apple pie; tom juice; & coffee. $1.20 “Tales of Manhattan” All star Cast & Very Good. 40c Honey Dew & Dot Cockins. 25c st car Met D’s pop on way up the street. 2 x’s Bed 12-0
[page break]
OCTOBER 11
[underlined] SUN/42 [/underlined]
Up at 10-30 after a good sleep but not a good rest. 5c. phone lasted about 15 min. 45c. sos chips beans; choc sundae; coffee & glass of milk at White Cheff. Alwyn turned up at 2-15. We went and had a snack. Chewed the “fat” in the meanwhile too. Saw him back to camp (Hamilton) Walked through High Park to Bloor. Salmon Salad & Coffee. 50c. 2 x 6c Doris rushed passed in an atempt [sic] to find some cream. Went to St. James. 25c. 75c. 2 Sundaes Pop, Malted Milk. 3 X’s and hugs innumerable. She said 3 was my record & wouldn’t give me another. Bus 15c. Doris gave me her torch.
[page break]
[symbol]
OCTOBER 12
[underlined] MON/42 [/underlined]
Cream of wheat; bacon & egg; coffee. Signals, FP & AA (84) Ham, spuds, beef; bread pud & maple syrup; milk. W/V finding flight 063 (met 060) Mr. Freeman our pilot. dropped bomb, ie bomber dropped it. Brawn, spuds, veg. salad; plums; milk Wrote Diary up for the week Issued with stop watch. Mr. Wood given me new job. [underlined] P.C. from Joyce Richardson Letter to Ma. AG from Ma. [/underlined] 2 x 7c Cokes 5c tater crisps. 10c apples (3.) 6c. choc. 20c. phone to Doris.
[circled LETTER 18 TO MA]
[page break]
OCTOBER 13
[underlined] TUES/42 [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & pan cakes. DR result. 42 out of 80 In other words, lousy. Sun shots (33.) Total now 72. [underlined] No MAIL. [/underlined] Meat pie, spuds, turnip; cake & lemon sauce; milk. Recon. flight. Bit bumpy. Pilot not too good at keeping courses but we arrived at the places OK. & got SKETCHES. No more camera Only 4 serviceable. Brawn spuds, beet; plums; milk. 5c. crisps; 6c toffee; 6c Beech nut; 5c. cookies. Doris phone me but I wasn’t in I phoned back from YMCA. Sun shots & time sheet.
[page break]
OCTOBER 14
[underlined] WED/42 [/underlined]
Bacon & egg; coffee; [inserted] corn [/inserted] crisps Route march, Insts & Mag exam. Cold meat, spuds, carrot; cream pie; milk. FR. D/F scan. more D/R. & Sun shot plotting [underlined] LETTER from Doris & PAPERS from Ma. [/underlined] Ham, spuds, sponge rhubarb; milk. More D/R & Sun Shots. Have now finished Sun Shots. Finished putting names on Flying Exercise Sheet. Mr. Wood filled several in for me. 10-15 going to phone Doris. 10c. 7c & 5c Cokes.
[page break]
OCTOBER 15
[underlined] THURS/42 [/underlined]
Porr; bacon & egg; toast burned; coffee. DR, Sigs Test. DR. Veal, spuds, beans; rice pud; milk. [underlined] Letter from Doris, photo & $1 stamps. Papers from Ma. [/underlined] D/R. Hitch to Younge in stn waggon. St. Car (25c) back to Jane Bloor. Met Doris 7-10PM. She gave me rest of photos. I paid her $1 for stamps & 64c for photos. $1.20 Loews Clark Gable & Lana Turner in [blank space] 25c. St. car. 35c milk shakes Love & kisses on verandar [sic] at 12-10 AM. 50c. taxi to camp.
[page break]
X
OCTOBER 16
[underlined] FRI/42 [/underlined]
Bacon & egg; jam; coffee Rain. Co’s parade washed out. DR. Met. Spare ribs, spuds, carrot & sweed; [sic] mincemeat pie; milk. FP. [underlined] Letter from Dennis & Paper from Gran. [/underlined] DR. Cold cuts spuds, beet; apple; milk Flight washed out. [underlined] Wrote letter to Dennis. [/underlined] 10c phone to YMCA, & 10c to Doris. She must have called me from down town. Her mother ansd. phone. Had 1 bottle of beer with Mac & lads. Jock & Pat pulled the place down & Tarrant was a bit under the weather. 7c Coke.
[page break]
[inserted] 50c. bed at Red [symbol] Tea 40c Haddock & spuds. [/inserted]
OCTOBER 17
[underlined] SAT/42 [/underlined]
Rain. Flight cut. Met Insts & D/F results (82% & 80%.) General removals in lecture room. Porr: bacon & Egg: toast & coffee (bfst.) Liver, spuds; cake & lemon sauce: milk. 32c laundry. Piper gave me 30c for packet of fags I got for the relay 15c. standing up seat on the bus. Arr. Y. OK 2-40. (Parade delayed me) $3.07 parcel (Simpsons) Stood to watch Parade. 30c. milk shakes. Doris gave me the 3 snaps she took. Also gave me letter she’d written me & told me the tale 84c. “Fantasia” Walt Disney & George Sanders in “The Wolf” Doris bought sweets 6c & so did I 6c. She bought milk shakes (30c) Kissed her Good night.
[page break]
OCTOBER 18
[underlined] SUN/42 [/underlined]
Up at 10-30. 38c sos & chips; apple pie & coffee. Phoned from Central Y at 1-45. (5c.) St. Car out to High Park. Walked round the pond & the zoo. Sat down by Grenade Pond. To meet her at 7-45 at Younge & College. 45c. Salmon salad; coffee; pumpkin pie & choc. milk. Had read in Y. Felt tired. Met D. & went to Varsity Stadium to see first of “Commando Dagger” & Walt. Pidgeon. He read the sermon by the vicar in “Mrs. Miniver.” St car from Bay back to Jane. 3 X’s at end of Jane. 15c. standing up seat on bus.
[page break]
X
OCTOBER 19
[underlined] MON/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs; bacon & egg; coffee. 72% Maps & Charts & Recons. Met. 87%. Pork & spuds, pickled cucumber; pumpkin pie; milk. Recons. [deleted] Sun shots with Reid. [/deleted] 5c. cookies; 2 x 5c crisps; 2 x 6c Beetch Nut candies. [underlined] Wrote letter to Gran. sea mail. Airgraph to Joyce R [/underlined]
[page break]
OCTOBER 20
[underlined] TUES/42 [/underlined]
Porr; sos & egg; coffee. DR. etc. Brawn, spuds, carrot & peas; milk. Doris interrupted the meal by calling me on the phone. NO MAIL. (Things seem to get worse.) Sun shots with Reid. 61 course lads doing the navigation. Minced meat pie spuds, celery, cheese; bread & jam; milk. Prepaired [sic] for flight tonight.
[page break]
OCTOBER 21
[underlined] WED/42 [/underlined]
Night flight OK. 3-0 AM Bacon & pancakes; milk; Bed ‘till 10-30 AM. Met. Pork, spuds, peas; cake & lemon sauce; milk. Air Analasis [sic] & DR. Preparing for flight to Montreal. Beef stake; [sic] spuds; plums milk. RAIN dark sky like we get back home. NO MAIL except letter from Phil, now at AOS. Sun Shot plotting. 2 x 5c Cokes. 10c. Crisps, 10c apples 12c. Beech nut cough drops. 25c. Phone to Doris.
[page break]
OCTOBER 22
[underlined] THURS/42 [/underlined]
Porr; Bacon & egg, coffee. Sq. Search unfinished. Stew, spuds; raisin pie; milk. MH100C & back with Mr Martin. Weiners; spuds, beet, Apple (2) 25c hair cut. 7c. Coke. [underlined] Letter from Doris [/underlined] RAIN. Carried one bench over to hanger & carried 2 back. “How Green Was My Valley” Walter Pidgeon & a Mexican Travel Film as a short. Wrote up a few more shots.
(W. Pig. & Maureen O’Hara, Don Crisp & Roddy MacDowell.)
[page break]
OCTOBER 23
FRI/42
Porr. Bacon & egg; coffee. [deleted] Co’s parade. Nobbed for ragged trousers bottoms. [/deleted]
Night flight & Stereo Pairs (incomplete) Didn’t take off ‘till 5-0 PM & petrol was low. Cold ham, spuds; cake & milk. 1st nav alone on a night flt got round OK. too Fish paste sandwichs [sic] & milk. 11-15 PM. Got right round & found TARGET ie Mt. Plenmore. Took GT. BRITAIN’s off my best tunic.
[page break]
OCTOBER 24
[underlined] SAT/42 [/underlined]
Porr, bacon & egg; coffee. DR. & AN. Sigs. Telephone from Doris after Din. Ham, spuds & carrot; choc cake milk. More DR & Air Recc. then free period. Football. let down by Course 60. Liver, spuds, & “GRASS,” cake, pears & milk. Sun Shots plotting. Star shots 40-50. little sing song with Tarrant & Pat. Bed 11-30 PM. 12c. Choc bar & cough drops.
[page break]
OCTOBER 25
[underlined] SUN/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs; bacon & egg; coffee. Back to bed. Up at 10-0 Cleaned boots & tunic buttons. Cleaned gt. coat buttons yesterday. Shave. Veal, spuds & peas, fruit salad & cake, milk. Phoned to Doris not at home. Veal, spuds, peas; fruit salad & cake; milk Church Parade & star shots plotting. 10c. phone to Doris. Cold cuts, spuds, pickles; plums & cake; milk Flights washed out. More Stars 46c laundry Started letter to Ma.
[two symbols]
OCTOBER 26
[underlined] MON/42 [/underlined]
Porr. Bacon & egg; coffee. DR. Phot & Maps. Ham, (cuttings), spuds, peas; blue berry pie; milk. F.P. for tonight (1st NAV.) Met. film; Signals. [underlined] AG from Gran. [/underlined] Cold meat, spuds, peas, cheese; Mucking about with sextants. Fitted one up OK in the end. Second Detail up at 0900 PM (0100 quiT.) SEXT 42. Took one shot on the moon. Nearly got last but didn’t. Back 03.30 AM [inserted] GMT [/inserted] Coffee, sandwiches.
[circled LETTER 19 to MA]
[page break]
[two symbols]
OCTOBER 27
[underlined] TUES/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs; bacon & egg, toast; coffee. Tiger landed up at Muskoka. DR & DR. Sos, spuds; cake & sauce; milk. AA. Morse. Photo, Test. [underlined] letter from Ma & Doris. [/underlined] Beef, spuds; pears & cake; milk. Lift to Jane & Bloor; 5c. phone. 40c clock. 25c st car. $1.20. Barb Stanwyck & George Brent. “The Gay Sisters.” 40c. choc. dip & biscuits. XXXXXX 50c. taxi. 20c coffee & pie, rhubarb
[page break]
OCTOBER 28
[underlined] WED.42 [/underlined]
Porr; sos & egg; coffee. Route March; Reconn. & Map Exam. Tiger Returned from Muskoka. [underlined] Letter from Ma Posted on 24 Sept. AIR RAID WARNING. [/underlined] Veal & spuds; cake & creamed fruit; milk; Astro flight, NBG. Supper at 6.0 PM. Cold Beef, spuds, sweet pickle choc cake; milk. Star shots 25c. phone to Doris. Bed at 10.15 PM.
[page break]
OCTOBER 29
[underlined] THURS/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs; bacon & egg; coffee. D/R Scan. D/F. [underlined] 2 letters from Faiers. [/underlined] Ham, spuds, cabbage; pumpkin pie, milk. Flight, no AST comp & no WAG. Grand ISLE to Mud lake & back 1st NAV. Air plot. PPS. & W/V from them. Brawn, spuds, sweet pickle Jam; milk. Made log book up to date. $27.75 Started letter to Ma. 10c phone to Doris. Shave.
[page break]
OCTOBER 30
[underlined] FRI/42 [/underlined]
Porr; sos & pancakes; coffee. Mag. Exam. D/F Cos parade. Salmon stake [sic] spuds, sweede; [sic] bread pud & caramel cream; Milk. Insts Exam. GOOD NEWS. 48 hr instead of 36 hrs Lift into Toronto. 25c St car Chased Down to Adelaide P.O. but Doris wasn’t there. 5c phone. $1.15 stamps. 65c. pork chops & cherry pie; choc milk shake. $2. Bed at West End Y. (Mr. Lee Chinaman.) [underlined] Letter to Ma & Gran [/underlined]
[circled LETTER. 20.]
[page break]
OCTOBER 31
[underlined] SAT/42 [/underlined]
Up at 10-45. Out at 11-45. 25c St. Car. 15c. Choc milk 8c mints. 15c boot polish Went to Art (Museum) Gallery.) Doris phoned home. Fish & chips; choc pud; tea ([underlined] 55c X 2 paid by Doris [/underlined]) $1.20 “My Sister Eileen.” Ros. Russell Brian O’Herne; Janet Blair 2. Fruit Sundaes (40c) Sat on verandar [sic] 30m waiting for Pa to go to bed. (He saw us back Pictures.)
[page break]
NOVEMBER 1
[underlined] SUN/42 [/underlined]
Up at 11-45. 5c phone to Doris 55c. Pork chops, peas & spuds; cream walnut pud; coffee Met Doris at bottom of her street. Went to Riverdale Park. Took shot of bear & Don River Couldn’t get one of Doris. 25c egg sandwich & [deleted] Pup [/deleted] Pump Pie; glass milk. Went to St. James. 10c. 50c. jelly & cream, malted milk shake. Walked around the houses. Ver. Dr. too well lit. 50c. on taxi with Cpl Reyland & lads.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 2
[underlined] MON/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs; Bacon & Egg, coffee. [underlined] Letter from Doris Nothing Else. [/underlined] Stew, spuds, carrots; spuds; Queen pud; milk. Apple & other odds & ends for [deleted] breakfast [/deleted] Supper; milk.
Night flight. D/F no good, as per usual, astro compass NBG. Still I got round and hit every place required. Sardine & [2 indecipherable words]. 2 cups milk.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 3
[underlined] TUES/42 [/underlined]
Porr. bacon & egg: coffee. 75% for Maps AA 78% for last nights work. Brawn, spuds, cabbage; blueberry pie & raisin pie; milk. [underlined] 100% [/underlined] for Signals?? 80% Navi. (11TH week.) Sos, spuds, cucumber; pears & cake; milk. Duty Watch & [underlined] Drill. [/underlined] Moved bench from Dining Hall (Mess) [underlined] Wrote & Sent letter to Phil. [/underlined] Binding Photo & Maps. Phone on the free one to Doris.
34c. Candy etc. etc.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 4
[underlined] WED/42
Letter from Doris [/underlined] Bacon & egg; Kellogs coffee. Co’s parade. Maps & Photo Exam. Veal, spuds, turnip; rice pud. Astro Flight at 10,000 fee. Liver Spuds. [underlined] TURNIP [/underlined]!! Prunes milk. Star Shots upstairs. Flew on track with coop. from the Pilot. Sandwhich [sic] & milk Bed 12.00.
[page break]
[inserted] [underlined] CABLE FROM MA [/underlined] [/inserted]
NOVEMBER 5
[underlined] THURS/42.
Letter from Doris & Newspapers from Home [/underlined] Kellogs, coffee, Co’s Parade. Photo exercise which didn’t get done because take off of 1st. detail was late because of “damn” Co’s parade. Brawn, spuds; blueberry pie & milk. Bullshit. Parade at 1-50. Syko machine. Took chair over to hanger. Then Paraded on square. Marched to Hanger & formed “Hollow Sq” Earl of Athlone presented “wings” Supper at 6-0. Ham, spuds; apple & milk WHAT A SUPPER. Shipped chairs back. 10c biscuits 15c (5 x 2 peanuts & 5c Beech Nut.) 7c Pop.
[page break]
[inserted] 92% Map Final [underlined] 61.58.80 D/R [/underlined] [/inserted]
NOVEMBER 6
[underlined] FRI/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs; sos & flat cakes coffee. Rec. Exam Fish, spuds, cabbage; creamed fruit; milk. Mag. & result of Maps 92% 61, 58 & 80 Marks for DR. Exams; ie not too good. Working out shots. Cold Meat, spuds, celery, creamed fruit; milk. Night flight. Got round OK Track crawling but it was a bad trip on the whole. 3 sandwiches 2 cups coffee & 1 of milk.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 7
[underlined] SAT/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs & coffee. Plotting shots & D/R review. Mr. Wood gone to hospital With eye infection. Beef spuds, beans; some violet coloured sauce & a “bit” of cake; milk. Map & sun & star shots. Sos, spuds & beans; pears; bread & jam; milk. Map, flag & more star shots. 9-15 going to phone Doris & finish letter to Ma [underlined] Then Bed. [/underlined]
Phoned Doris OK.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 8
[underlined] SUN/42 [/underlined]
Got up for Kellog’s & coffee. Back to Bed. Up at 11-0. Pork, spuds, corn; cake & violet cream [inserted] sauce [/inserted], milk Astro flight. Damn cold. -14O C. Feet froze. Brawn, spuds & salad, plums & cake; milk. Star Shot plotting. Tired 10 to 10. Phone Doris & letter to Ma. 46/50 D/F.
[page break]
[inserted] 2 LETTERS FROM DORIS A/G from GRAN! [/inserted]
NOVEMBER 9
[underlined] MON/42 [/underlined]
[underlined] 54 [/underlined] Met. Kellogs, coffee. Photo flight “washed” Plotted more Star Shots & worked more out. Beef, spuds, turnip; rice pud; milk. 81 for Yesterdays flight. More Star Shots. Met. P.T. – Prunes & milk. Lift to cross road. Lift to Kingsway. Set off to walk rest. Lift to Liggetts where I left Negs & 29c toothpast. [sic] 25C st. car. $1.20. “Panama hattie” Red Skelton; [blank space] 60c. cheese sand. & milk shake. RAIN in lg. lumps. Doris’s hair wet & so were her eyes but I kissed them away. 50c in taxi yet about 1 or 2 from stn. Got there 1hr. waiting for [indecipherable word]
[page break]
[inserted] 20c. coffee, doughnut’ peanuts. [/inserted]
NOVEMBER 10
[underlined] TUES/42 [/UNDERLINED]
Bed at 2-0 AM. Kellogs; scrambled egg, toast, coffee. D/F. Star [inserted] Met [/inserted] shots Meat loaf, spuds, beans (butter.) Raisin pie; milk. Star Shots, Sigs, Stars again. Brawn, spuds; peaches & cake; milk Finished all shots Have now to take 30 more ground ones. [underlined] Letter to Ma. [/underlined] Telephoned Doris (tears in her eyes.)
[circled LETTER 21]
[Page break]
NOVEMBER 11
[underlined] WED/42. [/underlined]
Kellogs; 1/2 orange; coffee. Slight fall of snow. D/F Scan. [deleted] Braw [/deleted] Armistice service in hanger. [deleted] Bo [/deleted] Brawn, spuds; choc. blancmange; milk. Mag & Insts. P.T. Liver, spuds, onions; plums; peaches; cake; milk. 25c. hair cut. [deleted] Met [/deleted] Mag. swotting if any. Phone to Doris I hope. Didn’t swot but did phone to Doris (no tears tonight)
[page break]
NOVEMBER 12
[underlined] THURS/42 [/underlined]
[deleted] Kellogs [/deleted] 1/2 grapefruit; scrambled egg on toast; coffee; Mag & Comp. Exam, Lecture by P.O. Obs. From England Air/C. pic. Stew, spuds; bread pud. $26 pay. DR. [underlined] Letter from Doris, Eric (Faiers) & AG from Joyce. [/underlined] Sos, spuds; apple; bread & jam; milk SNOW. 21c. (2 x 5c cookies 6c choc. 5c. crisps.) RAIN.
[page break]
NOVEMBER [underlined] 13 [/underlined]
[underlined] FRI/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs, jam, coffee: DR. Air Rec. Sigs. Salmon stake, [sic] spuds, peas; lemon pie; milk. Flight washed Sigs. A/C rec. Met. (35 MPH wind.) Lift into top of Young. 50c st. car. $200 bed & key. $1.20. “Yank at Eaton” Mickey Rooney. 12c sweets. 50c 2 milk shakes & sundaes. Went into house to kiss Doris Goodnight.
Bed between 1 & 2 AM. Darn cold outside.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 14
[underlined] SAT/42 [/underlined]
Up at 10-30. $1.00 for shoe repair $3.75 for brooche. [sic] Met Doris at 12-15. $1.10 for lunch (my breakfast) liv & onion; miss pie; tea. Doris spilt her milk. [underlined] 62c Cable to Ma. [/underlined] Doris phoned her ma then “dragged” me round Eaton & Simpsons Tried to get a set of buttons 85c stamps (10/-, dollar, & 50c.) Doris bought dinner. Phone Tommy and arranged for Sun. AM. St Car & bus to Eglington. 86c. “Berlin Correspondent”
Left 11-30 home by 12-30. Kissed Doris Goodnight in the house again. 20 AM when I got to bed
[page break]
NOVEMBER 15
[underlined] SUN/42 [/underlined]
Up at 9-30. Communion with Doris & Tommy. 10c. Went to “Childs” and had milk shake (60c.) Went with the two of ‘em & took D home. Back to Y. “dry shave.” 50c key. 45c. liver & eggs; blueberry pie; coffee. Back at Doris’s by 3-45. Ma, Pa & kids all out!! Went for walk to see the R. Humber. Dinner 5-30. Dried pate with D & Mr. Ryall showed me his stamps & also gave me quite a number Left at 12-15. Kissed D in hall & on the step
15c on the bus.
[underlined] 77c. Photos, enlargements. [/underlined]
[page break]
NOVEMBER 16
[underlined] MON/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs, jam & coffee. Insts. exam & A/C, rec. Exam. Beef, spuds; bread pud; milk. Met, DR & Met. Mr. Pleuman said “Good Bye” PT. Duty watch. Stew, spuds; bread pud; cake & milk [underlined] WHAT A DINNER!! [/underlined] Comittee [sic] meeting re [indecipherable word] & dinner. F/Lt. Airdale not to be admitted. May write to Joyce & Gran. & MAY? swot Met. Phoned to Doris. Had 2 bottles of beer & [underlined] A CIGAR [/underlined] Denness’ BD. [underlined] A/G. to Gran & Joyce. [/underlined] [indecipherable word]
[page break]
NOVEMBER 17
[underlined] TUES/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs, jam, coffee. 5 DR periods. Sos, spuds; choc. pud; milk. [underlined] LETTER from Norah. [/underlined] DR, Anti Gas, Sigs, PT.
Sos, spuds; peaches; milk. Duty Watch. 10c sweets; 75C Xmas cards 25C stamps. Benches too [sic] & from Hanger, before & after show. Phoned Doris, exchanged greetings with her mother. Wrote several Xmas cards ready to send.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 18
WED/42
Kellogs; jam; coffee. Met. Exam 3 hours, then DR. [underlined] Letter from Doris. [/underlined] Pork, spuds, sweeds; [sic] vanilla pie; milk. [underlined] Phone call from Doris. [/underlined] DR., Sigs., Football. Liver, onion, spuds, sweeds; [sic] ginger cake; milk. Played, or tried to play table tennis with Gwyn. $1.80 stamps. ($2.70 for 9 Xmas cards & letter to Ma.) 6c. sweets. Siren for test blackout.
[circled LETTER 22 (TWO)]
[page break]
NOVEMBER 19
[underlined] THURS/42 [/underlined]
Porr; jam; coffee. Stereo pairs, & on second flight line overlap. Camera went wrong on 1st flight. Beef, spuds; cake & sauce; milk. [underlined] Letter from Doris & Alwyn. Papers from Gran & Ma. [/underlined] Sos, spuds, etc.. milk. Duty Watch. Hitch. $1.20. “Forest Rangers.” Paulette Goddard, [blank space]. Doris paid for choc shakes. 26c. st. car. Lots of love & kisses in the hall. 50c. taxi Sgt. picked us up as we came in.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 20
[underlined] FRI/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs & coffee. Co’s parade in gt. coats. Did hollow sq. in tunics DR. [underlined] Letter from Gran & Ma [/underlined] (at long last) Fish, spuds, carrots; creamed fruit; milk. FP. Arms. (sightings etc) Wings Parade of [underlined] 56 [/underlined] Course. Brawn, spuds; apple pie; milk. Raided the remains of the litter left by 56. [underlined] Doris phoned at Dinner Time. [/underlined] Phoned Doris
[page break]
NOVEMBER 21
[underlined] SAT/42 [/underlined]
Kellogs; jam; coffee. DR. Mr. Wood came in to see us. Told us a “tale” too (“She could play cards.”) Beef, spuds; bread pud; milk. Took off &. S/C from Brampton. Had to land as aerial went WEST. Took off again & got round OK. eventualy. [sic] [underlined] No. MAIL. [/underlined] Spare ribs, spuds, cheese; peaches; milk Played table tennis with Gwyn. Telephone to Doris.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 22
[underlined] SUN/42 [/underlined]
Got up about 1100 AM. Beef, spuds, peas; rice pud; tea. Flight to Goose Lake. Drift & Sun Shots. Brawn, spuds, beet; peaches & cake; prunes; 2 cups milk Chased around for Long rule & [indecipherable word]. Found that Combay had borrowed them.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 23
[underlined] MON 42. [/underlined]
Kellogs, bacon & egg, coffee. DR Exam. Dinner in a rush. [underlined] Letter from Doris Paper from Ma & AG from Gran [/underlined] Air plot. D/F & Astro pics to get wind. Then DR ahead & S/C for base. Had supper & lapped it. Lift to Dundas. St. Car to Jane Bloor. 84c. “Yer Cardboard Lover” Bob Taylor & Norma Shearer. “Moontide” Jean Gabin.
20c. coffee & donuts.
Love & kisses.
10c [deleted] coffee [/deleted] choc milk & donuts. 50c taxi.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 24
[underlined] TUES 42 [/underlined]
Kellogs & coffee. RAIN. [underlined] 73 Met. [/underlined] New sight log book. 113/150 for photography. Beef, spuds, turnip; lemon pie twice, milk. Drew J & L Band. Went into bombing teacher. Sos, spuds; cake; prunes; milk. Heavy fog. In HD area. [underlined] Letter to Ma. [/underlined] (not posted.) [underlined] letter to Eric, Doris & Gran (to post) [/underlined]
[page break]
NOVEMBER 25
[underlined] WED 42. [/underlined]
Kellogs, coffee, bread & jam. Moon Shots, Sigs AA. Beef spuds, bread pud, milk. FP. etc. Liver, spuds, onion: apple; milk. Drew sextant & Astrographs. Going for chute. 212 out of 250 for DR so I’m OK. Finished letter to Gran & bit more for Ma. Phoned Doris. [underlined] Roll Call in Barracks at 10-15. [/underlined] More Bull. Mr. Wood beat Tiger at Table Tennis. He bought beers all round. Flight washed at last minute.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 26
[underlined] THURS 42. [/underlined]
Kellogs; jam; coffee. Compass swing x 4. Sextant Shots. Pork, spuds, carrots; creamed fruit; milk. Interviewed, almost Tarrant just before me. [underlined] Letter from Ma & Doris. [/underlined] P.T. Minced meat pie, spuds, peas; peaches; milk. Drew sextant & chute. 100 MPH wind at 5000 ft. so washed out flight. 15c. phone to Doris. [underlined] Sent letter to Gran. Air Mail. [/underlined]
[page break]
[inserted] [underlined] $27.50 pay. [/underlined] [/inserted]
NOVEMBER 27
[underlined] FRI. 42 [/underlined]
Kellogs, jam, coffee. Co’s parade up road & back & Bloody frozen by time we got back. Letter from Eric. Salmon, spuds, beet; rice pud; milk. 15 shots on the range 20; 13; & 20. LAUNDRY NOT RETURNED. Lift to Main Highway then to Dundas St. Car. $1.00 bed at YMCA in 203. 25c. st. car. 84c “Eagle Sqaudron” at Eglington & “One Born Every Minute.” 60c sundaes & milk shake. Daddy not gone to bed so we just kissed Good night on the steps.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 28
[underlined] SAT 42. [/underlined]
50c. st car tickets. $2.50 silver wings. $1.10 lunch. 85c button RCAF. Took her home. 40c for supper. 35c chocs. 8c. snaps Went to Ice hockey game. I enjoyed it OK. ($3.50 for tickets.) 20c. Cokes. In the middle of our “Good Night kiss(es)” when Gillie opened the door & walked in.
[page break]
NOVEMBER 29
[underlined] SUN. 42 [/underlined]
5c phone at 11.0 AM. 45c lamb & mint sauce, choc. pie; coffee. Puffed wheat & toffee (in milk) cookies, trés bonne, & cup of coffee. Gave [blank space] 5c. & Marion 10c. SNOW. Went round Museum. 40c. sos, spuds, cream pie; coffee. 15c. gums. Went to a “new” church. 20c. (10c Doris put in collection.) 25c. st. car. Doris paid for sandwiches & Bovril 45c. 50c taxi. 12c. two bars of choc.
[circled LETTER 23 MA]
[page break]
NOVEMBER 30
[underlined] MON 42 [/underlined]
SNOW. Kellogs, egg & toast, jam, coffee. Compass & loop swing. Beef, spuds, carrots; raisin pie; milk. Sweet nothing to do. Stuck a few planes in book. Had PT & then supper. Lift to Bloor by car. Took snap of Mr. Wood to Liggetts, Bay St. (24 PNTS) Royal York, Grad. Dinn 7.30 PM. $1. photo. 10c phone to Doris. 80c extra for Dinner. Lift back in station waggon LETTER & negs to Doris in [indecipherable word] at Royal York.
[page break]
DECEMBER 1
[underlined] TUES 42. [/underlined]
Up at 9-15 PM. Clothing parade at 10 cancelled. Beef, spuds, turnip; cake & sauce; milk. 15 rounds on rifle range. 10c for Tiger. $1.05 stamps other day. Had supper. Both flights washed, rain & snow so slipped a pass in & went out. Eglington “You are always in my heart” & [blank space] 84c. Doris’ Ma may not be able to come to “wings” parade. 20c choc milk. Doris ma still up when we got home at 12.00 Anyway we pinched a few kisses. 50c taxi back to camp.
[page break]
DECEMBER 2
[underlined] WED 42. [/underlined]
Kellogs, bacon & toast, coffee. Icy wind, so, no parade. DR & Aldis. Sos, spuds; bread pud, milk. Letter from Doris. Still more wind. Lining up drift recorders. Photo with Pat & Jackie, (3 York tykes) with our wing “up.” Meat loaf, spuds, cabbage, 2 pieces pie; milk. 1st flight washed, 2nd. pending. 25c. All Bran & hot chocolate. 10c. phone to Doris, had about 15 min & no overcharge.
[page break]
DECEMBER 3
[underlined] THURS 42. [/underlined]
Porr, bacon & egg: coffee. Stores. Painted a few houses on the snap. [underlined] Letter from Alwyn. [/underlined] [inserted] P.O. [/inserted] Beef, spuds; rice pud; milk. Stores, FFI. Battle Dress for old blue, 4 strips, one wing, gloves, shirt. Liver, spuds; 2 pears; milk; cake. Got pass signed in case we couldn’t [deleted] get out [/deleted] fly. Shave, & button polish. Put battle dress on. Not a bad fit. Standing by [underlined] all night. [/underlined] Started letter to Ma. Phoned Doris. Had FP made out for trip out West. Waited for Snell & Steven E [indecipherable word] in Met Report.
[page break]
[inserted] WINGS PARADE [/inserted]
[underlined] December 4
Fri 42 [/underlined]
Eventualy [sic] took off to fly round & round Malton area. Had 1st flight with GA. Owen. (had 2600 hrs “dead”.) Went up with Tarrant for 1.05. Got to bed at 7.0 AM after bacon & toast breakfast. Up again at 9-30 AM. Made log book up. $22 pay. 6c. meat pie. Made sight log book up. Chicken spuds, pork, beer, fag. Laundry 34c. W.P. practice in hanger. [underlined] Wings Parade [/underlined] Doris there. Bus into town 30c. Had supper at D’s (okay) Sewed strips on Gt. coat & wings on tunic. Liggetts shut. 10c bus to camp Bed by 1 AM.
[page break]
DECEMBER 5
[underlined] SAT. 42. [/underlined] Packed & cleared stn. Mr. Wood shook hands. Ticket etc. from Ordly [sic] Room. 50c. taxi. West End Y full so went to Triangle (50c) $1.20. Moon & Sixpence” George Sanders. Bought Pat & Junes watches $43.50 Razor Sharpener $2. Doris bought ring for me. [deleted] West End Y still full so again went to Triangle. [/deleted]
[page break]
DECEMBER 6
[underlined] SUN 42. [/underlined]
resewed stripe on gt. coat 25c sos at White Cheff Doris arrived & Muriel left Went to Museum again with Doris. Pinched 2 X’s Doris wearing ring. Had Dinner at Doris’. Went to Church. Held hands. 45c. Soup & 2 Bovrils. Sewed stripes on tunic. West End Y still full so went back to Triangle $1.00 for two nights.
[page break]
DECEMBER 7
[underlined] MON 42 [/underlined]
Up at 8.0 AM. Went to stn arr. 8-45. Only 4 of us there. Unloaded all kit. Booked ours onto train & deposited other in Can Legion. Met Dot at 12-15 PM. [underlined] Sent cable home 67c. [/underlined] Bought Dot wing $15. Spoke to Tommy. 50c. fish & choc pie din & bfst. 30c dog biscuits. 15c gums 25c st car. Dot took me to show. 45c Bovril etc. Doris received wing & gave me ring Love & kisses till 1-30 to 2-0.
[page break]
[inserted] [underlined] TORONTO – MONTREAL (FOR MONCTON) [/underlined] N.B. [/inserted]
DECEMBER 8
[underlined] TUES 42 [/underlined] 8.
Up at 7-30. 15c. All Bran & coffee. stn at 9-0. left all checks in Legion. Met Doris on stn. gave her one kiss good bye & no more. Jumped onto train & left [underlined] Toronto [/underlined] 75c ticket. sos, spuds & peaches; coffee. Arr. Montreal 6-0. Checked in Berth ticket & bags $1.00 ticket. chicken spuds, peas; apple pie, coffee. Pat didn’t know his great coat. 7-30 train pulled out. Bed about 10-0 PM.
[page break]
DECEMBER 9
[underlined] WED 42. [/underlined]
Up at 7-30. Tom juice ham & egg, coffee. [underlined] Campbellton put watch ON one hour. [/underlined] arr Moncton 3-15 PM. Walked to camp. Filled in usual cards. Got billet then had supper, minced meat, bread & jam. Saw Steffie & Dough Pitt. [underlined] FIRE [/underlined]
[page break]
DECEMBER 10
[underlined] THURS 42. [/underlined]
NO. BFST. Parade at 9-0 AM. FFI. Church Gas Mask. Had Dinner. Saw Steffie again & went to see Phil. Vaccine check at hospital Had supper, finished letter (?) to Ma to give to Phil.) Wet. Disney’s “Dumbo 15c. on stn. with Gwyn. Phil there too. Gave him letter & saw him for last time.
[page break]
DECEMBER 11
[underlined] FRI 42 [/underlined]
Bacon beans & milk Webing [sic] parad [sic] & deficiencies. Bean soup, beef spuds. peas; rice pud & [underlined] WATER!!! [two symbols] [/underlined]
Snow (more) no parade. Cleared more stuff out of kit bag. Sos, spuds bread & jam [underlined] PEE [/underlined]!! NOT tea
[page break]
DECEMBER 12
[underlined] SAT 42. [/underlined]
bacon & egg, PEE. RUSH at stores. Had din in mess Played cards & started letter to [underlined] Doris after receiving 2 from her & one from Tommy. [/underlined] Had supper [inserted] sos & spuds [/inserted] on camp [underlined] Shave. [/underlined] went out with Gwyn. Bowls, Peackock turned up then Bill Squires of all people. 25c cocoa & apple pie. 15c fruit & 15c sos rolls. [underlined] SHOWER [/underlined]
[page break]
DECEMBER 13
[underlined] SUN 42 [/underlined]
2 sos rolls & apple of my own. 9-15 para 10-15 church parade. Cream Tom soup; beef spuds, cabbage; cust & sponge cake; milk. Went out with Gwyn to finish film. Took 2 of frozen stream, one of self & one of landscape. 50c ham egg & chips, apple pie & coffee. 10c. mins 10c biscuits. 5c crisps 12c choc. & 5c milk. Finished letter to [underlined] Doris [/underlined]
[page break]
DECEMBER 14
[underlined] MON 42. [/underlined]
[underlined] Letter from Doris. [/underlined]
Put into classes for lectures.
“I married a Witch.”
[page break]
DECEMBER 15
[underlined] TUES 42. [/underlined]
Bread & cheese, tea. Parade 8-30 AM. Got leave application form & got flight’s sign Cleaned bowls in wash room Beef & spuds; jam tart & cust milk. Pay parade. $25. Finished Jane Gray’s book (2nd time.) Sos & spuds, bread & jam, tea. NO MAIL. 5c on bus. Eatons shut. laundry not ready. 25c. apple & mints. 17c milk & 2 malt! Bars. Went to stn. about trains. ($22.75 to Toronto.)
[page break]
DECEMBER 16
[underlined] WED 42. [/underlined]
Kellogs; bacon & beans; tea. Parade 8.30 AM. Went to see adj. (sqdn) forwarded to W. Adj. Stew, puds, carrots; rice pud. Parade 1-30 PM. Sqdn. WO, read note about sgt being hung for murder whilst drunk. Went to Wing Adj given 7 days filled in pass form & left it with SWO. Changed barracks, Packed. Meat ball, spuds, bread & jam, cake & sauce tea $22.75 for ticket to Toronto. 36c laundry 40c meal. [underlined] Letter to Norah & card Letter from Doris [/underlined]
[page break]
[inserted] MONCTON S/C TORONTO. [/inserted]
DECEMBER 17
[underlined] THURS 42 [/underlined]
bacon & egg; terrible porr good tea. Got pass & went to Accounts & got $30. Pay & 50c a day ration allowance. Handed kit into stores. Tried to get ration card. Freezing cold. [underlined] Letter & Xmas card to Norah. AG. From Ma & Elsie. [/underlined] Pork, spuds, cabb stewed apple & custard, milk Taxi to stn. 25c. Train 1 hr late. Halibut stake [sic] parsley sauce, spuds; parsnip milk. (75c) Cards, whist 7’s etc.
[page break]
DECEMBER 18
[underlined] FRI 42 [/underlined]
8-0 AM CAMPBELLTON 7-0 AM watches back 1 hr ETA Montreal 9-0 AM, leg lamb, spuds & peas, milk Cards, reading & sleeping. Arr. Montreal 3-50 ONLY 7 hours late Next train 11-0 PM. Went with Gwyn to his relations Snack & shave & good wash. Arr. stn. 10-45. Train eventualy [sic] S/C at 12-00 AM.
[page break]
DECEMBER 19
[underlined] SAT 42. [/underlined]
Arr. 9-30 2 hours late. 25c. sos, spuds, & peas; coffee. $2 for bed. $1.25 [deleted] cushion [/deleted] [inserted] CUSHION [/inserted] cover. $6 for lighter for William. 20c flints. Tommy & rest of girls at office 12-10 & then Doris Steak & kidney pie, soup & blueberry pie; coffee; $1. Shopping ie shop window gazing. 25c. st. car. Dinner at Doris’ $1.20. “One of Our Bombers failed to Return” Damn good! Only one X. Mr. up trimming the Xmas tree.
[page break]
DECEMBER 20
[underlined] SUN 42. [/underlined]
Up at 10-30. 5c. phone to Doris from Central. All at church. 45c brunch. All Bran; sos, beans; blueberry pie & coffee. Rang Doris up again. Met her at Museum 2-45. Dinner at her home. Went to St. Georges church. Carols & school kids helping us to sing some. One X. Good Night [underlined] again. [/underlined] In bed by 1-0 AM
[page break]
DECEMBER 21
[underlined] MON 42. [/underlined]
Up 10-45 AM. Met Doris at CPR Telegraph office. Walked round. Went & saw Tommy at the office. 15c. polishing Duster. brunch. All Bran liver & coffee. 40c. 60c 2 x 127 films. 70c. 2 x 620 films. 15c [indecipherable word] 5c drawing pins. 40c liver, lemon pie & coffee. St car to Jane. 84c Runnymede “Broadway” George Raft. Cheese Sand & Bovril. Doris paid. Mr. still up so!!
[page break]
DECEMBER 22
[underlined] TUES 42 [/underlined]
Up 10-45. Shave. Met Doris usual place. $21.75 watch for Ma. Saw Tommy again. Kissed me Good Bye & Good Luck. Walked Round & Round & Round. 20c blades. 30c batteries 60c. fish, choc pie & coffee. Tried to find Stringer. Posted photos in end to Piper at NO. 1AOS. 25c. milk shakes & sundaes. Saw Mrs Ryall on st car. Went with D for Meat for my lunch. Loews. “7 Sweethearts” & “Eyes in the Dark” Bovril & cheese sandwich. X X X’s & more X X X’s. Took my lunch. bed by 3-0 AM
[page break]
DECEMBER 23
[underlined] WED 42 [/underlined]
Up 7-40. 15c. coffee & Bran Flakes. 5c phone to Doris from Stn. Met her outside. Tommy said she was on her way. Walked back to office with her. one X outside & then left her. Boarded train 9-45. Pulled out 10-45. [underlined] 1hr. late [/underlined] Arr. Mont. 7-0 PM about 1 or 2 hrs late. 48c fish, lemon pie & coffee. 12c Aero choc. Should S/C 8-10. finaly [sic] set off 8-45. F/Sgt. SP with prisoner on way to Halifax. Posted X Cards to Tommy & Doris at Drumondville (11-0 PM.)
[page break]
DECEMBER 24
[underlined] THURS 42. [/underlined]
Had spot of brunch. 10 to 110. AM. Cards with self. Tired so had occasional naps CAMPBELLTON 1-0 PM turned to 2-0 PM. 18c. chips & choc bar. Finished lunch at 4-0. PM Arr. at 8-0 PM. Took film in. Got laundry 29c. Splitting Gwyn’s $10 bill after all. Got kit bag out of stores.
[page break]
[underlined] DECEMBER 25
FRI. 42 [/underlined]
Up at 10-30 to 11-0. Turkey & pork, spuds, peas, apple sauce & stuffing; Cream of tom soup; plum pud; mince pie; bottle of beer; fag; apples, pears & oranges; grapes. [underlined] 4 letters from Doris. Letter from Ma with Elsie’s. Letter from Gran. Letter & 15/- P.O. from S.P.T. [/underlined] Reading book. Pork, beef (cold) pickles & spuds; Xmas cake bread & jam, tea. More reading. Making diary up. Letter to Doris.
[page break]
DECEMBER 26
[underlined] SAT 42 [/underlined]
Pork, cab & spuds; rice pud & jelly. Letter to Doris finished. No Mail. Pork, spuds, celery, pickles, cheese jelly, bread & jam, tea. Gwyn returned [underlined] home. [/underlined] 33c stamps [underlined] posted letter to Doris. [/underlined] 15c. hot choc. & 2 donuts.11c salted & choc peanuts. darn cold out. Wrote AG to Cus & Elsie (Foster.) Letter to Gran.
Bed 12-0 AM..
[page break]
DECEMBER 27
[underlined] SON 42. [/underlined]
Church 11-0 AM. then Communion at 11-45. Celery soup; pork, spuds, choc cake & custard, milk. Reading & nothing else. Short sleep. Ham beef & egg, choc cake & cust tea, bread & jam. Finished book. Wrote letter to Doris. Arty returned Watch still U.S. [underlined] AG to Cus & Elsie [/underlined] & [underlined] letter to Gran. [/underlined] 3 x 3c stamp 4 x 30c. films. 25c. choc hot & Bran Flakes.
[page break]
DECEMBER 28
[underlined] MON 42. [/underlined]
Kellogs; bacon & tomato, tea. Parade. Dismissed. Parceled [sic] watch. Went to Pay Accounts too [sic] late. [underlined] Posted watch 31c. registered Air Mail. [/underlined] Soup; stew, spuds, carrots; prunes; Tea. [underlined] 2 letters [inserted] Xmas Card [/inserted] from Doris. [/underlined] Dismissed again. Started letter to Pat Went to P.O. to sort letters [underlined] Parcel from Norah Xmas Cakes [/underlined] Sos & spuds; apple pie, milk; tea; jam. Gave cake out. [underlined] Posted letter to Doris. [/underlined] 2 X 30c. 620 films. 2 x 10c blades. 5c. milk.
[page break]
DECEMBER 29
[underlined] TUES 42. [/underlined]
No bfst. Parade 8-30. Film, show (propaganda) “Ditching” procedure, Morse? [underlined] No Mail. [/underlined] Beef, spuds (baked) cabbage; rice pud; milk. Letter sorting again. Bed. Hamburger meat & macaroni; bread & jam; tea. More Bed. 5c. bus. Gwyn posted his letter (s) Went for my film not done. Went to Y. 20c 2 milks & choc cake. Went back for film 38c. 40c sacarin 39c Ginger Rogers in “The Major & the Minor” a scream! Walked back
[page break]
DECEMBER 30
[underlined] WED 42. [/underlined]
Kellogs & HOT milk; beans & bacon; tea. Bed. Navigation? Signals? [underlined] No MAIL. [/underlined] Bean soup; beef; spuds, cabbage; apple & custard; milk. Parade Post Office [underlined] No Mail. [/underlined] Ran to Mess. Meat pie (Sheppherd) [sic] Macaroni & milk. Bread & jam; tea. [underlined] Letter to Doris. [/underlined] 5c bus. Got Gwyn’s picts, posted letter. Rain turning to hail. 10c hot choc. 75c. chocs. 6c choc. 10c biscuits 10c mints. Walked back. [underlined] Letter to Ma & Tommy [/underlined]
[page break]
DECEMBER 31
[underlined] THURS 42. [/underlined]
No bfst. Parade in drill hall. Bed till 10-15 played cards. Navi. Didn’t go to signals. Stew, (bean) pork, stuffing, spuds, carrots & apple sauce, crackling, prunes & cust; milk. Parade. Pay accounts. Pay parade 2-30. $25 pay. Gave Gwyn his $10 back Now have $16. Post Office. [underlined] Letter from Doris. [/underlined] Bean soup; cheese cake, spuds; cheese; brd & jam; tea. [underlined] Letter to Doris [/underlined] Show, walked into town. 10c milk shake. Walked back. Shower. Washed socks. Bed about 11-45
[page break]
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
Keith Thompson's diary July 1942 to July 1943
Description
An account of the resource
During this period Keith was under training in Canada and then in England from June 1943 on 28 OTU at RAF Wymswold.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Keith Thompson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942
1943
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Large format diary
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Diary
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
YThompsonKG1238603v2
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.
Canada
Great Britain
England--Leicestershire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
1942-08
1942-09
1942-10
1942-11
1942-12
1943-01
1943-02
1943-03
1943-04
1943-05
1943-06
1943-07
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
28 OTU
aircrew
entertainment
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
Navy, Army and Air Force Institute
Operational Training Unit
RAF Wymeswold
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1246/16373/MNealeETH1395951-150731-0320001.1.jpg
8efd416f6f647ac0fb1325308edb97be
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1246/16373/MNealeETH1395951-150731-0320002.1.jpg
3d24a47baccef17dee8a2a34f07c4399
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
Neale, Ted
E T H Neale
Description
An account of the resource
123 items. The collection concerns Edward Thomas Henry Neale (b. 1922, 1395951 Royal Air Force) who served as a navigator with 37 Squadron in North Africa, the Middle East and Italy. The collection contains his training notebooks from South Africa as well as propaganda leaflets dropped by the allies in the Mediterranean theatre.
The collection also contains a photograph album, navigation logs and target photographs.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Alison Neale and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07-31
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Neale, ETH
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
RAF Leave Form
Form 1672
Description
An account of the resource
Issued to Ted Neale whilst at Heaton Park.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-01-22
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet with handwritten annotations
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MNealeETH1395951-150731-0320001,
MNealeETH1395951-150731-0320002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
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.
1943-01
1943-02
aircrew
RAF Heaton Park
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1191/11764/AWeirA180328.2.mp3
430469e505edba02b7e7aae9c4e28636
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
Weir, Archie
Archibald Weir
A Weir
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with archibald 'Archie' Weir (1922 - 2018, 1562624 Royal Air Force). He flew operations with 61 Squadron.
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
2018-03-28
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Weir, A
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
HB: This is an interview between Harry Bartlett from International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive and Mr Archibald Weir [buzzzzzzzzzz] Linton, Derbyshire. Archie’s service number —
AW: 156 —
HB: Is 1 —
AW: 1562624.
HB: 1562624. After seventy five years that’s not a bad memory. And Archie served with 61 Squadron at some, at one point during his service.
AW: That’s right.
HB: Before we get in to the war Archie where were you born?
AW: Glenbuck in Ayrshire.
HB: Sorry?
AW: Glenbuck in Ayrshire.
HB: In Ayrshire. Oh right. Right.
Other: Glenbuck.
HB: Glenbuck. Yeah. Right. And did you go to school up there?
AW: Hmmn?
HB: Did you go to school up there before the war?
AW: Yeah.
HB: Yeah. And how old were you when, when the war was going to start?
AW: Seventeen, I think.
HB: About seventeen.
AW: Yeah.
HB: And did you, did you join up straightaway?
AW: Yeah.
HB: So, so what when did you, when did you go to the RAF to join up? Can you remember? It doesn’t matter if you can’t. it’s —
AW: No.
HB: That’s not, that’s not really important.
Other: Yeah. He did. He did sign up at the beginning.
HB: So, so whereabouts did you go to join the RAF, Archie?
[pause]
HB: Was that, was that in Scotland somewhere?
AW: Yes.
HB: Yeah. So, so you joined up in Scotland.
AW: Yeah.
HB: And they obviously sent you somewhere. Where did you go to get trained?
[pause]
AW: For a, for a while I was trained in Ayrshire.
HB: You trained, trained in Ayrshire originally.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Yeah. And then did you, did you go abroad?
AW: Yes.
HB: Whereabouts did you go abroad for training? I bet it was hot.
AW: Yes.
HB: Somewhere in South Africa?
[pause]
HB: So, when you first went to South Africa did you go to train? What did you actually go to train as?
AW: A bomb aimer.
HB: A bomb aimer. Right. You, you didn’t start off as a pilot.
AW: No.
HB: No. You started. You went as a bomb aimer. Right. Because I’ve got your, you very kindly got out your South African, “Air Force Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Log Book.” And of course, the observers were the bomb aimers, weren’t they? Yeah, and we’ve got here 1943. November 1943.
AW: Yeah.
HB: And we’ve got you going on air experience. So, can you remember what kind of aircraft you were in there, Archie?
[pause]
HB: I’ve got a note right at the front here that says you did some practice in Oxfords and Ansons. So, so you obviously had a bit of a fly in them.
AW: Yeah.
HB: What, what, can you remember what it was like?
AW: The Air Force. The Air Force.
HB: Sorry, Archie. I didn’t quite catch that.
AW: It was the Air Force.
HB: Yeah. What was it like flying for the first time in, in these aircraft?
AW: It was in the, basically in the Command.
HB: Yeah. In Bomber Command.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Yeah. But did, I mean did you enjoy the flying?
AW: Oh aye.
HB: Yes. Very good. And can you remember how long you were in South Africa training?
AW: Say that again. Sorry.
HB: Can you remember how long you were in South Africa training?
[pause]
AW: I think it was about six months.
HB: Right. About, about six months. I’ve got you in your book. I’ve got you transferring in March 1945 to LFS Syerston. Was that, was that flying? Actually flying the aircraft at the local LFS. Flying School at RAF Syerston. Because I’ve got you down here you’re in Lancaster.
AW: Yeah.
HB: With a Flying Officer Anderson. Do you remember him at all?
[pause]
HB: I’ve got, I’ve got you going out on the 10th of March 1945 doing your familiarisation exercises. Can you remember what they were like?
AW: Circuits and landings really.
HB: Circuits and landings. Right. And then it sounds a little bit hairy this one. On March the 11th three engine flying and corkscrew. What was, what was that about Archie?
AW: [pause] I think it was part of the procedure as far as corkscrew was concerned.
HB: Right. So if, so were you flying the plane to do the corkscrew or was that the pilot?
AW: I think it was a bit of each, I think.
HB: A bit of each. Yeah. I think everybody did a bit of each didn’t they? Now, we’ve got you doing your exercises here. And then we’ve got you going to 61 Squadron at Skellingthorpe.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Skellingthrope. Skellingthorpe.
AW: Skellingthorpe.
HB: And that’s the 16th of March 1945 and we’ve got some of your operations in here. So, we’ve got you with —
AW: [Cromberg]
HB: [Cromberg.] Yeah. That’s it. Spot on. The pilot. And you are the observer. The bomb aimer. So we’ve got you doing your fighter affiliation and your cross country exercises and then we’ve got the 22nd of March 1945 with [Cromberg]
AW: Yeah.
HB: And you went to Bremen. That was your first operation. Can you remember what your first operation was like?
[pause]
HB: I’ve got, because I haven’t got anything here. You were flying for four hours and fifty minutes. Does that help? No. And that was a day time operation. And you’ve got a note in your book here, Archie. Thousand pound AMC. Can you remember what AMC was for? [pause] Would that be something to do with the bomb? The actual bomb or the bomb load because you’ve got fourteen. Fourteen thousand pound AMC. So, I don’t know what AMC is. No? It don’t matter. And then we’ve got you going to the 23rd blimey, so, you did a day operation on the 22nd of March to Bremen and then on the 23rd you did a night operation to Wessel. Yeah. Can you remember anything about them? No. Because you did, I mean you did four operations in five days, Archie. That was a lot.
Other: If you can remember anything dad if you tell him.
HB: Yeah.
Other: It would be good.
HB: Yeah.
Other: If there’s anything you can remember please tell him. It would be really, it’s really important.
HB: Yeah.
Other: People want to know what you’re saying.
HB: Yeah. You don’t —
Other: It won’t —
HB: There’s us talking. It, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you say it’s your, it’s what you want to say about it about your time.
Other: But it would be really important. It’s really good for people to understand dad.
HB: Yeah.
Other: Your, your time in a plane. How it felt. How it was for you in your plane and what you saw and how it was for you. It’s time to tell everybody. You’ve not told anyone in seventy five years anything. It’s time to tell. Please. Tell us what’s going on. Tell us how it was so people can understand how it was for you as a young man in that plane. Tell us how it was.
HB: Yeah. We weren’t there Archie. We don’t know what it was like. It must have been frightening and you must have seen some pretty nasty things.
AW: Oh aye.
HB: Did you, did you have the same crew all the way through?
AW: Yeah.
HB: Yeah. And what, what was it like mixing with the crew?
AW: No problem.
HB: Yeah. How did you all get together Archie in the first place? As a crew.
AW: It was at [pause] oh, we were in to, what was it called?
HB: Into a —
AW: In to a school. A flying school.
HB: In the flying school. Yeah. And did you all sort of mix around until you found each other?
AW: More or less. Yeah.
HB: Yeah. Who, who [pause] Did you pal up with someone or did someone come and get you?
AW: We were all put together and there we were formed in to a squad.
HB: Right. Yeah. So you, so you became a crew at the flying school.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Yeah. And you stuck with that crew all the way through then.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Because some, some crews towards the end of the war, some crews got broken up because some went off because some had done more operations than the others but others, I mean sometimes they were wounded or killed. You know. Were, were, was your crew one of the lucky crews and you saw it right through to the end?
AW: Yeah.
HB: Yeah. Can you remember who your crew were? What their names were?
AW: Jack [Cromberg] was the pilot.
[pause]
HB: The pilot. Yeah. Can you remember your navigator?
AW: Hmmn?
HB: Can you remember your navigator?
[pause]
Other: I’ve got the, I’ve got that photo handy. It’s alright. I’ll get it. I’ve got it on my —
HB: I’ll Perhaps just have a look at this photo with you Archie and we’ll see. See who you can remember. I’m bound to knock that tea off. I’m bound to. I’ll put it there. It always happens. Right. Here we’ve got your photo Archie and we’ve got you. That’s you. Yeah?
AW: Yeah.
HB: That’s, so we know that you’re the third from the right. So, which one was Jack?
AW: Jack Cromberg.
HB: Yeah. We’ll go along the line. You just tell me when you, when I get to him.
[pause]
HB: No. Do you think Jack, do you think Jack might be the one with the officer’s cap on?
AW: Yes.
HB: In the middle there next to you.
AW: Yeah. Yeah.
HB: Yeah.
Other: Do you want your glasses on, dad?
HB: Do you want your glasses? Would that be easier?
Other: They’re just behind you on that. On that, on that —
HB: Got it.
Other: That’s it, mate.
HB: Here we go. Is that going to be easier?
Other: I’ll get the picture a bit bigger.
HB: How’s that?
AW: Yeah.
HB: Is that better? Oh, I can see you now [laughs] There you go. We think that’s Jack.
AW: Yeah.
HB: And that’s you. So, Jack’s fourth from the right and you’re third from the right. See, they’re all very helpful. They’ve all got their Mae West on.
AW: Yeah.
HB: So it covers up the badge on their Jacket so we don’t know who’s who. Do you recognise any of them?
[pause]
HB: It doesn’t matter if you don’t. it’s not, it’s not vital.
AW: Wasn’t that [unclear]
HB: And who?
AW: Hmmn?
HB: Who was the other one you said?
AW: Me.
HB: That’s you.
AW: Yeah.
HB: That’s Jack.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Any of the others? [pause] We’ll perhaps leave that for a minute and then we’ll just, we’ll just come back to that. Yeah. Because it looks even though it’s 1945 out of your log book it looks like you’re virtually flying, you know every other day really.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Who have we got signing this? [pause] We’ve got somebody called Fadden. Fadden. Was he the CO from 61 Squadron?
Other: Yeah?
HB: Squadron leader.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Aye. And we’ve got you going on, got you going on another day time raid to Farge. Farge. That was in the daytime.
Other: If you want to go back to that picture I’ve got one you can see.
HB: You can just scroll it along. Yeah. How’s that? Is that better? Is that clearer? Right. So, if we find. We think that’s Jack [Cromberg] Yeah.
AW: Yes.
HB: Oh, hang on. That’s you.
AW: Yes.
HB: Laughing. So, we’ve got these two lads on the end. On the right hand side. So, can you remember what, who they were?
AW: Were they gunners?
HB: Sorry?
AW: Were they, were they the gunners?
HB: That’s what I say. Really helpful. They’ve got their Mae Wests on so we can’t see what their, what their badge says. He’s a sergeant. And he’s definitely a flight sergeant. So, I don’t know. They could have been gunners. If we go the other way we’ve got these three lads. Can you see them? What’s he got on his arm? He’s, he’s got a sergeant’s chevrons on but I can’t see their [pause] No. I can’t see their arms. He might actually be an officer because he’s got nothing on his arms. But again helpful. You’ve all got your hands in your pockets [laughs] So, let’s have a look at him. We’ve got any ideas about him?
[pause]
HB: What about them two? No? [pause] It doesn’t matter Archie. It’s not, it’s not vital. It’s not. That’s not vital. Right. What have we got here? We’ve got one here. [Komotau?] [Komotau?] You flew to [Komotau?]. That’s, that’s a long one. That’s eight hours. That was a night one and you got diverted to Stoney Cross. Can you remember that one? That flight.
AW: We got diverted.
HB: You got diverted. Yeah. What would that be for do you think? Might it be weather?
AW: Maybe.
HB: Right. So, we come to the end of April and Fadden’s signed it again. And then we’ve got May 1945 you’re mainly doing training but then you’ve got an interesting one here. On the 30th of May with Jack [Cromberg]. You’re doing a Cook’s Tour. Heligoland, Bremerhaven, Bremen, Hanover, Mittelland Canal, Munster and Wessel. What was a Cook’s Tour, Archie?
AW: When we, a Cook’s Tour was basically [pause] it was when you were letting them know what you were up to.
HB: So you, what? Did you have other people in the aircraft as well? What sort of people did you have in the aircraft?
AW: All your crew.
HB: The aircrew. Any guests? [pause] You didn’t sneak a couple of WAAFs on there did you?
AW: No.
HB: Did you have any of the ground crew? Any of your ground crew go with you?
AW: No.
HB: On the Cook’s Tour.
AW: No.
HB: No.
AW: No.
Other: You can tell us. You’re not, you won’t be in trouble. You won’t get in trouble now.
HB: I’m just going to pause this for a second.
[pause]
HB: Right. We’ve just turned the tape recorder back on just while I finish my tea without spilling it. Now, we’ve got one here that’s a bit intriguing. I’ve never seen this in anybody’s log before, Archie and this is July the 3rd 1945 and it’s got Lancaster T-Tango or T-Tommy. Your pilot is Flight Lieutenant Shand and you’ve got written next to it, “post mortem.” Can you think what that would be about?
[pause]
HB: No? Were you doing some training then? In July 1945 were you doing a bit of training?
[pause]
HB: Right. I think what we’ll do Archie we’ll just pause, just pause this for a minute.
[recording paused]
If I keep talking to you. Right. I’ve just started the tape up again while we’ve just been having a look through the logbook. So, you were in Wellingtons flying out of 26 OTU on Course Number 54 and towards the end of that you’re flying in Wellingtons and that’s where you seem to have teamed up with Jack [Cromberg].
AW: Yeah.
HB: Yeah. What, can you remember the first flight you did with Jack?
[pause]
HB: Because it looks to me, it looks to me like you got together with Jack quite early on at Wing.
AW: Yeah.
HB: At the at the OTU. Yes. It’s, and that’s pretty well all in Wellingtons with the OTU. Right. A flight and C flight. And then, ah you went, you went to Langar.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Do you remember being at Langar? What was that?
AW: That was conversion.
HB: Conversion.
AW: Yeah.
HB: So that’s the Heavy Conversion. Right. There’s [pause] Jack’s disappeared for a minute there and then you’ve got the first few flights in a Halifax. Halifax 2, Mark 2 and that’s with somebody called Thackeray. Flying Officer Thackeray. That’s right at the end of ’44. December ’44. Does that ring any bells with him? Was he, he must have been instantly forgettable [laughs] And then you do a lot, a lot of that training there with Jack [Cromberg]
AW: Yeah.
HB: And that takes you all the way through January 1945 and you’re still in Halifaxes. Ah right. Yeah. So you go, you go February the 1st you’re in Halifaxes still at Wing. At Langar, sorry. At Langar. And then you go to Number 5, LFS at Syerston and that’s in March 1945. So I would think you went on leave for a bit, didn’t you?
AW: [I wouldn’t know]
HB: No [laughs] Some of those leaves were worth forgetting weren’t they? It no good you smiling. I know. I know. Right. Yeah. And you, and you’re with Jack at Syerston. You’re then posted out March 16th to Skellingthorpe at, at 61 Squadron. Yeah. Yeah. That’s quite a, quite a lot of activity that in a short space of time, Archie. Did you, did you have much of a social life when you were in there at Skellingthorpe?
[pause]
HB: Did they have dances on the station or did you have to go off the station to go to a dance?
AW: Off the station.
HB: Yeah. And where was your favourite place to go?
[pause]
HB: Did you, did you sort of go into Lincoln a bit or did you stay? Did you stay local?
AW: We stayed local.
HB: You stayed. Yeah. Yeah. Just stayed local to the field. Yeah. Yeah. When, when you were coming towards the end of the war when the actual operations had finished where, where did you go towards the end? Did you go to demob or did you go to training?
AW: [unclear] I think we had, when I finished the tour.
HB: Yeah. When you finished your tour. Yeah. Yeah. Because you stopped flying operations. Sorry. You flew your last operation on the 18th of April 1945 to Komotau. Komotau. Komotau, I think it is. Which was a long one. Eight hours thirty five minutes that one and that was it. And then you seemed to do lots of training then but I didn’t know. Can you remember where you went to be demobbed?
[pause]
HB: The, the last, I was just looking for the last entry in here because it’s got you still, you were still with 61 Squadron Waddington in 1946.
Other: Was that when you were on Lincolns? Were you training on Lincolns, dad?
HB: No. That’s, that’s all Lancaster stuff.
Other: Or was that —
HB: And you’re still, you’re still doing lots and lots of training. Cross countries, bullseye. Do you remember bullseye? The bullseye exercise? What was, what was that one? Remind me. I can’t remember.
[pause]
HB: Right. Well, we seem to have come to the end of it. The end of the book. Yeah, I see you ended up in the decompression chamber doing your training. Do you remember that? Going in the decompression chamber? Where they lower the air pressure and you had to put your oxygen mask on because one or two have said it was a bit frightening. Well, I think that’s, that’s the back end of your, your logbook, Archie. So, what, when we come to the end of the war what did you do after the war when you finished?
[pause]
HB: Did you, did you go back up to Scotland? [pause] Yeah.
AW: Yeah.
HB: And did you, did you have a job in Scotland before you joined and did you go back to your job?
AW: Yeah.
HB: And what was, what sort of work were you doing, Archie?
[pause]
HB: It don’t, it don’t matter if you, if you can’t remember. And when, when it was all, when it was all finished and you went home what’s, what’s, what are the things that stick in your mind about your time in Bomber Command? What do you remember about Bomber Command? What do you think the best bits were?
[pause]
AW: It was a, it was a different life.
HB: A different life. Yeah. Yeah. Very different. Yeah. And, and a bit sad at times as well.
AW: Yeah.
HB: Yeah. What do you think? What do you think was your saddest time there with them?
[pause]
AW: I don’t think there was a sad day. I think it was. I don’t mean it wasn’t sad.
[pause]
HB: What, what did you think of the job that you’d done?
AW: We had very little choice.
HB: Yeah.
AW: We were down there and that was it. [We had to be there]
HB: Yeah. I think I’ll stop the interview now Archie. Thanks ever so much for that.
[recording paused]
HB: How did you get out to South Africa, Archie? Can you remember?
AW: How?
HB: How did you get to South Africa?
Other: Am I interfering? Should I get out your way?
HB: No. No. No. No. Not at all. Yeah, I was just asking Archie how he got to South Africa. If he can remember how he got to South Africa. Did you go on a boat? Were there many of you?
Other: Tell him.
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 Archie Weir
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Bartlett
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-03-28
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AWeirA180328
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:40:36 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
Archie was born in Ayreshire. He was about 17 when he joined, then went to South Africa to train as a bomb aimer. In February 1943 Archie worked on Halifax Mk 2 before being transferred to Lancaster finishing school at RAF Syerston. In November 1943 he also flew in Oxford and Anson aircraft. In 1944 he trained on Wellingtons and Halifax aircraft, and in March 1945 he went to the Lancaster Finishing School at RAF Syerston on familiarisation flights and circuits and landings. The crew served with 61 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe from 16 March 1945; on 22 March he did his first operation to Bremen. Their last one was on 18 April 1945 to Komotau in Czechoslovakia. He also flew on some Cook’s Tour trips over former targets in Germany.. Archie was posted to RAF Waddington in 1946, before returning to his job in Scotland.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Lincolnshire
South Africa
Germany
Germany--Bremen
Scotland
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
1943-11
1945-03-10
1945-03-16
1945-03-22
1945-04-18
1945-05-30
1945-07-03
1946
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Julie Williams
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
61 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
Anson
bomb aimer
bombing
Cook’s tour
Halifax
Halifax Mk 2
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
observer
Oxford
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Syerston
RAF Waddington
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1009/11270/YMadgettHR1330340v5.1.pdf
558e03680167391f2df8cbb7484d1338
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
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
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
2015-03-17
2019-06-14
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Madgett, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
DIARY 1943
[Page Break]
DIARY 1943
If found, please return to
H R Madgett
127 Longlands Road, Sidcup, Kent
[Page Break]
January 1943
1 Fri.
Brevet. Shoe laces, tooth brush
2. Sat.
Soap Flakes
3.Sun.
Blank
4. Mon.
Blank
[Page Break]
13 Wed.
[deleted] 0222 0227 0237 0237 [/deleted]
14 Thurs.
[deleted] T.O. 0010 S.U. 23.50 [/deleted]
15 Fri.
Blank
16. Sat.
Blank
[Page Break]
JANUARY 1943
17 SUN.
Winnie’s picture before come back from leave.
18. Mon.
Blank
19 Tues.
Blank
20 Wed.
Blank
[Page Break]
21 Thurs.
6.21 8.5 Grantham
7.20 9.3 Notts
[inserted] Train [/inserted]
22 Fri. Rauceby Hoop 7.15pm
[underline] Bus [/Underline] Grantham to Newark 8.15pm
23. Sat
Grantham to Notts 8.00pm
24 Sun.
Blank
[Page Break]
JANUARY 1943
25 Mon.
Sweet Eloise HMV.
BD 5779 G Miller
26 Tues.
Blank
27 Wed.
Blank
28 Thurs.
Blank
[Page Break]
29 Fri.
New Brunswick
02950 –A & B
A Man this drum Jimmy Dorsey.
30 Sat.
Anvil Chorus
Glen Miller
BD 5671
31 Sun.
DB 5048 Columbia
Wire Brush Stomp.
Gene Krupa
“Tonight”. G Miller
[Page Break]
May 1943
1 Sat.
Winnie 5.15 p.m.
2 Sun.
Blank
3 Mon.
Winnie 6.30 p.m.
4 Tues.
Blank
[Page Break]
5 Wed.
Blank
6 Thurs.
Blank
7 Fri.
Blank
8 Sat.
Blank
[Page Break]
MAY 1943
9 Sun.
Blank
10 Mon.
Blank
11 Tues.
Blank
12 Wed.
Winnie 5.30 to Newark. Only.
[Page Break]
13 Thurs.
Blank
14 Fri.
5.30 to Newark.
9.00 if ops scrubbed.
15 Sat.
Blank
16 Sun.
Blank
December 1943
27 Mon
Crofton Park
London
28 Tues.
Blank
29 Wed.
Blank
30 Thurs.
Blank
[Page Break]
31 Fri.
Blank
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
Hedley Madgett diary 1943
Description
An account of the resource
Entries for January, February and part of May 1943. Entries include shopping list, reminders, addresses, appointments and train times/journeys.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
H Madgett
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Sixteen page diary with covers
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Diary
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
YMadgettHR1330340v5
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
England--Kent
England--Lincolnshire
England--Grantham
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Nottingham
England--London
England--Newark (Nottinghamshire)
England--Sleaford (Lincolnshire)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-01
1943-02
1943-05
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
Claire Monk
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/875/11115/PHollisAN1801.2.jpg
7fea6f1398cdeabc26833d102de46378
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/875/11115/AHollisRE180111.1.mp3
e3e523e3265c6984d2c2ca159745a801
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
Hollis, Arthur
Arthur Norman Hollis
A N Hollis
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Arthur Hollis (b. 1922) who joined the RAF in 1940 and after training completed a tour on 50 Squadron before becoming an instructor. At the end of the war he was deployed as part of Tiger Force. Collection contains a biography and memoir, his logbook, correspondence, training records, photographs of people, aircraft and places, his medals and flying jacket. It includes an oral history interview with his son, Richard Hollis.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Richard Hollis and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-11-07
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. 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
Hollis, AN
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
CB: My name is Chris Brockbank and today is Thursday the 11th of January 2018 and I’m in Cowes with Richard Hollis to talk about his father Arthur Hollis. What were the earliest information you’ve got about your father, Richard?
RH: Well, right from his, from his childhood through schooling. We know quite a lot. Quite a lot about the family. I’ve got lots of photographs and, up until when he was in the Home Guard and then joined up and joined the RAF.
CB: So if we start with early on. Where his parents were. What his father did. And then take it from there.
RH: His father got completely decimated in the First World War and was an office manager in an insurance company. He went into insurance really because it was about the only thing that he could do and my father’s mother was at home bringing up children. My father was the eldest. The eldest child.
CB: His schooling?
RH: And his schooling. He went to, he said not very satisfactory prep schools. And then my grandparents were left some money by an uncle who deceased and enabled them to send both my father and his brother to Dulwych College as day boys where my father said he rapidly learned how to work and the advantages of working and he, he did very well academically. He was also a keen sportsman. He played rugby. He was a very keen swimmer and he was an extremely fine amateur boxer. He then, well after he came out of school at sixteen after he matriculated and I think that was school certificate or, anyway and he then, my grandfather was very anxious, his father was very anxious that he’d, with the war coming that he’d have some sort of grounding for a profession which my poor late grandfather had not had and so he was articled to a firm of chartered accountants or accountants in the City called [Legge] and Company. I think Phillip, I think it was Phillip [Legge], I’m not sure. The, he, [Legge] had been a contemporary of my late grandfather in the First World War. He was there for a good couple of years and, and, but he wanted to join up. He was not, he couldn’t join the Army or the Navy for some reason but he went then, he opted for the RAF and but apparently at that time there was a bit of a blockage of new people wanting to be pilots. They obviously couldn’t process them fast enough so he was sent off to Manchester University to do higher maths and flying related subjects I think for about six months before he went off to learn to fly in Florida. In his memoirs he comments that the ship that they went out on which was to Nova Scotia had been used for, as a meat ship. I doubt if it was cleaned out very well. They just strung a row of hammocks across and people were very sick apart from him. And so he landed in winter time in Nova Scotia. They saw good food for the first time. In his memoirs he tells us that. And then they worked, went by train down through the United States into, into Florida which of course was beautifully warm. He went to an airfield called Clewiston and quite early on he was selected to be a corporal, acting corporal and to, one of the jobs was to maintain discipline. He was quite a disciplinarian anyway and so he seemed to be rather suited. His commanding officer was Wing Commander Kenneth Rampling and he got on extremely well with Kenneth Rampling and had a huge amount of respect for him. He finished his training there. He said when he was training the flying instruction in the air was excellent. On the ground it was very poor so they had to work extremely hard to, to make sure that they didn’t lag behind or or fail. When they had finished there he went back up to Canada and I think he received his commission on [pause] up in Canada. They then joined other people on a, on a ship, troop ship crossing the Atlantic and in, he said in his memoirs later on he didn’t realise at the time, he wouldn’t have known but it was actually at the height of the U-boat, U-boat war but they were all very jolly and he said, but it wasn’t always pleasant going. He said, ‘If the sea was rough,’ he said, ‘You imagine shaving with a cutthroat,’ which he did, ‘A cutthroat razer in a rough sea.’ He said, ‘I didn’t worry about it.’ He just got on. But anyway, he landed in, he landed in [pause] I think Liverpool but I’m not sure. That would have to be checked out. And then went down to, in his memoirs I think he said he goes down to the south coast to be kitted out. After that, we’ll check up in his logbook, he went to Little Rissington to start learning to fly twin engine aircraft. It would have been Oxfords. He then went, he then went on to, where did he go after that Chris?
CB: Right. We’ll pause there for a mo.
RH: Yeah.
[recording paused]
CB: The question [pause] Of course, when he was an articled clerk it’s the early days of the war and everybody was pressed into something. He’d had training, officer type training when he was at school.
RH: Yes. He was —
CB: So what did he do when he left?
RH: He joined the Home Guard. He had a lot of respect for the other, his colleagues in the Home Guard. He pointed out to us as a family, he said, ‘Dad’s Army is not really a true picture of what it was like.’ He said, ‘These were people who had been a part of a, at the end of the First World War, if they’d survived the First World War, a fine Army and they could certainly shoot fast and straight. And in his memoirs he says that there would have been a lot of dead Germans. Anyway, he enjoyed himself in the Home Guard and thought it was very worthwhile.
CB: Good. Thank you very much. And so that set him in good stead anyway when he joined the RAF because he already had —
RH: Yes.
CB: Military training.
RH: Yes.
CB: Now, in his logbook we have talked about him returning to Little Rissington.
RH: Yes.
CB: Returning to England and doing his twin engine flying.
RH: Yes.
CB: So that was to get him accomplished with A - twin engine and B - the British weather.
RH: Yes. He does say in his memoirs that navigation was considerably harder in in the UK than it was in the, in the States.
CB: Did he ever explain why? Why that was so much more difficult.
RH: I don’t think so. Just that the terrain, in the States you could follow a railway line or something and there was very little. And the weather of course. So after Little Rissington —
CB: He then went on to the Operational Training Unit.
RH: Yes.
CB: That was at —
RH: He then went to Number 29 OTU at North Luffenham on Wellington Mark 3s. By this stage he had done two hundred and ninety five hours of flying and and it was during this period that he had an unfortunate incident. It was in December just before Christmas. December 1942. He had to bale out at two and a half thousand feet on the orders of the captain from the Wellington and he did not have his parachute done up correctly and it started to go over his, over his body. It caught on his flying jacket. It tore his flying jacket and he came down holding on to the, holding on to his parachute with his arms. He flatly refused all through his flying life to get the flying jacket repaired where it tore because he said, ‘That tear saved my life.’ He says in his memoirs that when he landed on the ground that he was met by some farmers, or farm labourers approached him and questioned where he was from. Was he one of theirs or one of ours and he said very strongly he was one of ours. He said they then plied him with tea in a farmhouse. He said he would like to have had something slightly stronger. Anyway, he continued his training there, then went to a short course, advanced flying, again on Wellington Mark 1s. And then in February, the beginning of February 1943 he joined 1660 Conversion Course at Swinderby. Swinderby, and was flying Manchesters, Mark 1s and he then and that’s where he picked up the rest of his crew. He had picked, when he was flying Wellingtons he had pilot officer then, Palmer as navigator, Sergeant Kemp as an air bomber, Cheshire, Sergeant Cheshire as a wireless operator/air gunner and Sergeant Jock Walker his rear gunner. And he was very very fond of Jock Walker.
CB: What did he tell you about the crewing up process at the OTU on the Wellingtons?
RH: He said that you just stand. There wasn’t any, he said you chose. I don’t know how it worked but you just chose your, I think he said that he chose. You chose your own crew and how you would know if they were good. I suppose if you got on reasonably well or you talked to them and you found out a little bit about them but those were the people that he had, I believe he had chosen. Later on in the Conversion Unit at Swinderby he was joined by Sergeant Bob Yates and sergeant [pause] who would that have been? Sergeant [Adsed], Don Adsed who was a flight engineer. Bob Yates was the mid-upper, upper gunner. So that made up the crew of seven. He did say, he told me that when he was doing his Conversion Unit converting to heavy bombers of all the people on the course he was the only one to have survived the Second World War. And that was born out by when the Memorial at Skellingthorpe was unveiled in the 80s. nineteen eighty —
CB: Six.
RH: 1986. A very old man came up to him and said, ‘Are you Arthur Hollis?’ And he said yes and he said and he was with my mother at the time who also witnessed this and this dear old man said to him, ‘Oh, I know one, I knew one survived. I’m so pleased to meet you.’ Which was very touching. Anyway, then in 1943 in March, March the 11th 1943 he started flying operationally at Skellingthorpe on 50 Squadron and straightaway we’ve got the first operation to Stuttgart. According to his logbook he flew a variety of Lancasters. They were Lancaster Mark 3s but his favourite, their favourite one appeared in March, at the end of March 1943 and that was D for Dog, ED475 which took them to Berlin and then on to St Nazaire the next night. Working through his logbook they did, they were flying some part sometimes to France. I know he planted, he did some mining in the Gironde on one occasion but then it was off to Kiel, [unclear] Stettin, Duisburg and Essen. On May the 12th 1943 they were setting off to go to Duisburg. He told me that quite often to gain height they would take off, fly over and go and fly over to Manchester to gain height and then, and then cross the North Sea with some decent height. But off the Dutch coast he was with, in collision with a Halifax. What had happened was that the Halifax apparently had been early and contrary to the strict instruction not to do a dog leg and join in with the main bomber stream the pilot of the Halifax had decided to turn back in to the main stream. Go head on into the main bomber stream. They collided. The Halifax with one of its propellers cut through and cut off six feet and damaged six feet of the starboard wing and put an engine out of action. The engine must have been on the starboard wing as well. Probably the outer. They both returned to, to England and he my father told me, I had asked him at one stage why he had not been recognised for, for bringing a damaged aircraft back with seven valuable men in it and he said because he wasn’t riddled with German bullets. But he was always extremely angry that the collision seemed to have been hushed up. There is correspondence about the collision from other members of his crew that looked at it, looked at it in 1979 and some photographs of the damage to the wing. But [pause] could we just stop there?
CB: We’ll pause just for a mo.
RH: Yeah.
[recording paused]
CB: So after the mid-air collision.
RH: Well, he —
CB: He got no recognition.
RH: He got no recognition. In fact, it was, it was all hushed up which made him very angry because it was, he said it was two valuable aircraft and fourteen valuable men. Coming back they jettisoned the bombs. He managed to fly the aircraft he said. He told me he could just about keep it in a straight line and they jettisoned the bombs and I don’t know where he landed but he obviously did. So that was that. Then he continued on with operations. That was with ED475. Their favourite aircraft. In an article written by, or written in 1979 one of his crew which was [pause] who was that? Cheshire, his wireless operator praised my father for flying the aircraft back. But it was established that it was a Halifax because there were bits of the Halifaxes propeller wrapped around the wing of the aircraft and it contained wood and only the Halifax propeller I believe had, did contain wood. So, we then move on to [pause –pages turning], I think we’ve missed something here. We need to stop I think.
CB: Ok. We’ll stop for a mo.
[recording paused]
CB: Ok. Restarting now.
RH: There is another photograph of, a colour photograph of a Lancaster. It’s actually a flight of Lancasters and my father told me that he was asked to take up a flight, a flight of Lancasters with a photographer on another aeroplane. They were to do formation flying. In his logbook he says on the 23rd of July a formation flying nine aircraft. He did say that they weren’t trained to do formation flying and basically most of the aircraft the pilots couldn’t get near this photographer so most of the photographs were taken of my dear late father in his Lancaster and his crew and the photographs are there. That has been established that it was JA899, again D for Dog and photographs have been taken up by Lincoln, copied by Lincoln University. Shortly after that, that was on July the 23rd, on July the 24th he went to Hamburg and on July the 25th in the same aircraft JA899 they went to Essen. It was on this trip to Essen that he, they were caught in searchlights and I think my father said at that stage they now had radar controlled searchlights and they were damaged by flak. It said hydraulics were u/s in his logbook. Tyres burst. They didn’t know that until they landed. Following the attack they were attacked by a fighter whilst held in searchlights in the target area and Jock Walker the tail gunner was wounded by a cannon shell and one of his other crew, the mid-upper gunner was also slightly wounded. He managed to lose the, or get out of the searchlights and, and fly the plane home and there was also, it says in his memoirs there was no, they lost their intercom as well. So it must have been a pretty unhappy time. For that he was awarded later on the DFC. Then after another trip to Hamburg they were coming towards the end of their tour. By this stage he told me that his crew, he said he didn’t believe in luck. He wanted, he purposely throughout his tour never had a girlfriend and he was a very strict disciplinarian in the aircraft. He said that there were, there were good skippers of aircraft and there were popular ones but he did not believe that the popular ones were necessarily good and he maintained this discipline. By this stage the crew had definitely established that they wanted to be flying with him and were most grateful for that which they wrote to him in a letter in 1968. And in the letter, this was written by Tom Cheshire who had visited, who had made contact with Don Adsed and it said, “We had a nostalgic hour.” This was in 1968 when they met up, “We had a nostalgic hour during which time we came to the conclusion from our total flying times that you were about the best pilot and aircraft captain we’d, either of us had flown with. I will spare your blushes but I really mean that. I afterwards flew with a motley load of crews and missed the crew discipline which you always maintained. I’m sure this was a considerable factor in allowing us to take advantage of an average share of luck.” Can we pause there?
CB: Yeah.
[recording paused]
RH: There is a photograph of, I would imagine it’s the entire squadron in front of a Lancaster. I know that my father is not in this one. I believe it was taken when he was on leave and that was at about the time of the, I think the Peenemunde operations. And he said that when he was on leave he came back and there had been such losses he arrived late in the evening and it was dark and he didn’t recognise anyone in the officer’s mess. He didn’t see anyone he knew and he said he seriously thought that he’d been dropped at the wrong airfield. And then he met someone and he said, ‘No, Arthur. I’m afraid we’ve had some, we’ve had some very bad losses.’ Moving on as they get towards the end of their, oh when Jock Walker was wounded so he didn’t do the last three operations but they were ending their, ending their tour and the last two operations were to Milan. My father told me that they were chosen, Milan was chosen because it was really getting to the stage where Italy had was on the point of, of getting close to giving up and Milan was perhaps a softer target, an easier target. They flew across France, over the Alps to bomb the marshalling yards in Milan. Unfortunately, my father told me that there had been a lot of instances where bombing raids tended to creep back from the target area as people pressed the button just a little bit early to, to get out and he wanted to demonstrate how not to bomb short. So he said to his bomb aimer, ‘You tell me when you’re ready and I’ll tell you when to press the button.’ He unfortunately got it slightly wrong and counted all the way to ten by which stage he’d completely missed the target they were shooting at, destroying the chapel where Leonardo da Vinci’s, “The Last Supper,” was on the wall in this chapel and Leonardo da Vinci’s, “The Last Supper,” was damaged but the wall stayed there. The rest of the chapel was completely destroyed and online you can, if you go online and look at the Leonardi da Vinci’s the “The Last Supper - war damage,” you can see some of my father’s handiwork. Later on, some years, some twenty seven odd years, thirty years later in his memoirs he tells us that he had, as a chartered accountant some Italian clients. He had quite a number of Italian clients. He never let on that it was he that had damaged that chapel or blown it to bits. But he was taken to see it and he quietly told my mother, ‘And guess whose handiwork this was?’ And he did also say later that he felt gratified, the fact that he had a whole lot of artisans work for the last thirty years. So that was his last operation to Milan and that was the end of his time at Skellingthorpe.
CB: Right so we’ve ended operations.
RH: Yeah.
CB: How many operations did he do?
RH: He, he did thirty. He did his full thirty.
CB: And how many hours was his total by then?
RH: And that, and that total by then was just under, was about six hundred and ninety.
CB: Ok. We’ll pause there. Have you got some more?
RH: Yes.
CB: He, he just about when he was finishing at Skellingthorpe in his logbook he says a voluntary attachment to 1485 Gunnery Flight, Skellingthorpe and it was then that his dear rear gunner Jock Walker came back on to the squadron and he, he took Jock Walker up in a Tiger Moth because he thought it would just be fun and good for Jock to get back into flying again. Very sadly Jock Walker lost his life doing his last three trips with another aircraft and in his logbook he says he was a very experienced pilot but sadly they lost their lives.
RH: Stopping there.
CB: Yeah.
[recording paused]
CB: What was your —
RH: With the situation with Jock Walker my father was asked by the station commander or senior officer whether he thought it would be a good idea if Jock Walker went back on to operations just to finish his tour because he only had three, three to do to complete his thirty trips and my father said that he thought that Jock would like that because he would be happy with that. My father later on a night explained that, he said it was one of the worst things he ever said in his life because as I’ve said poor Jock Walker went off to, to lose his life on one of those last three trips and Jock was the only child of, my father said, a very nice Scottish couple and to lose their only child was absolutely tragic.
CB: The history of these sorts of things is that, seems that captains and others sometimes feel a sense of guilt when something’s happened to their crew that was actually beyond their control but nevertheless within their realm of concern and command.
RH: Yes. So that was the end of his flying operationally. That. His tour of operations.
CB: We’ll just stop there a mo.
RH: Right.
[recording paused]
CB: So in training and during operations people formed all sorts of alliances, experiences and admirations and some of the senior people were very encouraging to the more junior ones. What experience did he have in that?
RH: When he was, when he was, going back to Florida he had a great admiration for, for his Wing Commander Kenneth Rampling. And as I say he appointed him, he says in his memoirs course commander. “I was made an acting corporal unpaid and held general responsibility for the behaviour of the Flight. About fifty cadets.” He, he then went on to say that, at the end of his course, “We took the wings exam and qualified. On the evening before the Wings Parade together I, together with my two section leaders invited by three officers to a celebration at the Clewiston Inn where they stayed. What a night. I arrived back at camp wearing the CO’s trousers, mine having got wet in a rainstorm. The next morning the Flight was drawn up on parade and I marched up to Kenneth Rampling to report, ‘All present and correct, sir.’ He said, ‘Christ you look horrible.’ To which I replied, ‘Not half as horrible as I feel.’” Just as well the doting onlookers could not hear these remarks. Dear Kenneth Rampling, he was killed two years later as Group Captain DSO DFC CO of a Pathfinder Squadron.
CB: Clearly made a really big impact.
RH: Yes.
CB: On him and an inspiration in his life.
RH: Yes.
CB: I’m stopping.
[recording paused]
RH: If I just refer back to his last trip, tour. His last trip of the tour was to Milan. His he said his usual aircraft was pronounced unserviceable rather late in the day. Group Captain Elworthy, later Marshal of the RAF, Lord Elworthy the then base commander was very anxious that I should finish on this trip. He therefore arranged for an aircraft from another station be made available and took me personally in his staff car to that station. My crew were taken there by bus. And he then goes on to talk about the bombing short.
CB: So, when, when he went to Milan then he didn’t come straight back did he? He went on to North Africa.
RH: No. They came straight back.
CB: That was a different one.
RH: That was a different one.
CB: Right.
RH: The North African was when he was bombing, a trip to Friedrichshafen. He says in his, in his memoirs if I can find it. [pause] I think we’d better just stop now.
CB: Yeah.
[recording paused]
RH: Was when they, when they carried out raids on the U-boat pens at St Nazaire it was rather useless as the concrete was too strong for the bombs then carried. He also went to Berlin, Pilsen and Hamburg. An interesting trip was as a special force chosen to bomb Friedrichshafen where special radar spare parts were stored. “As it was then midsummer there was not enough darkness to return to the UK. We therefore went over the Med to North Africa. The personal map which I marked up and tucked in to my boots is in my logbook."
CB: Stop there.
[recording paused]
RH: After his trip to Milan he used to dine out on the story but he maintained that he had taken Italy out of the war because they were so disgusted that a religious artifact was too much for them to cope with that and he recently, he said he recently told the story to an artist friend who remarked drily that the bomb damage was not half as serious as the damage inflicted by the subsequent garish and overdone restoration.
[recording paused]
CB: What other stories have you got that ties in with —
RH: Well, my father, my father had a very [pause] he was quite careful what he would say to, to some people. Particularly, he had German and Italian clients but I remember on one occasion in the 1980s at a lunch party my father was sitting next to a very charming German lady and she asked the question, ‘Have you ever been to Hamburg?’ And, because she was from Hamburg and he said, ‘No.’ And she, this lady had to leave the lunch party early so she went and one of his other, one of the other people sitting beside him said to, said to him, ‘I thought you said you had gone to Hamburg.’ He said, ‘Well, I did go but I didn’t stop.’ He was very, he used to give talks on, about his experiences and he was very adamant that people should understand that, you know people said, ‘Oh well, you know the poor Germans,’ etcetera. He said, ‘Do understand this? That whilst Germany was completely obliterating Europe the —' perhaps we ought to be recording this actually.
CB: We are.
RH: Yes. We are. Good. That it, it turned people, some people said, ‘Oh the bomber, the bombing campaign didn’t do much.’ He said, ‘Just look at it this way. It tied up, it tied up about a million people. Manufacturing had to be geared for defending the German Reich not manufacturing shells for, for the Russian Front or tanks for the Russian Front. It tied up a huge number people as Speer said in his book.’ My father also used to refer to Speer and said that had there been nine other raids like Hamburg the Germans would have probably thought about giving up. But everything was, everything, the vast amount of armaments and work and planning was geared to the defence of Germany not the offensive. And he said, ‘If you look back in history no one has ever won a war on the defensive and we put the Germans on the defensive. That they were not going to win.’ So, and he was, people used to bring up, he’d give talks about, about the Second World War and he would, he would definitely make this point that, and he also talked about the, after the war he said, ‘I can understand the crooked thinking that the appalling and harsh lessons during the war our former enemies quickly became model citizens. I’d been delighted to share friendships with some admirable Germans and even one or two Japanese. But naturally there has always been during the war there were good Germans but the nation as a whole followed, took a disastrous turning during the 1930s and set about ruthlessly establishing itself as the master race and one must not forget that.’
[recording paused]
CB: How many aircraft did he fly on ops?
RH: In total he flew twenty different Lancasters and after the, after the war my mother did the research when it became available and found that only one of them survived the Second World War. All the others were either crashed or went missing which means they were crashed. Incidentally the Lancaster JA899 which was the Lancaster where he got shot up over Essen that was repaired. That was repaired three times. Damaged three times and eventually it was lost on the 22nd of June 1944. So it was quite clearly not a throwaway society. Right.
CB: So after ops then.
RH: After ops he went on to number 11 OTU at Westcott in Buckinghamshire and was flying, became an instructor and was flying Wellington Mark 1Cs. He used to tell us that they were grossly underpowered and quite honestly he thought at times that it was far more dangerous training people than it was flying over Germany which he absolutely hated by the way. Flying over the Ruhr. He then said, he says in his memoirs he was posted instructor’s duties to OTU Westcott. “I felt it was rather like leaving the Brigade of Guards for the Ordnance Corps but there was no choice.” Most of the instructions, instructors were New Zealanders. A very jolly bunch of chaps. His immediate senior and flight commander was one Squadron Leader Fraser Barron. DSO DFC DCM. A New Zealander who ranked at the age of twenty one as a Pathfinder ace and was killed the next year as a group captain. The immediate successor to Kenneth Rampling mentioned earlier in the narrative in my father’s memoirs. He told one amusing story about one New Zealander who said he was, father became what he termed as a shepherd. People who really couldn’t get something right and eventually were going to be, you know sent back to be an air gunner or something instead of a pilot they were given to him and, and he, he did his absolute utmost to make sure that they were, they, you know, passed. He said, but it was sometimes it was very sad because he said generally people who were poor pilots tended to get the chop first. He had one. One New Zealander. He said he just couldn’t believe how this man actually got his wings but he did. He disappeared and some months later he turned up back on the station and said, ‘Oh, hello sir.’ He said, he said, ‘Good God, what are you doing here?’ And he said, ‘I’ve come here as an instructor.’ He couldn’t believe it [laughs] He’d survived his tour. Anyway, he was also at Westcott. He was, spent a lot of time at the satellite station of Oakley which also had 1Cs. He said one night he was sitting next door in the instructor’s seat next to an Australian pupil pilot who was doing a cross country practice. On returning he made a rather mess of the landing approach and I said, my father said, ‘Go around again.’ Immediately ahead of the main runway was at Oakley was Brill Hill. He said, ‘Good pilots could clear it easily but my pupil was not in that category. After looking up at the trees as we went over Brill Hill I let him have another attempt at landing. He did the same thing again after which I said, ‘Up to three thousand feet and we’ll change seats.’ The aircraft cross country flying at Oakley had no dual controls. He said at one stage he did, I think on that occasion he did come back with some, a bit of branch or twigs or something in the tail wheel. When he was at Oakley he said in the late spring of that year he had the good fortune to meet one Betty Edmunds, one of the staff in the watch tower at Oakley. He was officer commanding night flying at the time. “We soon discovered that we both came from Carshalton and had many mutual friends. Our friendship developed. We used to play tennis together. She always won partly because she was a much better player than I but also because whenever she bent over to pick up the ball I was completely unnerved and my mind was not on the tennis.” They did eventually get married and my father said he thought they would wait until the end of the war and my mother said, ‘Oh, do you? I was thinking about the coming 2nd of December.’ They got married on the 2nd of December and, and they went away for a honeymoon in Torquay and there is a photograph of my father on honeymoon wearing, wearing a greatcoat and out of uniform. That hasn’t gone to the Lincolnshire. That’s a new one I found. But anyway, continuing on with my parents because it was a very important part of his life. He said they both wanted children. My mother wanted four but my father thought that would be rather too many to educate properly. He was particularly keen in his life that people should be educated properly thinking back of his own, of his own education. He said, “Thinking about things over the years and knowing my darling Betty’s quiet way of getting what she wanted I think she made up her mind to start our family on our honeymoon. I had no hesitation in helping.” And I think, I know life was very difficult for them there. My mother was, was still in the WAAF but, and found certain petty rules very very irksome and there was one time she was married, then married to my father said at a New Year, at New Year there was an officer’s dance at Oakley and Betty was only a sergeant. She had to get her COs permission to attend and this was refused. “My fellow officers were most indignant that the Oxford tarts were likely to be there but an officer’s wife was refused.” I didn’t particularly mind the signs that Betty was pregnant but there you are. I don’t know how he told that within a month but still [laughs] they then, they then got some accommodation, very difficult but later on they managed to get a council house or part of a council house. Two rooms in a council house at Brackley but more of that in a while. So he continued his, back to the flying he continued with his training as an instructor and there was one stage where someone started to write him down and when he went for tests in flying saying that he wasn’t very good. Fortunately, his commanding officer picked this up and realised that the man, the same man actually wanted to go out with my mother. He thought that he would be taking my mother out. So, but that was, that was picked up and he did finish up and he says in his memoirs that he finished up with a category, “After New Year I was telephoned, this was a year and a half on, “I was telephoned by Group and I was promoted to squadron leader and was to Command Instructors Flight, Turweston. A satellite of Silverstone. I had two months earlier been categorised A2 by a visiting examiner from Central Flying School. An A2 instructor’s category was rare and the highest one could obtain in wartime.” I didn’t know that. But there we are. So, after, after Westcott he then went to [pause – pages turning] Ludgate, Lulsgate Bottom. Number 3 FI [pause] FI5 or FIS?
CB: FIS.
RH: FIS. And I don’t know whether that, I think that must have been further, that must have been further training.
CB: Let’s just stop there a mo.
RH: Shall we stop?
[recording paused]
CB: Right.
RH: Right. So after further training, advanced training as an instructor his European war ended on the 1st of May leaving Westcott.
CB: No. Turweston.
RH: Sorry. Leaving Turweston and he says in his memoirs when everyone else was celebrating VE Day he was with my mother and he had a miserable time because he’d just been told that he was going off to be an advanced party of Tiger Force then being formed to set up Bomber Command on Okinawa. But he was not allowed to tell my mother where he was going and he may or may not be coming back. So, he refers to that as, ‘The saddest day of my life.’ Do you want to know about Sue the dog?
CB: Yes.
RH: When he was, when he reached his twenty first birthday, as a little anecdote he, he was given an English bull terrier called, which he called Sue which he obviously loved. And when he got married to my mother they went to [pause] they found the two rooms in a council house in Brackley which was owned for the sake of it by a Mr and Mrs Blackwell. They didn’t, when father was posted away my mother who was heavily pregnant at the time went to live with, back to live with her parents in Carshalton Beeches and they didn’t know what to do with Sue. So they gave Sue the dog to Mrs Blackwell and my father used to say that every, every Christmas there and after they always had received a photograph of Sue the dog with Mrs Blackwell. He said they looked rather similar which looking at the photograph they did but Mrs Blackwell was always the one wearing the hat. He boarded a, he boarded a troop ship which had been formerly the Kaiser’s yacht and they were, they went through the Panama Canal. He found that fascinating. And they ended up they were in Hawaii when the bomb was dropped. The Americans, he said, didn’t really want us to, didn’t really want the British contingent which I think was about seven squadrons. They didn’t want them to be part of Tiger Force. The bomb was dropped and he said he and his fellow officers were horrified. Had mixed feelings. He discussed the situation with his fellow officers in his memoirs, “We were horrified that science had reached this far but grateful that our lives and probably about two million others had been saved.” They didn’t know what to do with them. They had a ship full of craftsmen, builders, and medical units, air sea rescue units etcetera. So after a certain amount of cruising around the Pacific they went to Hong Kong. He, they landed, they got to Hong Kong and it was about two days or so after, a day or so after the British Pacific Fleet. Before the Army had arrived and my father told me a story that it was after he arrived he said the crew on the Empress of Australia, the former Kaiser’s yacht, he said they were about, he said about the fourth rate scum that they’d dug out of the, out of somewhere in, somewhere in England. I think he said Liverpool. They had been cheating the, the servicemen on board by turning up heating and then serving them some sort of orange drink to which they would add a touch of salt so they wanted to you know, sell more. And he said they really were, they were very badly done by this group. When they arrived in Hong Kong he went ashore for twenty minutes and he came back and was speaking to a very worried sergeant, RAF sergeant who told him that the crew were mustering over there and, and they wanted, they were planning to loop the medical supplies that had just been unloaded from the ship on to the dock and what should he do? And he said it was the only time he took out his service revolver in anger. He said to the sergeant, ‘Sergeant, there’s a line there. Any man that crosses that line shoot him dead and I’ll show you how to do it.’ And he would have done too. But anyway, he, they had to keep the Japanese officers as fully armed because otherwise, he said the Chinese, the Hong Kong Chinese would have ripped the place apart and looted it but he said they gave, they gave away their food, their rations because there were other people who definitely needed it more. He said, ‘I scarcely slept for several days and was somewhat hungry as we had given up our rations to the ex-occupants of the internment camps. The Japanese were later used for hard work in repairing the colony. They lived in POW camps and were not overfed. And then after about a fortnight the Marine Commandos arrived and he did have, apart from the fact he was away from my mother and he did have a grand time, or a good time in Hong Kong. Although he’d never learned to drive he was given a jeep and he said that you had to guard it all times. If you left it for five minutes when you came back the engine would have been taken out. He said the Chinese, the Hong Kong Chinese were so resourceful he said they would, they used the engines for their, to power their junks. He was initially put in as supplies officer for the officer’s mess and he had an office in the Peninsula Hotel. He said that when you went into the Peninsula Hotel you turned right into a large room. In the middle of the room the room was completely bare apart from a desk, a chair and a filing cabinet and that was his office. He was supplies officer for the officer’s mess and he said he used to go out to the Navy ships to collect the gin. He said, ‘I always remembered going out.’ He always remembered going out but he never remembered coming back. He then, also in Hong Kong went on to do the rather unpleasant job of commandeering people’s houses for accommodation and he made some good friends from the Hong Kong Chinese for that. He said it was the most distasteful job. He also would do tribunals. Criminal tribunals. He said it was very difficult because the Hong Kong Chinese at that time would make things up and tell you what they thought you wanted to hear not what had actually happened. But I don’t know whether we can put that in. Anyway, he, my mother sent him some books to study, to carry on studying accountancy but he said that the social life was, it was difficult to study because the social life was rather too good. Anyway, back, then later on in it must have been I think it was May. In May 1946 he [pause] I’ll just get, we need to stop really.
CB: Yes.
[recording paused]
CB: In July.
RH: In July 1946 it was his turn to be demobilised and he set course for home by taking a passage in one of her, his majesty’s ships to Singapore and then got a place on, believe it or not the Empress of Australia again. He arrived at Liverpool one wet afternoon and the ship’s tannoy went, ‘Requiring the presence of Squadron Leader Hollis in Cabin —’ X. He proceeded there and was greeted by an air marshal who was there for the purpose of offering him a permanent commission. He said, ‘I’ve always been pleased that I didn’t accept. There were severe Service cuts a few years later and he has had a very interesting life.’ He went on to qualify as a chartered accountant. When he came back to England — do you want this? When he came back to England of course he then had to study. He had a young child. They had nowhere to live. They managed to find two rooms in the attic of a house in Dover belonging to a relative and he only spent the weekends there because he was studying during the week time in London living with his father which was, he said since his father liked to sit in silence it was the appropriate atmosphere but very poor for my mother. They literally had no money at all. Any money that they did, he got a small grant and any money they did have was spent on, on suits so that he was well dressed when he went to work. They then moved to a house of another, some cousins in Westcliffe on Sea in Essex but they were not, that did not go down. It did not work very well. But then in 1948 they found a flat to rent at the Paragon in Blackheath where they spent fifteen happy years and he passed the final exam and became a charted accountant. And my late sister Sylvia was born in 1949. Things got a bit better for him and eventually he was offered a partnership in a firm called Hugh [unclear]. A joint [unclear] with an assistant partnership prospects and he, in 1950 — do you want to continue in this? In 1950 he went out to Jeddah and he had some work in Jeddah to do and he said Jeddah at that stage was absolutely medieval. He said he felt that he was going back to the Old Testament. He did tell me one story that he was very keen on walking and one evening he walked out of the town and on to the outskirts of the town and got surrounded by a pack of dogs, wild dogs and he really did think that he was, that he was going to be attacked and killed. But he managed to find some sticks and stones and threw them at the dogs and he walked back into the town. But he said that was a very close shave. Unfortunately, my sister Sylvia when she was born was born very prematurely and was blinded by an oxygen, use of an oxygen tent. This was when he returned from Jeddah. He said it was very difficult. My other sister was doing well at school but he said, ‘How can you tell a child who says, ‘Will I be able to see next year? Or when I’m ten?’ ‘No. You won’t.’ In 1953 I was born. Unfortunately, my mother contracted polio whilst she was carrying me and it was another great burden on the family. My father and his career he worked hard and progressed well becoming a partner in [unclear] and company. He also took on the work from a small practice where the sole practitioner had died and the sole practitioner specialised in theatrical, in the theatrical and musical world and, and he met, and Yehudi Menuhin became a client amongst others. And Diana Sheridan, the late actress. He struck a great, had a great rapport with Yehudi Menuhin. Saved him from being clobbered by vast taxation and, and he was instrumental with others in setting up the Yehudi Menuhin School. He provided for us admirably. The family. We then in the early ‘60s moved down to a beautiful house down in Kent where he lived with my mother for fifty years and was very very happy there. He was highly respected and it was the house, he was highly respected in the village and became the sort of the elder statesman in the village. And he, my mother died in 2010 and in 2013 my father didn’t become ill he just one day went to bed and never woke up. And he was terrified of ever having to go into a home but he had his wish, he died as I say in his own bed in his own house and having lived an extremely full life.
CB: What a fascinating story.
RH: There we are.
CB: Thank you very much.
RH: Sorry, I’ve gone —
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 Richard Hollis
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Chris Brockbank
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-11
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
AHollisRE180111, PHollisAN1801
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:06:22 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
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Second generation
Civilian
Description
An account of the resource
Richard’s father, Arthur Hollis, went to Dulwich College as a day boy. He left at sixteen to join the Home Guard , then worked for a firm of accountants for a couple of years before joining the Royal Air Force. He was sent to Manchester University for about six months and then to Florida to learn to fly. He went to Nova Scotia and then travelled by train to Florida. Arthur was posted to Clewiston airfield and was soon selected for acting corporal. After finishing his training, he was posted to Canada where he received a commission. His next posting was to RAF Little Rissington to learn to fly twin-engine aircraft and then to the Operational Training Unit at RAF North Luffenham working on Wellingtons. He also went on a course for advanced flying and then joined the conversion course at RAF Swinderby with Manchesters, where he picked up the rest of his crew. Arthur recalled December 1942 when he had to bale out at thousand five hundred feet on the orders of the captain. His parachute, not being fastened properly, tore his flying jacket and he came down holding the parachute with his arms. In March 1943 he started flying operationally at RAF Skellingthorpe with 50 Squadron. Off the Dutch coast he was in collision with a Halifax which had been early. It cut off and damaged the starboard wing and put an engine out of action. Arthur had brought his crew back safely. The crew continued operations flying to Hamburg and Essen. On one occasion they were caught in searchlights, attacked by a fighter, and damaged by anti-aircraft fire. They managed to get home and Arthur was later awarded the DFC. The last two operations were to Milan to bomb the marshalling yards. Arthur completed thirty operations and had flown 20 different Lancasters, of which only one survived the war. Upon completion of his tour, to No. 11 OTU at RAF Westcott and RAF Oakley, where he met Betty who became his wife.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Buckinghamshire
England--Gloucestershire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Manchester
Canada
Nova Scotia
United States
Florida
Germany
Germany--Hamburg
Italy
Italy--Milan
Netherlands
England--Rutland
Germany--Hesse
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Lancashire
China--Hong Kong
Germany--Duisburg
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-12
1943-02
1943-03-11
1943-05-12
1944-06-22
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending revision of OH transcription
11 OTU
1660 HCU
29 OTU
5 BFTS
50 Squadron
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bombing
British Flying Training School Program
civil defence
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Home Guard
Lancaster
Manchester
mid-air collision
Operational Training Unit
RAF Little Rissington
RAF North Luffenham
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Swinderby
RAF Westcott
searchlight
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/753/10751/ACotterJDP180828.2.mp3
e9a1567a26e03578b2f197371ed79bd9
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
Cotter, John David Pennington
J D P Cotter
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. The collection concerns Wing Commander John Cotter DFC (b. 1923, Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains an oral history interview, his log book and a memoir. He flew operations as a pilot with 158 and 640 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by John Cotter 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
2018-08-28
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Cotter, JDP
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
JC: Yes, here we are.
PS: This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Patricia Selby and the interview is John Cotter and the interview is taking place at his home. Can you give me your address [tone] and the time is 2.25. Where, when were you born John?
JC: They came over to England.
PS: No, when were you born?
PS: Yes, when we came over to England. Apparently I was, my mother was pregnant with me on the voyage over and when we got here they put me in to St Mary’s Hospital Paddington, where I was born.
PS: So Paddington. So how did your childhood go on from there?
JC: They bought a house in Hendon, just by Hendon Central tube station, a brand new house, on a mortgage and they were surviving on my mother’s money really. My father decided he’d leave the sea, big mistake of his, and he had a little tobacconist by the station and things went downhill from there. And eventually the Halifax Building Society foreclosed on the mortgage in about 1928, by which time I was five, and they repossessed the house and so they moved to a, the family to a flat in Finchley Road, near Swiss Cottage, and I remember that clearly because we were there about a year and things hadn’t got any better and my father had had to take commercial jobs going round selling things and in 1930 we had to, my parents were Christian Scientists and they got help from the Christian Science Church. When they were completely broke, had no money at all, all my mother’s money had gone, we had to go down to a place called Roe Green in, near Colindale and people, Christian Scientists, in council houses for example, were putting us up and the family was split up a couple of times with my brother and my mother in one house and my father and myself in another house. Eventually my father must have got a loan and he purchased a car in 1932, a little Swift, 1923 Swift, and he paid five pounds for it, I remember that. And he started selling eggs from this car. He’d go round the villages, selling eggs. And from that he progressed to a dirty garage, in Baker Street, where he was fitting tyres. We had the car at home and he would be spending his days fitting tyres on car wheels, motor cars, and eventually he got his own business and he bought it at Neasden, in Blackbird Cross at Neasden, he had a shop called the Boat House Tyre Service I think. And he had about three employees there, including one of my uncles, who’d also fallen on hard times, and things were going very well and so we moved into a very large flat in Edgware, with four huge bedrooms and three living rooms and it was up on the third floor of a block and we were over a block of shops, and we were over a shop called Gilbert Reeves in Edgware, Station Road, Edgware and we were now living very well. I passed my scholarship to a grammar school and in 1935 I went to the Kingsbury County School, grammar school. I’d done very well at ordinary school, elementary school, I’d always been top of the class. I now, for some reason, became almost the bottom of the class in the grammar school. I found that the competition was very heavy and I wasn’t doing very well. However, I hung on and I started in, there in August ’35 and August ’39 came along and war was declared in September the 3rd, by which time I’d decided I was going to join the Junior League of Oswald Mosley’s Fascist movement. Outside Edgware Station, which was a big station, the end of the Northern Line, so a big station, and one side of the station would be the Communist Party, workers selling the Daily Worker, and the other side would be the Fascists, Oswald Mosley’s man and I always liked him better, Oswald Mosley’s men, always looked better, smarter. And civil war in Spain had been going on for some time and we, my parents had a great friend called Mr Auty, who was a Spaniard and an olive oil importer and he said that the Fascist Party were the only hope for Spain and so I supported General Franco and led to numerous fights with me at school as nobody else seemed to support General Franco, except me. By the time the war broke out I was coming up to sixteen and that year I was supposed to take my School Certificate and I knew I’d do badly at it, so the war was a sort of relief for me. But I decided I’d better not join the Fascist Party as they’d now declared war on Hitler and my parents might be upset about that, me joining Oswald Mosely. Anyway the schools were closed, no sign of opening, so I said to my mother I’m not doing very well at school, I’d better get a job, and she said yes you should get a job and then you support the household by giving some rent. So I didn’t get a job, cause I didn’t know how to get a job, so she got a job for me. Mummy got me my job in a paper firm in Upper Thames Street, just off Blackfriars in London, at twelve and six a week and I went up there and worked there. And then mummy was always saying to me, John, you must get a job with a pension, you must have a pension. So she decided that the job in Upper Thames Street wasn’t paying, going to pay a pension so she’d get me a job in the Civil Service, which she did! She produced this job for me in the Clothing Office, in Whitehall and she said you start there in I think it was June 1940, which I did. And it was quite nice job, with a pension [chuckle] and I had my own responsibilities there, I was doing something all day. I was dealing with, the war was on, so I was dealing with requests from all the colonies when we had a big Empire then, for permission to export goods to certain countries were banned from receiving any goods, anything from Germany, so they had to apply to London. They come down through me, a little sixteen year old in the clothing office, and I was then circulating them to the correct department. I was quite happy doing that and the bombing started. I used to walk down Whitehall in the evenings, six o’clock in the evening, when we finished work, and the bombing had started, mainly in the East End, but some in the centre of London, and I’d get on the tube at The Strand, to go home, and I’d come out at the end of the tunnel which was at Golders Green, and you’d immediately be into the bombing again, because you’d been safe while you were in the underground but now the bombing had started. You’d see the searchlights and it was all going on, and I got fed up of this and then they started rationing as well. Whereas rationing hadn’t been very severe and I’d had plenty of chocolate and things like that to carry on with, you could get them in all the shops, now things started disappearing and you couldn’t get them any longer. I used to attend parties where a lot of, this is in Edgware, where a lot of the people, the youngsters, were joining the services. I saw these advertisements which said: ‘You too can bomb Berlin” and advertising for pilots and I got interested in this and I noticed that the qualification to be a pilot, to be in training as a pilot, if you were selected, you had to have an education up to School Certificate standard. Didn’t say you had to have the School Certificate, you had to be educated to the standard. So, mind [indecipherable], look around and thought jolly good, I could join the Air Force and I decided I would join and take the invitation to go and bomb Berlin. ”You too can bomb Berlin” and it showed you a man in pilot’s uniform, officer’s uniform, standing and leaning on a post in a nice building in Berlin and the building was crumbling from the bombing, and so I said to my younger brother who was about eighteen months younger than me, I said to Paul I’m going off to bomb Berlin, join the Air Force and he said right, I’ll come as well. I said you can’t, because you’re too young, you’re fifteen and the minimum age is seventeen, which I was, and he said I know, but what about if I put on my age to seventeen and you put, I said I’d have to put my age up and he said yes. So eventually we decided yes, he could join with me and I said you haven’t got to school certificate standard and you won’t have it. He said doesn’t matter I’ll join as well, I’ll try and join. So in February 1941, the two of us went down to the Air Force Recruiting Office in Deansbrook Road, Edgware. And we went in and I went in first and the recruiting sergeant asked me what I wanted to be and I said I wanted to be a pilot, and he said where were you educated, and I said Kingsbury County School, just about to take the school certificate and of course the schools were closed and so I left. He said that’s good enough, he said yes, we’ll send you up to Uxbridge and you’ll be interviewed there and if you’re satisfactory, you’ll be a pilot, you’ll be training for a pilot, I was nineteen according to my reckoning, and out I went and my brother went in after me. He was accepted as well, but not as a pilot, they said he could be a rear gunner, or a gunner, or a wireless operator. So he said he’d be a wireless operator do they said you’re going to Uxbridge as well. Funnily enough, a friend of his who was the correct age completely, went in after him, was sent back to his mother to get his birth certificate. They hadn’t looked for my birth certificate, or Paul’s. So we both went to Uxbridge the following day and there we were assessed and I was accepted for training as a pilot and Paul was accepted for training as a wireless operator and we were told to go home, carry on with our jobs and they’d call us up when they had room for us. That was in February, and I waited, carried on at the Clothes Office and I waited and waited and couple of chaps at the Clothing Office had, friends of mine, who’d also joined the Air Force, they were called up and I was still waiting. Anyway, the time came: July 7th 1941. I was told to report to Lords Cricket Ground, St Johns Wood, and I did, and there I was taken into the Air Force and I’d been a great cricket fan. Am I going on too long?
PS: No, it’s fine. It’s really good.
JC: Great cricket fan and I’d been to Lords many times and in those days only the poshest amateurs, proper amateurs were allowed to use the main pavilion at Lords. The professionals, the really top class cricketers, the p[professionals, had to use the side gate and this pavilion at Lords was a place that only MCC members were allowed in and I met some cricketers. And we were all marched in on the second day there at Lords, into this temple, where only amateur players were allowed in. Told to drop our trousers round to our ankles and lift our shirts up to our necks while a Medical Officer walked down the line inspecting us. [Chuckle] Then we were passed fit, obviously, and we used to go down to, you got, billeted in flats, blocks of flats that had obviously been commandeered and the tenant told to leave, and we were billeted in these flats and we used to march down to the zoo for our meals and march back again. So you’d march down for breakfast, and back to wherever you were working, march down for lunch and dinner. And then we were sent on an Initial Training Wing course and I went across to a proper RAF station at Brize Norton, which is still going, for my initial training course and when I came back from that, I was sent down to Brighton here, into the Hotel Metropole to await further instructions And obviously the further instructions were going to be to train, start flying training. We were obviously going overseas for that because most of the flying training was in Canada or South Africa. And I was down here for about four weeks in the Metropole Hotel and then I was shipped off to Manchester for a while, and from Manchester I was taken up to the docks at Glasgow, and put on a little old ship that had been carrying cargo obviously and we now had about twelve hundred chaps on board, and we were setting sail for North America and we were in a convoy, and it took us twelve days to get across the Atlantic. And the first four days I was so sick, I used to lie upstairs on the deck, near the lifeboats, and hope that the submarines would come and torpedo us, so put me out of my misery. After four days I perked up and I’ve never been sick since. We were billeted down in the holds with a lot of rough men who swore most of the time. I’d never heard much swearing in my life, certainly not at school, and swearing and cursing, these rough chaps were. They weren’t aircrew, they were going out to do other jobs, whatever they were. Some in the Navy and a lot in the Air Force obviously to man RAF stations in Canada or North America and I finished up in Saskatchewan, Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, for my initial flying course on Tiger Moths. You had to be capable of going solo on the aircraft after six hours training and the maximum you could do was twelve hours, and if you hadn’t gone solo after twelve hours, you’d, you weren’t considered good enough to be pilot and you’d be sent off for training as a navigator possibly, or something else, and after twelve hours I hadn’t gone solo. All the other people, all my friends had failed, as pilots, and I had no friends left there, they had all failed and gone off, sent off somewhere, and so it was only me and the people who’d gone solo, going flying away on little Tiger Moths and me, not allowed to go solo cause I wasn’t good enough. My instructor must have had faith in me because he asked the CO if I could have another two hours and the CO said yes, but after two hours, if I hadn’t gone solo I would be off, off the course, and after fourteen hours I still hadn’t gone solo so he asked to CO again for a further extension, he must have had great faith in me, and the CO said I’ve got to go to Calgary, get a message through to Calgary ask permission from the C in C, and got that permission and I had one last flight and he sent me solo. And I went solo and on my third landing I landed on top of my friend, who was in another plane and smashed the planes up. But they’d had such a time getting me through so far, they let me carry on. None of us, neither of us were injured, but we’d done considerable damage to the planes. I landed on top of him, I hadn’t seen him, on the runway, he was beneath me and I was landing my Tiger Moth, I thought I was clear on the runway, there was a big crunch and I hit his plane. However they had spent so much time getting me there to this stage they thought I’d carry on, so I carried on and finished the course and passed out, quite well, and I was sent up to another base at Saskatoon and, North Battleford actually, and did an Oxford course where I had no trouble whatsoever. I went solo in about four hours and finished the course quite well and at the end of the course, because they needed pilots in Canada and North America because there was training in, over in the States as well though the war hadn’t started in, America wasn’t in the war yet, most of the pilots who passed out were, thought they were going to stay in Canada or North America as instructors or staff pilots, except for the bottom sixteen of us, who were to go home, and I was sixteenth from the bottom of course, so I was one of the ones that came home. And this time instead of going across the Atlantic on an old steamer, we were sent down to New York by train and we arrived in New York one evening at about six o’clock and we were marched from Pennsylvania Station to the other station in New York, erm, not to the other station, to the docks, and we marched down to the docks and on board, and marched on board the Queen Mary, which was empty except for us, which was about sixty of us and nobody on board. And twelve of us were sent to this cabin, one large cabin, and said we were in this cabin and we said well the place is empty why can’t we have some, a cabin each? They said no you’re twelve of you in here. There are only six bunks and so the arrangement is you will have a bunk every other night and the rest of the time you sleep on the floor. And this is the Air Force so you had to be, do as you were told. And then on the first night we were there, just started to sleep and we heard this marching and boots coming on, and the Queen Mary was filling up with American troops: war had broken out and they were one of the first detachments to come to England. They filled up the plane, the ship completely, so much so that we realised why we were all in this one cabin, cause everywhere else were American troops. The Queen Mary set sail, in four days and we were across the Atlantic. Didn’t come in a convoy, just set sail by itself, and it went so fast that it crossed the Atlantic in four days and discharged all its troops and then came whistling back. Did this all throughout the rest of the war and neither the Queen Mary nor the Queen Elizabeth were sunk. So they got all the troops across. So we were back in England now and after many tribulations I got up to [pause] Wymeswold to start my training and that’s where I start that, in February 1943.
PS: So you did more training again, when you got back to England.
JC: Oh yes. Yes. You’d only done enough training on small aircraft. So now they were deciding where you were going and it was pretty obvious that most of us would be going into Bomber Command because it was a big command now. They’d had the Battle of Britain. The fighter boys had defeated the Germans in the Battle of Britain, by air, and now Bomber Command was getting all the impetus, raids started on Germany and German cities. And I never had any trouble at all, after all that trouble with my first solo, I never had any trouble at all from then on, in training, and I eventually found myself on a squadron, after. I’d come back in August 1942 and I arrived on the squadron a year later, nearly a year later. So I’d done a lot of training, obviously.
PS: That was 158 Squadron.
JC: 158 Squadron, yes. And I joined a crew, and, a very good crew, there’s a photograph of them out there in the hall, very good crew. Seven of us and certainly myself, I never [emphasis] worried about not coming back from an operation or anything like that. There were people who were worried but I never had any trouble with, at all with my crew, they were all marvellous chaps. We used to go out on our operations and come back, and, as you’ll see in there, we were, we got ourselves, because the accommodation at Lissett was tin sheds, huts, we got ourselves accepted in to an Army Sergeant’s Mess in Bridlington where we lived in a nice house with proper fires and a brick built building on the sea front, at Bridlington which was an Army Sergeant’s Mess and we were adopted, our crew were adopted there and the Army provided, it was a Company Sergeant Major who arranged it, the Army Company Sergeant Major who arranged it, and he said anything you want, and if you’re called back to base, you’ve got to go back to base quickly, we’ll give you the transport back. So they fed us and beered us, gave us beer and we had a marvellous time, our crew. There were, I remember once, we used to go out, say seven thirty in the evening, and we’d all be taking off for a target and there’d be a queue waiting for take off on the runway, and once, just in front of us, something happened. We couldn’t get past this aircraft, it wasn’t moving. It was a great friend of mine, Doug Robinson who I knew was the captain of it, and eventually the Flight Commander came out from Operations and spoke to them on board and then a closed van came out as well, followed I think, and this closed van was there about five minutes and then off it went and the plane then turned round, oh, the plane then turned round and taxied off the tarmac, on to the grass, to allow us to pass. We just passed it and he was sitting there on the grass. And the reason that it had happened, one of his crew came up and said he couldn’t carry on, described he was too much.
PS: Too frightened.
JC: Too much, too frightening, yeah. I learned that the closed van that had come up, he was put in the van and whisked off and taken off basically, and that was what happened in the war, if you, it was known as Lack of Moral Fibre. Wouldn’t happen now of course, but, wouldn’t call it Lack of Moral Fibre, but in those days, LMF we called it. They were taken off the base immediately because they didn’t’ want him mixing with anybody else. Fortunately nobody in my crew were like that and you see there, we went through the war with no problems whatsoever. Whereas most of our friends were having trouble, you know, getting very damaged aircraft, [pause] horrific experiences and we had nothing like that.
JS: How did that make you feel?
JC: Hm?
JS: How did you feel about that?
JC: We were very callous, in the war. When you came back from a trip and you found that three or four aircraft were, hadn’t come back, and it’s friend of yours on one, friends on another aircraft and you would say they’d gone for a Burton, which meant they’d been shot down and killed possibly. Very callous, you’d say: “Well you shouldn’t have joined if you can’t stand a joke.” When shot down, things like that. Horrible really.
JS: I was going to say, how did you, now, looking back how did you?
JC: Horrible.
PS: It was your way of coping, presumably.
JC: Yeah. But you see, you see there every six weeks we got leave; a weeks’ leave. We lived like kings really. We got petrol, there was no petrol for other people, we had petrol, we had cars, or motorbikes. You had a petrol allowance. So you’d have enough petrol from Bridlington to go down to London for the weekend. I never did because none of my crew had cars, but other crews had somebody had a motor car and they’d do that, so. We had meals which were eggs and bacon and sausages and goodness knows what, but you couldn’t get in civilian life, you were rationed to all that. And after every trip we had this before we left and when we came back.
JS: But you were out for a long time, you must have been hungry when you got back.
JC: Oh, we were hungry, yes.
PS: You said every six weeks you had a break, in the weeks that you, those six weeks, how many raids would you do? Roughly.
JC: I depended, it depends I suppose. I would say when you, you’d go back and you’d do about five raids and then six weeks had gone by, or maybe, or sometimes, we started off our time at the squadron on the Battle of Hamburg. Hamburg, the main port, we did four raids on the city, in about four weeks. Gave them a very heavy raid every week and we reckoned we’d demolished the major part of the city by the end of that time and then we, Bomber Command switched, possibly I think Berlin, or Frankfurt, mainly Berlin after Hamburg, in my time. You’ll see there that I did raids on a lot of German cities, Kassel, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, all over the place. And you did, I did my way, it was all very exciting, all very exciting. And at the end of my tour I was, I remember the last trip I did was to Dusseldorf, and I got back from Dusseldorf and at the briefing, debriefing, you walk into this hut and the Station Commander, whose name was Group Captain Waterhouse, would be standing at the entrance to greet you as you came in, and that last trip he said to me, well young Cotter, that’s you finished. I said I’d like to carry on, sir. He said we’ll see about that. I hadn’t asked my crew, I was so exuberant, hadn’t asked my crew. I think my crew would have followed me on, I hadn’t asked them, I just assumed they would. Anyway we didn’t get it, I didn’t get my request, because within four days I was shipped up, sent on leave for a week then shopped up to the north of Scotland to a place called Lossiemouth, which I had never heard of before. I’d never been to Scotland apart from when I’d gone to Glasgow to board the ship. I was sent up to this place Lossiemouth, to train the, where they were training the French Air Force who, to be in Bomber Command. These were Frenchmen who were from Algeria, French officers and men from Algeria, which hadn’t been conquered of course by the Germans, and they’d had the Free French Air Force there, and now they wanted to operate in Bomber Command and that was my job to help train them, which I liked. Couldn’t speak a word of French cause I’d been a duffer at school where I learned French, but I got on well with them. And I was there till the end of the war. I kept saying to the Wing Commander Flying, I’d like to get back on operations and they used to tell me to get out of the office and not waste their time. And the last one was a nice Wing Commander O’Dwyer and he obviously thought well of me because he commanded a station later and when I wanted to stay in the Air Force when the war ended, he arranged that I got a good job, and I stayed in the Air Force. I’d been married, to my first wife, in July 1945 I got married, and I went for an interview with BOAC and I was accepted by BOAC, and I met my wife who was working in King’s Road, Chelsea. We met in a pub at, in Chelsea, and said, in her lunchtime, and I said I’ve got this job with BOAC and Margaret said how much are they paying you? And I said well initially they’re paying me, I think it was, three hundred and eighty pounds a year as a trainee. She said you’re getting more than that in the Air Force and I said well I am, yes and she said well it’s no contest is it, you stay in the Air Force. I took her advice, because she was older than me, and sensible I thought, so I stayed in the Air Force, and for another twenty years and did quite well there and finished as a Squadron leader and twenty years later, I got a chance to go into civil flying, to retire from the Air Force with a small pension and go into civil flying and that’s what I did. So I went to a firm called Dan Air and I was there for the, till I was sixty, when I, you had to retire as captain of aircraft in those days so that.
PS: So you really enjoyed your flying.
JC: I did enjoy my flying.
PS: You were awarded the DFC. Would you like to tell me how that came about?
JC: Yes. In 640 Squadron, oh, 158 Squadron at Lissett, we were C Flight. There were three, two, three flights in the squadron: A, B and C, and we were C Flight and in December 1943 they decided that we would convert onto a more efficient mark of Halifax with new engines, better engines, and C Flight would go across to Leconfield, permanent station, near Beverley, about twenty miles or so from the city, and form a new squadron. And we formed the new squadron called 640, the number 640 and the Squadron Commander was a chap called Ruby Ayres who was very nice, a very good fellow and he’d been sent to Australia in the war, at the beginning of the war, to get the training scheme over there sorted out. So he’d now come back and taken command of 640 Squadron. Brand new squadron and after about six months or so, no about four months, he decided that they’d been through all these operations and nobody had been, got a decoration. So unbeknown to me, I was suddenly called up into the Wing Commander’s office, Wing Commander Ayres, Squadron Commander, and he said now Cotter, you had a difficult time the other night, a difficult time this night, is that right, I said yes, but nothing serious sir, he said no, but it’s very difficult, you carried on, all of this. I didn’t know what he was talking about but anyway, what he was doing was deciding that I would have the DFC, first one in the squadron. And about three weeks later, or four weeks later, I was asleep in the mess after lunch which I normally did, cause they had chairs like this and used to go to sleep, and I was woken by Alan Smart one of the other, my colleagues, who’d had a terrible time in the war, he’d been shot up to pieces and managed to get back each time, and he came in and shook my shoulder and said you’ve got the DFC, John. I said what, he said you’ve got the DFC. I said oh, thanks and went back to sleep as far as I remember. [Laugh] And then, and then I was eventually called to Holyrood House. This is when I was at Lossiemouth, I’d gone to Lossiemouth and I was called to Holyrood House in Edinburgh and I was given the DFC by King George Sixth, think it was the sixth.
[Other]: What had you done to get it? What have they said that you’d done?
JC: Where’s the book, which I got out, big one there, you see, that one
PS: Because I don’t think they just give them out for, sweeties. I’ll, ‘John Cotter. This officer has proved himself to be a most capable and resolute captain of aircraft. He has participated on a large number of attacks on well defended targets, including several against Berlin and Hamburg. One night in February 1944, Pilot Officer Cotter took part in an attack on Schweinfurt?
JC: Schweinfurt.
PS: On the outward flight, engine trouble developed, but despite this Pilot Officer Cotter continued to target and bomb it and afterwards flew the aircraft back to this country where he made a safe landing at an airfield near the coast. His determination to complete this mission successfully was highly commendable.’ So you did it on three engines. Out and back. That must have made you very tired.
JC: Well it was, yes. I remember that, one you were talking about there. I landed at Tangmere, along the coast here. Used to be an airfield there.
PS: So what did, after the war when you stayed in the Air Force, what sort of things did you do then?
JC: [Laugh] Now, the, they’d just decided, after the war, to have exchange postings with the Americans. Some Americans would come over here and serve with us and some of us would go over there and the first stage postings took place in February 1940, [pause] 7, 1947, and I was on it. They selected me, to go out there and on to an American base. I was a married man of course by this time. The first year they said you can’t take your wife, cause you’re only going to go for a year, you don’t know where you’ll be in America, and they sent us down to, there were four Flight Lieutenants and five Wing Commanders going. Wing commander being about three steps higher than a Flight Lieutenant. Four junior offices and five senior officers. And I remember the four junior officers got together and went down to Air Ministry for a briefing. We got to this briefing at Air Ministry in Kingsway, London and it consisted of this Group Captain coming in and saying now, the best paper for football, English football results, is the New York Times so get that while you’re over there and you’ll get all the results, and that was about it: that was the briefing. So the next thing we knew we were on this liner about to go, going to America. We landed in New York, we landed in Halifax actually, Halifax, Nova Scotia and we were trained down to New York. We got there and they put us up in hotels there, called the Lexington. Lexington Hotel, on Lexington Avenue, known as the Sexy Lexy in the Air Force, the Air Force always used it, and we were there, and of course back home things were, as the war had finished things were even worse than they were during the war. The rationing was more severe and we were really, those post, immediate post war years were a bit thin for food and things and we’re now going to America, the land of plenty, and so we enjoyed ourselves in New York. We were there about four days and then we were bussed down then, down to Washington, Washington DC, and to the Pentagon Building, which is the big military, American Military Headquarters where we had an RAF delegation there. And the things we noticed, I noticed, straight away, was all WAAFs, the Women’s Air Force, were very, very smart, and chic. Where the WAAFs at home had woollen stockings because of rationing of course they couldn’t get silk stockings, all the WAAFs in Washington had silk stockings, or nylon stockings I suppose they were, certainly much smarter and looked a lot cleaner and more with it than our malnourished crowd back home. And so I was sent in to see this Air Marshal, and the first thing he said to me, he said when you come in to see me you are dressed correctly, you don’t have the hat on the back of your head. Go out and dress correctly and come, wait for [indecipherable] to back again. So out I went with my tail between my legs and looked at this very smart WAAF that I’d been admiring, I no longer admired her, cause I thought she should have warned me about that and I did have, my hat on the back of my head, as I had in there.
PS: Yeah.
JC: Yeah. And it’s not smart, that’s wartime stuff, and I was still on wartime stuff and I quite deserved what I got. Anyway, he decided I wasn’t, I wasn’t suitable material for Washington, for the American Air Force so I was sent home, in disgrace, basically, tail between my legs. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one, there was one of the Wing Commanders as well sent back, some reason. [laughter] So I came back, quite miserable feeling, on the same boat, almost. But again, we were, like the Queen Mary during the war, we had to share cabins, everybody was cooped up. I mean in the cabin on the return journey I remember there was a chap from Preston and his wife. Preston in Lancashire they came from. They’d been in America twenty two years and he was coming home, he and his wife, they’d had enough, you know, of America, after twenty two years. They’d gone out there just after the First World War and he’d been working as a painter and decorator and now he was coming home, he and his wife. Don’t know what they did when they got home, but anyway. We got home and it was the making of me.
PS: Pardon?
JC: It was the making of me, because I got to Air Ministry and I said [pouring of tea] I’d like to have a good postings, overseas. And they said not a chance! I said why not, and they said, I haven’t been overseas yet on a posting and they said we need people like you. I said why, said you’re a good instructor and we need, and it was just when we were building up the Air Force again, thank you darling.
[Other]: Let me give you that.
JC: After the war Stalin, er, Churchill had said there’s an Iron Curtain coming down over Europe. Churchill had been out in Washington and he announced it quite, quite strongly there: there’s an Iron Curtain coming down, and so we had started to rearm against the Russian Menace. They needed instructors because they were recruiting people who had just been discharged from the Air Force, and had been working and hadn’t liked it and were coming back in the Air Force and so I obviously was thought of as a good instructor, which I think I was, because I never lost my temper with anybody; I explained things calmly. So I was given this instruction job up in, flying, flying, up in Yorkshire, back in Yorkshire again, in a place near Ripon, Yorkshire, and I progressed from there and I did very well in the Air Force. And when I asked for a permanent commission, a General List Commission as a permanent officer, I got what I wanted and I had no reason to want to leave the Air Force except that I’d been sent to Birmingham, University, to take charge of the University Air Squadron and I was flying light aircraft there, Chipmunks, and I realised that that was, I wouldn’t progress any further getting back on to heavy aircraft again in the Air Force. And so the chance came up for a, after 1962, when I could retire on a small pension and so I arranged with Dan Air to join them. I had friends in Dan Air and so I left the Air Force and retired and became a civil pilot and did that for the rest of, stayed with Dan Air.
PS: Do you think staying on in the Air Force made it easier to sort of drift back into normal life after the war?
JC: Yes, yeah. I had a very good, very good career. Never out of work, so, never at the Employment Exchange. [Laughter]
[Other]: But you lost your brother, didn’t you, sadly, in the war.
JC: Hmm?
[Other]: You lost your brother, sadly.
JC: I lost my brother.
PS: So wasn’t without, was some sadness. Was that at the beginning or had he done?
JC: No, he’d been sent out to Canada. He’d been, hadn’t been taken into the Air Force. We’d joined together if you remember, but I’d been called up July ’41, he wasn’t called up till ’42, early ’42 and he was a wireless operator, wireless operator/air gunner and he was sent to Canada to join a squadron there, nearing the end of the war and they realised that when Germany collapsed they’d still have Japan to fight. So they’d build up the squadrons in the facing, in the areas facing Japan Vancouver and places like that and my brother was at Vancouver. And one night the aircraft they were in taxied back in again cause it had a fault, and my brother and another chap got out, to have a fag, you weren’t allowed to smoke in RAF aircraft then, in those days, and as happened many times actually, it happened up at Lossiemouth this type of thing as well, the aircraft taxied into them, accidentally [gasp] and they were cut to pieces by the propeller, unfortunately.
PS: That must be even harder to cope with.
[Other]: He was very young. Where were you dad when this happened, dad? Were you in Scotland, at Lossie?
JC: I was in Scotland. I was flying actually, was about two in the morning and I was flying with a French crew and I was called into Control Tower, so I brought the aircraft in, shut it down and I got out, went into the Control Tower and it was my sister on the phone to me from London, saying they knew that Paul had been killed, in Canada, and would I come home, if possible, to support my mother? And I said I will do what I can and I went and saw the CO and he said, “I can’t let you go for very long,” he said, “you can go for the weekend.” So I had to come down for, just to London for the weekend from Scotland, so it was a case of coming down one day and going back the next day basically. But I came down and supported my mother because my father was in the Navy so, in the war, so.
PS: She needed someone.
JC: Yeah. And my sister was only about seven, no, she was about twelve, twelve.
PS: A lot for her to cope with.
[Other]: You also told us, do you remember, stories before you joined up when everyone was going down the air raid shelters, when London was being bombed, and you didn’t, did you, your family, you’d drive out to the countryside.
JC: No. Oh yes. My father insisted that when the air raids started, in earnest, September 1940, we must [emphasis] go out to St Albans, somewhere clear of London completely. And he used to drive the car out to St Albans and park in a field there and my mother and sister would go and I refused to go and my brother refused to go, and my mother had a Great Aunt, a sister, known as my Great Aunt Nellie, who was mentally deficient, and my mother had brought her back from Australia with her and she looked after all the, I suppose it was a condition of the, her parents’ will that she look after Nellie. So Nellie used to be there with us. She was a nurse maid for us as kids and she was still with us at Edgware and I remember nanny, when the bombs used to start Nellie used to go out on the veranda, look up at the sky and shout: “Bugger you Mr Hitler!” [Laughter] Then she’d come back in again. Well my father and mother used to go to the field at St Albans, and we were admittedly on the fourth and fifth floor of the buildings and nothing happened to us, and there used to be a saying in the war: the bomb won’t hit you unless your name’s put on it or your number’s on it. And I didn’t go into air raid shelters cause it was very smelly.
[Other]: What happened to the field where your dad used to drive?
JC: Oh. Bomb dropped in the next field!
PS: Oh no!
JC: Yes! Yes!
[Other]: So they all stopped going as well!
JC: So they stopped going, yes. [Laughter] So they all came back to the flat.
PS: So you’ve enjoyed your life, on the whole.
JC: Oh yes. Yes, had no employment problems. I was, I spent half my life in the Air Force. You see the Air Force was the making of me; it educated me really. I was sent on numerous courses in the Air Force: on how to write properly and how to do this, that and the other. I enjoyed my time in the Air Force and again I enjoyed my time in civil flying, flying all over the world.
PS: You have been such a pleasure to interview. I’ve really enjoyed interviewing, well I haven’t interviewed you, I have let you talk, [Laughter] it’s been really informative. Thank you very much indeed. Is there anything else you want to talk about, or need a break?
JC: Not really, you’ll see in there -
[Other]: Would you like to show Pat your medals?
PS: Yes.
JC: Oh. In there. Fijians, who were in the Army, and taking them up to Malaya to fight in the jungle with us. Because we were fighting communists, Chinese communists in the jungle.
PS: Was that after the war?
JC: This was after the war, this was 1950 ish. So when you would have been about five, this was going on.
PS: Yes. Do you mind if I do this? Now, I’ve got you and your medals. That’s lovely, thank you very much. It doesn’t hurt for me to have them as well.
[Other]: Exactly.
PS: They are lovely. Did they give you this think to put them?
JC: No, no.
[Other]: They were hanging off dad.
JC: Yeah. I often used to go to my reunions and they medals would be hanging half way down.
[Other]: With a nappy pin. [Laughter]
JC: This allows you to put, this goes in your pocket.
PS: Oh I see!
[Other]: Had it redone recently, haven’t you dad.
JC: This is a chap over in East Sussex somewhere, just past Eastbourne.
[Other]: Eastbourne.
PS: He’s very clever.
JC: Yes. He’s ex-Army.
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 John David Pennington Cotter
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Patricia Selby
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-28
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ACotterJDP180828
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:16:47 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
Free French Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
John was born in London, Hendon. His family fell on hard times in his early years. John and his brother, Paul, joined the RAF in 1941 as a pilot and wireless operator respectively. After initial training at RAF Brize Norton, John was trained in Canada, returning to Britain on the Queen Mary with the first detachments of American troops. In 1943 he did more training at RAF Wymeswold, then joined 158 Squadron at RAF Lissett. They carried out several operations to German cities. As part of a new 640 Squadron, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. John then trained the Free French Air Force at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. He stayed in the RAF for 20 years, finishing as squadron leader. He later became a civil pilot at Dan Air. John’s brother was killed in a propeller incident in Vancouver.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-02
1941-07-07
1942-08
1943-02
1943-12
1944-02
1945-07
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Germany
Great Britain
United States
Atlantic Ocean
England--London
England--Yorkshire
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Hamburg
Saskatchewan--Saskatoon
Scotland--Moray
Saskatchewan
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
Sally Coulter
158 Squadron
640 Squadron
aircrew
Distinguished Flying Cross
ground personnel
lack of moral fibre
Oxford
pilot
RAF Bridlington
RAF Lissett
RAF Lossiemouth
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/518/10443/EHarrisATWallisB430214.1.jpg
ad3b3914a5498ed95aeff6f66e90ae87
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
Lapham, Rosemary
R Lapham
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Lapham, R
Description
An account of the resource
100 items. An oral history interview with Rosemary Lapham, the daughter of Roy Chadwick, family correspondence, congratulations on being honoured, personal documentation as well as photographs of family, acquaintances and aircraft. The collection also contains a thank you letter from Barnes Wallis to Roy Chadwick and a note from Arthur Harris to Robert Saundby about the in-feasibility of the Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation, some conceptual aircraft drawings and other mementos.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rosemary Lapham and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-22
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
this on a clear night with moonlight and radio altimeters. A.C.A.S. (T.R) suggested that we might send an experienced Lancaster Squadron Commander to the meeting on Monday to express an opinion on this point.
“IT WON’T WORK,” BOMBER HARRIS
[signature]
[underlined] 14th February 1943. S.A.S.O. [/underlined]
S.A.S.[underlined]O.[/underlined] This is tripe of the wildest description. There are so many ifs & ands that there is not the smallest chance of it working. To begin with the bomb would have to be [underlined] perfectly [/underlined] balanced round it’s axis. [indecipherable word] rotation at 500 RPM would wreck the aircraft or tear the bomb loose. I don’t believe a word of it’s supposed [indecipherable word] on the surface.
It would be much easier to design a “[indecipherable word]” bomb [inserted sketch] to run on the surface, bust it’s nose in on contact, sink & explode. This bomb would of course be heavier than water & exactly fit existing bomb bays.
At all costs stop them putting aside Lances [sic] & reducing our bombing effort on this wild goose chase. Let them prove the practicability of the weapon first. Another Toraplane – only madder. The war will be over before it works - & it never will. [underlined] ATH [/underlined]
14/2.
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
It won't work - Bomber Harris
Description
An account of the resource
Copy of a note from Arthur Harris to R Saundby with title added 'It won't work Bomber Harris'. States that the idea was tripe of the wildest description with not the smallest chance of working. Goes on with other reasons why it would not work and suggests another design. Concludes with retort not to put aside Lancaster and reduce bombing effort on a wild goose chase.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Arthur Harris
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02-14
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page photocopied document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EHarrisATWallisB430214
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
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
Steve Baldwin
bombing
bouncing bomb
Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation (16–17 May 1943)
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Lancaster
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/10071/AAkrillM-A171204.1.mp3
4daf19c66760c9cf4b943a4befded3d8
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 audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
JL: Ok. Ok. I’ll just do a quick introduction.
AA: Yeah.
JL: And then we can just talk and you can go through it. Right. This is Jeremy Lodge on behalf of Collingham District Local History Society and the International Bomber Command Centre on the 4th of December 2017 talking to Ann and Nick about —
MA: Michael.
JL: Michael.
MA: Michael please.
JL: Why have I put you down as Nick?
MA: Well, I don’t know.
AA: Perhaps you put Mick.
JL: Probably. And Michael. We’re going to talk about their Uncle William.
AA: Yeah.
JL: Who was in Bomber Command during the Second World War. So, do you want to introduce yourselves for the tape and then I’ll let you talk.
MA: Yeah. Well, I’m, I’m Michael. I’m the only one of, myself and my siblings who actually saw Uncle Billy but I can’t remember him because he was lost the week after my first birthday. But the story goes that he was on leave the week before my birthday and he offered me either a penny or a florin as a birthday present and I took the florin. I suspect it was because it was shiny and the other one wasn’t but maybe I was just greedy.
AA: Probably that’s true [laughs] I’m Ann Akrill and I never knew my Uncle Billy as he was known but in the family there was always a picture of him on the wall at grandma, granny and grandad’s house and they always talked about him.
MA: And at our house.
AA: And at our house. We had a picture of him as well at our house and granny and grandad and his sister Auntie Mary always constantly talked about him in our childhood. He was a very, very big figure really, wasn’t he in our childhood. He —
MA: He was.
AA: He was always there. He was always around.
JL: Where was he born and where did he live?
AA: He was born in Billingham, Lincolnshire in 1922 and they had a farm there. They were actually tenant farmers. They farmed one of the farms that belonged to the castle and I can’t remember what their names were now. Anyway —
MA: Doesn’t matter.
AA: Doesn’t matter. But anyway, they had a farm there and, and he did go to school there for a while but then in 1931 they moved to Collingham. To Bolting Holme Farm on Swinderby Road and then in 1932 for whatever reason, I don’t know why, they, maybe they didn’t want the —
MA: Decamped.
AA: Like the farm, or they had to move but anyway they moved in 1932 to Potter Hill Farm on, well, I think it’s called Potter Hill Lane. I think it’s technically Station Road but everybody calls it Potter Hill Lane which is where I was born in the farmhouse.
MA: And where I was born in the farm cottage.
AA: Yes. That’s right. And then in nineteen, yes 1931 to 1936 he went to Collingham Boy’s School where he was taught by Mr Evans who thought he was wonderful according to all accounts. And then in 1937 he went to Newark School of Art and was taught there by Robert Kiddey.
JL: Oh right.
AA: Who is quite a well-known, well he’s a sculptor really. I think he was, but he did do some art and we have got some, a picture that he did which is a kind of a silhouette of Robert Kiddey which the Newark Town Hall Museum was rather excited about when I took it in to show them. And then in 1939 he went to Regent Street Polytechnic, in London to study commercial art because he was a very very talented artist. He did many many drawings most of which, an awful lot of them I’ve got in my possession as the only person whose got room to put them I think [laughs] But he was a really really talented artist. I mean, he, and he was also a very, he had a very inventive sense of humour and he did lots and lots and lots of cartoon type drawings which started [pause] Well, the first lot we’ve got that he did were in 1935 when his father was in hospital and he wrote letters to him which all, half the letters were drawings and cartoons of the goings on that happened at Potter Hill at the time and for, in 1935 how old would he, oh thirteen.
MA: He would have been thirteen.
AA: He was thirteen and the stuff that he did it was not only, it was not only that he was a good artist but his sense of humour was, well —
MA: I would suspect —
AA: Overdeveloped. Overdeveloped.
MA: I was going, I was going to say very well developed for a thirteen year old.
AA: For a thirteen year old.
MA: At that time. Maybe not now but —
AA: Yeah. Yeah. And his letters.
JL: Oh yes.
AA: They were all, he never wrote a letter without putting lots of drawings and silly little things in it. And then in nineteen —
MA: Well, then war broke out.
AA: Yeah. Then war broke out and at the end of the 1939 he came home and he didn’t quite know what he wanted to do. He toyed with the idea of being a conscientious objector but he didn’t quite get that far. And then in 1940 until September 1941 he was employed by Smith Woolley and Co in their drawing office at Collingham which he didn’t enjoy shall I say. He hated it actually but he still, I mean he went there and he did the job that he was supposed to be doing and they all had a really good time because there were four or five young men who were all waiting to be either, to either join up or be called up in to wherever. The Army. The Air Force. Wherever. Oh one of them went in the —
MA: Fleet, well the —
AA: The Fleet Air Arm.
MA: Fleet Air Arm. Yeah.
AA: His best friend went in to the Fleet Air Arm because he, he failed his medical because of very poor eyesight for the RAF when he went with Uncle Billy. They both went together. David got knocked back because he had very poor eyesight which he’d no idea he’d got very poor eyesight and then, so he came back home. Uncle Billy got accepted and joined up. David came back home. Thought he’d try for the Fleet Air Arm and they said there was absolutely nothing wrong with his eyes at all. So, it’s assumed that there was somebody who went to join up to the Air Force who had appalling eyesight but they’d mixed up their, you know.
MA: Records.
AA: Their records because David’s eyesight was spot on apparently according to the Fleet Air Arm. So, he joined. He went off to the Fleet Air Arm and they used to compare notes in their letters about the Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm.
MA: I think the other thing about Smith Woolleys was that it gave him a lot of fodder for his cartoons, didn’t it?
AA: It certainly did.
MA: Because there are a lot of them of well particularly the older guys that were working in the office who you can obviously make more humorous comments about as far as drawings are concerned.
AA: Yeah. He did lots of cartoons and for a long time the cartoons were actually on the wall in the Smith Woolleys office. And then I don’t quite know what happened to them in the end but we’ve got copies of all of them that he did. And you can see. I mean, the likenesses are just incredible. Because a lot of the people who were on those cartoons, we knew them in later life.
MA: In later life. Yeah.
AA: You know, there were a lot of Collingham people that we knew and they are so much like. You can see exactly who it is. You don’t have to be told who they are because you can see who they are and some of their children are still around in Collingham and you could see the likeness to them as well, you know. [laughs] Oh yeah, that’s so and so’s son. Yeah. So, I mean he did loads of really, you know all these funny little cartoons about Smith Woolley but he really didn’t like working there because he wanted to get in there and get to the Air Force.
MA: Get at them.
AA: Get at Hitler basically. That was what he was aiming for. And then he joined the RAF. So, he joined the RAF in nineteen, 15th of September 1941. He went to London, to the Oval as a lot of them did in those days. They went to the Oval and they all got sort of signed up and you know all sorts of things went on and he had all these letters that he’s written. He didn’t have a very high opinion of the powers that be in the Air Force because he thought they were all a bit, you know. It was —
MA: Above themselves.
AA: A lot. Yeah, and a lot of what they were doing really was a bit ridiculous. But anyway, and then he went through various episodes and various, he went to lots of different places. He went to, I think from London he went to Aberystwyth. And then from Aberystwyth he went to [pause] where was it he went? Oh, from Aberystwyth they went to somewhere in the Cotswolds I think it was. And that was when he went to the flying school bit which unfortunately he didn’t pass to be a pilot which is what he really wanted to do. So then he went off to Brighton. And then to —
MA: Eastbourne.
AA: Eastbourne. And started training to be a navigator which after, when he started training to be a navigator he realised that actually pilots didn’t have to be very bright at all. Anybody could fly a plane but not anybody could be a navigator. He did have a fairly high opinion of himself I think [laughs] And then he went from oh it was near Reading. That’s where he went to.
MA: Theale.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Theale, it was called.
AA: Somewhere like that. Yeah.
MA: Yeah.
AA: Near Reading. That was his, where he failed his pilot’s test. And then he went to —
MA: Well, Eastbourne.
AA: Eastbourne.
MA: And he was at Eastbourne for quite —
AA: He was at Eastbourne when his bomb, was bombed. And he had little cartoons of him hiding or having a near miss with a Heinkel or a —
MA: Whatever. Yeah.
AA: Something or other.
MA: Yeah.
AA: You know, one of those German bombers.
MA: And he got quite involved in Eastbourne, didn’t he?
AA: Yeah.
MA: Because I think a couple of times he was asked to preach at the Methodist Church and this, that and the other.
AA: Oh, no that was —
MA: No. I think he, I think he —
AA: Did he there? He might have done then. Yeah.
MA: I think he preached at Eastbourne.
AA: He spoke to the young people and things like that.
MA: Yeah.
AA: He was very involved with Collingham Methodist Chapel when he was there. And then from [pause] from there he went to —
MA: West —
AA: West Freugh.
MA: West Freugh.
AA: In [pause] Is it in Ayrshire?
MA: Whichever one.
AA: On the west coast.
MA: Yeah.
AA: Of Scotland.
MA: Near Stranraer anyway.
AA: Near Stranraer. And that was where —
MA: Well, I don’t think it was near anywhere.
AA: That was where he did his final navigation training and they, they used to go out, you know, pretend bombing and things like that and he was a navigator. And that was when he got his navigator’s —
MA: Ticket.
AA: Ticket, and his sergeant’s stripes. Because they all became sergeants once they got their navigator’s thing. And then from there —
MA: And I think they flew over Potter Hill a couple of times.
AA: Yes.
MA: On training runs.
AA: Well, yes. Well, no he did that more from —
MA: The next one.
AA: The next one.
MA: Ah yeah. Probably.
AA: He came down from, back from there and went to [pause] what was it called? Oh. What was it? No that’s West Freugh. I’ll tell you in a minute. I can’t remember. I know. I know it very well what it’s called. But I can’t remember the name of it.
MA: Was that the place that there were three RAF bases with the same name in different parts of England?
AA: No. No. That was the final one.
MA: Oh, that was the final one wasn’t it?
AA: That was the final one. Yeah.
MA: Apparently, one bloke took [laughs] took a week to get back from leave to the base because he went to all the other three first.
JL: Good excuse. Good excuse.
MA: And got away with it.
AA: Oh, what was it called? You know the place in the, it wasn’t the one in the Cotswolds.
MA: Oh yeah. Yeah.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Of course. Yeah. Upper Heyford.
AA: Upper Heyford.
MA: Upper Heyford.
AA: That’s right.
MA: Upper Heyford.
AA: Upper Heyford or Lower Heyford.
MA: Well, one —
AA: Anyway, there was an RAF base.
MA: The base was at upper Heyford which later became an American, an American base.
AA: Yeah. It is still there I think now.
MA: It is. Yeah. I took a photograph of it.
AA: Yeah.
MA: A year ago now.
AA: Yeah. And then they, that, that was when they did the final training and they got paired up with all their, you know, their crew. And from then —
MA: Well, that’s where he really became involved in the community isn’t it?
AA: Yes. That’s right. He met up with a, he was involved with a Methodist Church there and there were some very nice people who were the bakers in the village and they took in, they would, you know sort of adopt —
MA: I think they had —
AA: Airmen who were away from home and —
MA: They had one sergeant and his wife and little boy billeted with them.
AA: Billeted with them. Yeah. That’s right.
MA: And two or three other of these guys who were Methodists used to spend nearly all of their spare time —
AA: And he spent their Christmas there with them as well.
MA: With the Bates.’ Yeah.
AA: Yeah.
MA: He spent his last Christmas with these people.
AA: Yeah. And I think granny sent, sent them some things, you know. For Christmas.
MA: A pack of butter or something.
AA: Yeah, because obviously —
MA: Yeah.
AA: They were on the farm so they had, you know a bit more of the finer things in life to eat.
MA: Yeah.
AA: And they, they used to write to each other for a short time because you know she was so pleased that they were looking after him and, you know all that sort of thing. And then he went off to, well he came back off leave and got sent to this place which was, well, Honington was the main base that they were supposed to be going to which was somewhere in Suffolk. But there are lots of Honingtons.
MA: In the Brecklands sort of thing.
AA: And they all had, they were all, they all had Air Force bases. All these different Honingtons.
MA: And there was also an American base there wasn’t there?
AA: Yes. Yes. He eventually got to the American base. No. I think the Americans were there. That’s right because, and this was a little satellite place where he ended up in which was a place called East Wretham in Norfolk. In Thetford Forest really and he was there for not very long.
MA: Not very long.
AA: Was he? Not very long. I can’t remember when they actually went there. Should be able to find it in here. Yeah.
JL: Was that still a training posting?
AA: No.
MA: No. This was —
AA: That was, this was the real thing.
JL: Yeah.
AA: That was the real thing and yeah, here we are. Oh, there’s one, a letter here from him, “Somewhere in Norfolk or Suffolk. Goodness knows where. I don’t.” That was February ‘43. Yes. “Nobody had been sure which Honington to go to. My bombardier had gone all the way from London to Honington near Grantham, found it was the wrong place, gone back to Grantham where he found two more fellows on their way so they all came back to Bury St Edmunds. They’d heard my pilot and another pilot were also on their way to Honington, Lincolnshire.” So, you know it was all, but when they were there they had a good, this, they arrived at this place in Norfolk or Suffolk which was an American Air Force base, “And we had a good breakfast and a marvellous dinner. The best I’ve had in the Forces. Some wonderful American stuff which you’d thought had disappeared since the war.” And then they got sent off to East Wretham which is just near Thetford and it’s right, the Air Force base I’ve never been able to get to it because it still belongs to the MOD and you have to make an appointment or, and see if they’ll allow you on. They do, it’s where sort of Dad’s Army Country. You know, where they filmed Dad’s Army and all that. But he went, so he’s now then at the RAF station at East Wretham, Thetford in Norfolk. So, he arrived there in February ’43. Mid-February ’43 and then he went out on one raid. One, one flight the first flight he went out on they were dropping mines.
JL: Do you know which squadron it was?
AA: Yes.
JL: Which aircraft.
AA: 115 Squadron and it was a Wellington. And it was at the time when they were just, they were, they were all waiting to go and be converted to Lancasters. And he was hoping that if he was converted, going on a conversion course which they promised them they would be doing in two or three weeks time he would be at —
MA: At Swinderby.
AA: Swinderby, which was like a hop, skip and a jump from the farm where he lived so he was hoping that he would be able to spend some time with —
MA: The rest of them.
AA: The rest of them.
MA: At this stage he hadn’t let his parents know that he was operational. He was going to do three, four, five or something.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Just so as he could say, ‘Well, look —
AA: I’ve done all these.
MA: I told you it was safe. I’ve done them all. I’m right.
AA: Yeah.
MA: But —
AA: So, he did, he did the, he did the one where he went, they went out. I’m just trying to see where it says it and then on the 11th of, 11th of March it was his twenty first birthday and he had lots of lovely presents from people. People had sent him all sorts of things. And on the 12th they went off to bomb the Krupp’s factory in Essen and didn’t come back again [pause] And that was it. So —
JL: That was his first, that was his —
AA: It was his first actual bombing.
JL: Bombing run. Yes.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Yeah.
AA: That was his first one.
MA: They’d laid mines but that was —
AA: And they’d, I’m trying to see [pause] Oh yeah here we are this is, he wrote this book that I’ve got here. It’s got the letters that he wrote to his parents and it’s got the letters that he wrote to his friend David —
JL: Yeah.
AA: Who was in the Fleet Air Arm and they’re very different letters because with his parents it was all, yeah, jolly. This is great and everything’s going fine. With David he sort of laid himself bare and told him what was the same sort of things that David was going through as well. And so he’d written to David and they’d had, I think four of their, his colleagues, four of the other planes they, four of them had gone out on one night and only two came back and then in the morning all these what they called the erks who were the powers that be, you know. The minions from the —
MA: Ministry. The men from the Ministry [pause]
AA: Yeah. That’s right. Those.
MA: Not quite.
AA: They would just come in and just sweep away everybody’s belongings who hadn’t come back and come in, sweep everything up and go out again. So, he’d written about that and and they were, he said they were all a bit [pause] he said [pause] they were all very shaken up about this because and he’d, he’d written, he’d written letters to all the parents of the boys that had gone out and hadn’t come back again. So, I think he was sort of, you know the chap in the group that —
MA: Did that sort of thing.
AA: Did that sort of thing.
MA: Yeah.
AA: And, and then he did, he did write a letter saying to David, saying to him, telling him how he was feeling and said that he wasn’t, he wasn’t worried about going because he’d got to go and there was a job to be done and whatever happened that was, it was ok. He was going. But please tell them at home what I’m, you know that that’s how I feel because if I don’t come back I want them to know that. And he didn’t come back. So [pause] it was all quite [pause] Well, it was very traumatic wasn’t it?
MA: Yeah. Yeah, it was.
AA: Granny and grandad never recovered from it. We can’t, none of the three of us can remember seeing them smiling which is a bit sad really isn’t it? and that was I mean granny lived till nineteen ninety something didn’t she?
MA: Ninety three.
AA: No. Ninety. No.
MA: No, sorry eighty.
AA: Nineteen seventy something.
MA: Nineteen seventy. Yeah.
AA: That’s right. Yeah. Grandad died in the 1960s.
MA: She was ninety three when she died.
AA: We can’t remember them smiling and you know she just, he was their world really even though they had two other children as well but, you know. He’d gone.
MA: Who they loved dearly but —
AA: Yeah. That’s right.
MA: But he was, well, A) He was —
AA: The youngest.
MA: Six years younger than dad.
JL: Right.
MA: So, he was —
AA: The baby.
MA: He was considered the baby of the family and I guess you look after the baby.
AA: Yeah. But he was, he appeared to have a very, he was a special sort of person. You know, there are some people that are just like, there’s something about them that everybody loves. Well, he was that sort of person or so it would appear. We don’t know because we [pause] but everybody said how lovely he was. You know, everybody we’ve met who knew him said what a wonderful person he was. So, yeah.
JL: It's shocking how sudden it is.
AA: I know.
JL: I was watching you leafing through—
AA: Yeah.
JL: The letters. Thinking oh, there’s only two or three pages left.
AA: I know. Yeah. And well, that’s what everybody said when they read it. They’ve really enjoyed reading it but they all know that they’ve got to get to the end.
JL: Yes.
AA: And they know what the end is because it says so on here. You know. Yeah.
JL: What happened to David? Do you know?
AA: David survived.
JL: Right.
AA: And he used to come and see Auntie Mary and, and my grandparents as well I suppose.
MA: Yeah.
AA: But I never met him. We’d never met him.
MA: I never did meet him.
AA: You never met him. I, when my auntie died we found a letter from him and both my other brother and I, my other brother lives in Cardiff. I was working in Newport at the time and this letter from David [Iliffe] was, had the address was from them somewhere Carleon, which is about what ten miles ten miles from Newport. And I thought —
MA: Oh.
AA: Oh. And we got all these things that we’d found because all, all the stuff, all the letters, all his paintings and drawings. Nobody knew that they existed until Auntie Mary died. We had to clear the house out. Went in, up in to the attic and there were just, there was all this stuff. There were suitcases full of all these letters and things which nobody knew. My mum didn’t know they were there. Nobody had ever said anything about them and there was all the artwork and there was all, all these letters. They were all in the envelopes still. All put together in a suitcase. And nobody had ever seen them so I thought hmm I think I’d better find out about this.
MA: This chap.
AA: David Iliffe. So, I looked in the phone book, the Newport phonebook and I found somebody called D [Iliffe] but he didn’t, he wasn’t living in Caerleon he was living somewhere not far away but he was, he was in that phone book. So, I rang him up and I said, ‘Hello. I’m trying to find a Mr David [Iliffe] who used to live in Caerleon.’ He said, ‘Oh, that’s my father.’ And I said, ‘Oh, well, my name’s Ann Akrill.’ He said, ‘Oh, you must be Akey’s family,’ or nephew, niece or anyway to do with because they always called him Akey. David always called him Akey and he had always talked throughout his whole life, he’d talked to his family about Akey as if, almost as if he was still alive. You know, he told them all about him because they were such close friends. So, he was living in, still living in Caerleon so I went to visit him and he was just, well he was so, he was so thrilled that we got in touch. And that’s where half of these letters came from because he had kept all of Uncle Billy’s letters as well and he’d transcribed them all himself and had a file of all these letters which he let me have. So they all went in here, in this book as well. And we kept in touch with him and I kept, I went to see him several times when I was down there but all his family knew all about Uncle Billy because he’d constantly talked about him really. And there was a lovely drawing that Uncle Billy had done of David as well in his, in his Navy uniform which was really nice. But you know he died, it must be probably about —
MA: I don’t know. Don’t look at me.
AA: About ten years ago probably David died. Now I don’t whether his wife is still alive. We have over the past year, we always used to get a Christmas card from her or mum always got a Christmas card from her. But I don’t think we got one last year. But he’s got, he had three sons and I could get in touch with, with one of, with those sons to see if he was still alive which I ought to do really to let him know that —
MA: Yeah.
AA: Mum died. Yeah. But yeah, I mean it was lovely to see him because he obviously was so fond of Billy you know and Uncle Billy was also, also always used to go and visit his family. His parents and his —
MA: Sister.
AA: David [Iliffe’s] brother in law had been lost previous to that and he’s on the Collingham War Memorial as well. His name was Jack Chell. C H E L L. And his daughter, if you are of an age or maybe you have children of an age who used to watch —
MA: Blue Peter.
AA: No. No.
MA: No. Not Blue Peter.
AA: Not Blue Peter. Jackanory. Was Carol Chell —
JL: Oh right.
AA: And she used to be on Jackanory and that was David [Iliffe’s] niece.
JL: So, David was from Collingham as well.
AA: Well, he lived in Collingham. Yes.
MA: Not originally.
AA: They weren’t originally from Collingham.
MA: I don’t know where they came from originally.
AA: No. I don’t. They weren’t originally from Collingham.
MA: But where —
AA: But his father worked for Smith Woolleys.
MA: Yeah.
AA: And so David worked at —
MA: Mr Chell was at Smith Woolleys too.
AA: No. No.
MA: Mr, Mr [Iliffe]
AA: Mr [Iliffe] Yeah. They lived in the corner house in Collingham which is, I think is it the corner of Church Lane or, as you’re going into Collingham you go past the [pause] and you go past the Low Street turn. I think it’s the next one.
MA: It’s the next one which isn’t Church Lane.
AA: It’s the big house on the corner with a wall around it which is called the Corner House. They lived there. But then after a while they moved to a house because they were renting it from Smith Woolleys probably, you know. They moved to a house which is either on Low Street, right at the far, near the office anyway. It was oh. It’s [pause] I can’t remember what it’s called now. But there’s a farm and there’s a house that have both got the same name and I can’t remember what they’re called. Just around the, if you —
MA: [Manor?]
AA: No. No. it’s What’s it called?
MA: [unclear]
AA: No. It’s right near Smith Woolley’s office. You know. On that corner. By the —
MA: By the tree. By the Stocks.
AA: By the tree.
MA: Yeah.
AA: By Stocks Hill there. I can’t remember. I can’t remember now what it’s called. But that’s where David’s family lived in latter years. They moved there. They moved from the Corner House to I think it was a slightly smaller place.
MA: Yeah. I can’t remember ever having met them. Whether —
AA: No.
MA: How long they stayed in Collingham, I don’t know.
AA: I don’t think they, because I don’t think David lived in Collingham after.
MA: After the war.
AA: After the war. Because he met, he met his wife, she was in the Air Force as well, I think doing, well they weren’t in the Air Force as such were they? They were —
MA: Fleet Air Arm.
AA: No.
MA: Oh.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Oh, the WAAFs.
AA: I think she might have been in the Air Force but they weren’t called [pause] They was, they had another name.
MA: The WAAFs.
AA: They weren’t officially in the Air Force then. It was the Women’s Voluntary Auxiliary. Women’s Auxiliary or something. Anyway, I can’t remember what they were called and he met her during the war and then they got married and I’m, I can’t, I’m not sure where they lived because David carried on as a surveyor and all the stuff that they were doing at Smith Woolleys. He carried on in that profession because I think that’s what his father did.
JL: Yeah. Smith Woolleys, for the tape are land agents in Collingham.
AA: Yeah. And they became more than that didn’t they? They were more than just land agents after.
MA: I don’t know.
AA: Yeah. They were.
MA: Yeah.
AA: Yeah. They were surveyors and all sorts of things.
MA: Well, I mean —
AA: I suppose that’s probably —
MA: And before that they were still a very important family wasn’t it because —
AA: Yeah.
MA: Smith Woolleys was —
AA: Yeah. Smith Woolleys have been around for years, haven’t they? Yeah.
MA: Yeah.
AA: Yeah. So, and really that’s, that’s our story of Uncle Billy.
JL: Ok. That’s great.
AA: Although we’ve got loads of photographs. We’ve got loads of artifacts and bits and pieces, haven’t we? Which —
MA: But I haven’t still got the florin that he gave me.
AA: No.
MA: I suspect mum took that and put it straight in my piggy bank.
AA: Or in your bank account even.
MA: Well, in my bank account maybe.
AA: Well, no. You probably didn’t have one in those days.
MA: I probably didn’t have one when I was one.
AA: Yeah. Yeah.
JL: Shall I switch it off?
AA: I think that would be —
JL: Ok. That’s brilliant.
AA: That will be alright. Yeah
JL: Thank you.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Michael and Ann Akrill
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jeremy Lodge
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AAkrillM-A171204
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
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
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Second generation
Description
An account of the resource
Michael and Ann Akrill talk about their uncle, William Akrill. He grew up in Lincolnshire, and studied art in London and under the tutelage of Robert Kiddey. He considered becoming a contentious objector, but volunteered for the RAF and after training, he served as a navigator with 115 Squadron. He wrote many letter home which focused on the more light hearted episodes of training but the letters to his friend in the Fleet Air Arm reflected his concerns. He wrote about how upsetting it was as crews who did not return had their belongings swept away before a new crew took their place. William celebrated his 21st birthday on 11th March 1943 and on the 12th March set off on his first operation. He did not return. His family stored all his artwork and letters and kept his memory alive with constant reminiscences of the time he had been with them. They discuss the likenesses to real people in his cartoons and his training, his brief operational service and the impact his loss had on their family.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
Germany--Essen
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09-15
1942
1943-02
1943-03-12
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:34:06 audio recording
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
115 Squadron
aircrew
arts and crafts
bombing
home front
killed in action
navigator
RAF East Wretham
RAF Honington
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/871/10033/EHobbsFJStorerB430203-0001.1.jpg
d43a72ede6b7516252a2782567382ba8
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/871/10033/EHobbsFJStorerB430203-0002.1.jpg
ba4669b7af0e53e9617368bd10ec93b8
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
Hobbs, Frank
Frank James Hobbs
F J Hobbs
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. The collection concerns 1262633 Flight Sergeant Frank James Hobbs a wireless operator with 630 Squadron, RAF East Kirkby, who was killed while on operations in a Lancaster on 16 March 1944. The collection contains his log book, official and family correspondence, official and personal documents, photographs of aircrew, family and his grave and some items of memorabilia. It also includes correspondence from a French gentleman who was witness to his aircraft crash and who returns recovered personal items belonging to Frank Hobbs. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Barbara Storer and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br />Additional information on Frank Hobbs is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/110858/">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
2016-06-04
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
Hobbs, FJ
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
c/o SERGEANTS MESS.
RAF. CAMP.
NORTH LUFFENHAM.
RUTLAND.
3-2-43.
DEAREST FID
I’M AWFULLY SORRY TO HEAR YOU HAVE BEEN AND GOT YOURSELF MUMPS, BY THIS TIME I EXPECT YOU HAVE NEARLY GOT OVER THE WORST PART AND ARE FEELING A BIT CHIRPY AGAIN. MUMMY TOLD ME THAT YOU HAD BEEN A VERY GOOD GIRL, SHE ALSO TOLD ME THAT AUNTY TWIST HAD NOT BEEN FEELING VERY WELL, I HOPE SHE IS BETTER NOW YOU ARE A FINE ONE, EVERY TIME
[page break]
I COME HOME ON LEAVE YOU HAVE TO GO AND CATCH SOMETHING. NEVER MIND LOVELY I WILL STILL COME HOME AND TAKE YOU AROUND TO SOME SHOWS MAC IS WRITING TO YOU ALSO SO WHEN YOU WRITE TO ME YOU WILL HAVE TO ENCLOSE A NOTE TO HIM. GIVE MY LOVE TO MUMMY. ALSO A BIG HUG AND KISS. AND TELL HER TO TRY NOT TO WORRY BECAUSE YOU ARE GOING TO BE A VERY GOOD GIRL TRY AND GET SOME DANCING LESSONS OFF OF MUMMY BECAUSE I WANT TO DANCE WITH YOU AT THE “LOCARNO” AS WELL AS MAC
GOODNIGHT HONEYBUNCH
WRITE ME SOON
LOVE AND KISSES, DADDY.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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 Frank Hobbs to his daughter
Description
An account of the resource
Writes that he is sorry she has caught mumps and then catches up on family news. Writes of activities on his last leave and encourages her to be good and to do dance lessons.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Frank Hobbs
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02-03
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EHobbsFJStorerB430203
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--Rutland
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
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
Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
RAF North Luffenham
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/601/8870/PLoosemoreLJ1501.2.jpg
711df538feec47125a25b5846c6510a0
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/601/8870/ALoosemoreLJ151116.1.mp3
8ef370350df4759aa45dc6ad864c2ddc
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
Loosemore, Lesley Joseph
L J Loosemore
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Loosemore, LJ
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Les Loosemore (3033406, Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a mid upper gunner with 61 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
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.
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
AS: My name is Adam Sutch and –
LL: Ah [emphasis], that’s a good idea.
AS: This is an interview with Mr. Les Loosemore, formally mid upper gunner in 61 Squadron, Bomber Command during the Second World War. My name is Adam Sutch, interviewer for the Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive, and the interview is being carried out at xxx Broughton Gifford on the 16th of November 2016. Les, thanks ever [emphasis] so much for agreeing for this interview.
LL: That’s alright.
AS: I’d like to set the scene by asking you to describe your life before joining the Air Force. Where you come from, your brothers and sisters, that sort of thing.
LL: Erm, well [emphasis]. I was born in Swansea, South Wales. Now, I can remember the address some. Left school, first job, first job I had was on a – well a scrap merchant, not [unclear]. This is all ship work [emphasis]. When the ships come in they’re bringing in shells and bombs and stuff, but they’d got to be packed in such a way that every one is above the other, and jammed on the side to stop them from swaying. And it was our job then to [unclear] all those ships and collect all that timber, then we used to store it in the dry [?] so the next ship that comes in, and takes its stuff over to [unclear] or over to Europe [?], you had all the stuff ready and you just put them all back [emphasis] in the same place. But you had to make sure that they stayed upright, so everything was right, a row of bombs, planks, but they had to touch the sides of the ships to stop them from going otherwise they’re all sinked [?] on the bottom. But by doing that, putting a layer of timber in between you kept them in the middle of the ship, yeah [coughs].
AS: How old were you when you started that job?
LL: [Coughs] that was the first job I had I think, yeah. I was only about fourteen, yeah, and – oh and I ended up in the, with the – oh hell, Old Barn Easton [?] was the old scrap yard. I got into somewhere, but I can’t remember where, but [coughs].
AS: Not to worry. But you left –
LL: Erm – I must have been fourteen when I left [inhales loudly]. I got a job [emphasis], sausage skin factory they called it. And you get all [emphasis] the sheep’s guts and get all the – it’s all frozen and it’s all dry and you got to rip all the fat off so you left with a skin which is used for sausages.
AS: Good lord.
LL: Yeah –
AS: That’s your first job.
LL: That’s the, the proper first job I ever had.
AS: Yeah. Were you living at home at that, at that time?
LL: Erm, I was, I was living at [emphasis] home then, yeah. And, where was that? Oh, that was at a place in Swansea, and, well, Treboeth they called it. It’s just on the edge [emphasis] of Swansea. And there was only about ten or fifteen minutes walk, so that want too bad there, yeah. That was an aunt, because I walked out of home, because too many arguments and all this and that. Conditions were better when I went and lived with an aunt.
AS: Oh okay.
LL: So, I haven’t had any, like a brother [?]. I did have that as my official address for many years, even when I was in the RAF, so you can say that was my second home really, yeah.
AS: Mm. Did you have, do you have many brothers and sisters?
LL: I got some, but they are too far away. I’ve only got some brothers. Oh [emphasis] sorry [coughs], I got a sister, she born 1936, that was about a, wrong again [?]. It must have been thirty-seven, mother died in 1937, how do I remember that? I used to play with two tins of World War One medals.
AS: Mm?
LL: Now, I usually, two tins laid right across the table. I never realised it until somebody mentioned it. ‘Why did you have two tins?’ One was is [?] some relative. I don’t think he had any brothers, he had sisters according to my sister. I lost my train of thought –
AS: The World War One medals.
LL: Yeah. I used to put all these medals across and – there were two tins. We discovered he had two tins. Why he had two I was asked by a certain person, and I said ‘I’ll find out.’ And it appears that he’d, he had a relative of some description, he didn’t have any brothers, but he [pause]. Yeah, he said that, well he asked if I had a brother who won a Victoria Cross, and ‘well sir I don’t know,’ and I said ‘next time I go down Swansea’ I said ‘I’ll ask about it.’ And apparently he had a relative as well that was staying with them. One tin was the old man’s and the other was the sister [?]. But he didn’t come back because I think he got wounded during the First World War and he passed away.
AS: Mm.
LL: So he left the old man with the two tins. In there was the square Victoria Cross.
AS: My gosh.
LL: I used to play with that all on the table, two tins of them.
AS: Good lord.
LL: ‘Cause when I asked the old man I said ‘what’s all this then,’ he said ‘well they were all different parts of World War One.’ He didn’t say what they actually were, but it was only later on that I discovered through somebody else that it was a Victoria Cross.
AS: Goodness.
LL: And that was a bloke Loosemore in the First World War.
AS: Good lord. When you were in Swansea during the war – when, what, what, what year were you born in? What year –
LL: 1925.
AS: 1925.
LL: 5th of the 8th 1925.
AS: So, so when the war started you were fourteen [emphasis].
LL: When the war started, erm – I’d left school. Oh [emphasis], that’s when I was working over with the scarp merchant, the one unloading the timber off the ships. That’s the first job I had –
AS: Do you –
LL: And I ended up – actually, oh, a yellow metal mill. It’s a bit like a steel works with all the rollers and a great big wheel and all that material used to come off all bent and we had a machine beside it that would flatten it dead straight. That would then go to the girls, what they called the stamping machine, and they’d stamp out bits of brass the size about, just a bit bigger than say a fifty p. piece. They turned that m, m, into money [emphasis].
AS: Wow, okay.
LL: It was an interesting job [coughs]. Peoples, peoples good, that’s the main thing.
AS: As the war started –
LL: Yeah.
AS: Did you see much of the war in Swansea? Was it –
LL: Did I –
AS: Was it bombed at all, Swansea? Did you see much of the war in Swansea?
LL: Well I joined the RAF in – it’s the book, 1940, 1940, February [emphasis] 1943.
AS: Mhm.
LL: That’s when I signed up with them. I had volunteered – you had to register I think a year before hand so that you could join the ATC and learn something about whatever service you going to go into, Territorials if you’re going in the army. And with the, for the RAF you had the ATC.
AS: Did, is that what you did?
LL: Yeah, and so, I didn’t require all that much because my old man being in the Home Guard, he had a rifle, a three-o-three, and that’s all we wanted to know when we got in the RAF. Who could handle a 303 rifle? But, I’ll tell you one thing, an incident there, I was lucky. I was sitting besides a table, just like that, hand was on [?] there, and I’d been up to the place where there these – oh they had an exercise on, the Home Guard, I had to go up to the barracks and get the rifle. I put it on the bloody table, and the old man started stripping it down to get a good clean overall. He put the blooming [emphasis] rifle down there [emphasis], with the end of it, and the bloody thing went off. It missed my ear by about an inch, yeah, pshh. And it cut a groove in the end of the table, and the old man, when he did go back up on duty, he give them a great big bollocking, ‘cause [coughs] I could have lost an arm easy enough.
AS: Mm.
LL: Yeah.
AS: What –
LL: You got to be, you got to be very careful [coughs]. I wish this cough would go away.
AS: Mhm.
LL: Yeah, yeah carry on.
AS: The – before you joined the Air Force, did you see much of the war in Swansea? Was there bombing, or anything like that?
LL: Well, they had a Blitz in there, I know that. Where were we living then? Most of the time I think we were in, what did they call it? District Road [?] Swansea, Plasmarl, it’s slightly north of the main town centre, and we had our own air raid shelter and that, and [coughs] a good – it was nice and warm [emphasis], it wasn’t cold like a lot of people you see shivering like mad in the middle. Ours was built against another big building, and you used that as one blanket [?], filled it up with earth and built all around it. And that was quite warm in there, yeah.
AS: Mhm.
LL: So we weren’t too bad really [coughs]. Oh bloody hell, I wish – they can’t find anything to get rid of this phlegm I got on my chest, they’re worried if I sit like this ain’t too bad, but I could be dead upright and I got to do it on that bloody bed there. But if I lay down flat it’s worse, but if I can sit upright, dead upright, then phlegm sinks to the bottom –
AS: Yeah.
LL: And then I’m clear for a while, yeah. Anyway carry on.
AS: When you were in Swansea under the bombing, what was it like? Was it night after night or?
LL: Well, we didn’t live there all the time, we were on the outskirts they call it, yeah. Yeah, we moved to an area called Plasmarl and that’s – I’d finished school I think, yeah. Because when I left home I was living with an aunt and I had to walk about two miles [unclear] but [unclear] the mills [emphasis]. Yellow metal mills.
AS: Mhm.
LL: You used to use them as the material brass to make bullet shells, and all that sort of thing. A good job, good pay, so I was alright like that.
AS: Mm. What made you decide to join the Air Force?
LL: Well I had erm, I had two brothers and a sister. The sister was in the WAFs. I think the eldest, no the eldest one was in the army [emphasis] but the second eldest was in the – I would say, erm, what do they call them now? [Pause] oh what do they call them, they were, they were classified as –
AS: Were they sort of soldier, or?
LL: Volunteers, yeah. I forget – they had a special name for them [coughs]. When did he [?] join the services anyway?
AS: Okay.
LL: So that was, one’s in the WAFs and one in the RAF, so I thought ‘I might as well make it a third.’ So I joined the Air Force. But I didn’t realise it when I – I went up to Penarth [emphasis] for an interview and they passed me as a fit for air crew duty. Well flying [emphasis], first of all, then I had to go somewhere else. Oh, we had to do some, go to a place, stay overnight I think, done some exercises to see if you’re fit [emphasis].
AS: Mhm.
LL: ‘Cause you had to be fit to be in the aircrew, if you’re going to fly anyway. And I passed alright. So from then on life carried on like normal, yeah.
AS: So you went up to Penarth, did they give you –
LL: Well, what they do there, they give you a lot of information, like about ranks and things like that, and all the usual ground, what I call the ground work for anybody any service, I mean Navy or Air Force. They still got to recognise you as a cornel or a captain or a corporal, and all the general information about the service you were joining. And that’s what the ground work was, but the flying [emphasis], you start going up for gunners, we went up to somewhere round [?] Scotland, Castle Kennedy, and that’s – we were flying on Anson aircraft then, the Avro Anson. And that only had a turret, a mid upper turret, but it was an Anson towing on the windbags, and you’d have about, what was it? About half a dozen chappies in there. Everybody had a different coloured bullet, so when that bullet went through the bag, the windbag, it would leave some paint. You could tell, tell how many hits you had. So, so when you got back –
AS: Were you any good at it?
LL: When you got back they counted how many little holes and the colour [coughs]. They got your score then, yeah.
AS: Were you any good?
LL: Yeah [emphasis] I thought I was very good. What did I do? Something special up there one day. We changed instructors, who was it? It was laughable really [pause]. It made me laugh at the time, it made me laugh. I was very good with the side-by-side shotgun.
AS: Mhm.
LL: I discovered I think, thanks to listening to the old man talking about in the Home Guard when he was on exercise, what they normally do. You get the gun side to you other [?] and you pass it through, and there’s a time when it stops [emphasis] and then it starts to fall. You fire when it’s on the top, on the apex and then you waited every time. But [coughs] I done this four times out of five, and the [unclear] said ‘oh, we’ll change instructor, instructors,’ and we had a good one in the first place. But, what was it this bloke said something? [Pause] ooh heck, it made me bloody laugh at the time I know that [AS laughs]. Oh Christ – I used to hit for some reason or another, you’d have five [emphasis] bullets to fire through this gun, the turbo [?].
AS: Mhm.
LL: And I hit the fourth one, and he said ‘I bet you a pound you can’t hit this one.’ I says ‘put the gun up [unclear].’ I turned round and it says ‘offices and NCOs should not gamble’ and [laughs] he said ‘you’re a bloody poacher mate’ [AS and LL laugh]. I never [coughs], I never handled a gun before.
AS: Wow.
LL: And yet I was able to do that, you know. Four times out of five, and he looked at him and he says ‘you’re a bloody poacher aren’t you?’ I said ‘I never handled a gun before in all my life.’ But I was watching the old man when he was in the Home Guard and listening to him talking, when they were on exercise and you learn quite a bit that way, yeah.
AS: Mm.
LL: Anyway, what else have you got to go onto? Checked – 20:43
AS: Let’s go back [emphasis] a little bit, before you went to air gunner training –
LL: Well, problem was, six months ground work, what I call ground work, that’s learning all the ranks and all the rules and regulations going into any service. And then six months there ground work, six months flying training. Start off with the Anson, then you went onto the Wellington, Avro Wellington, then up to Winthorpe, Stirlings [emphasis], then you go onto the, what they call the LFS, the Lanc Flying School. That’s where, the first time you sit in a Lancaster. You’re up at RAF Syerston, and you there for – well you’re supposed to be there for a given time, but somebody was, somebody took ill [emphasis] and then they remembered that one of them was the engineer. You didn’t fly – well, you’re not supposed to fly unless you had a full crew, but I, I can’t remember why we – oh, they didn’t need anybody on the Wellingtons, not a flight engineer, he came when we went onto the Stirlings, and then onto the Lancasters [coughs]. And we went into Syserston for that, from there onto the squadron.
AS: Okay.
LL: ‘Cause it was just up the road from Newham [?].
AS: Okay. How did you choose, how did you choose to be an air gunner? Did you do tests?
LL: Do what?
AS: Did you do – did they give you tests to decide if you would be an air gunner or a pilot or?
LL: Erm, no. I think what it was, it started, it started off where they decide [emphasis] you’re in brilliance, you’re intelligent, you’re general [emphasis] knowledge and stuff like that. And oh, you got to be fit. You had to be one hundred percent fit, and I suited everything and they, they said ‘well you qualify for flying duties.’ So that’s what I did. I said ‘oh,’ I didn’t know what aircraft you got to fly in, could have been a tiger moth or, I don’t know. But anyway, we were told we were going to fly Lancasters eventually, on a squadron.
AS: Okay.
LL: Yeah [coughs].
AS: So you were on forty-two course at Castle Kennedy.
LL: Pardon? Yeah [emphasis].
AS: To learn to be a gunner.
LL: Yeah –
AS: And –
LL: And they had – you do your training facing the side of this hangar and on there, there was, you had to chase the path [?] and you had to train the sites of the guns on that path without making the bell ring, because as soon as you hit the line – they had like a roadway, a pathway. These rung the bell as a fault [?] but if you go through straight through it, the two lines, without touching the lines, you got a clear run. I had many clear runs, because you kept on practicing all the time, yeah. But great big, behind the hangars, great big building started at one end, all the bloody way along there, yeah. Shake it mad hoping you didn’t touch the bloody line [AS laughs]. [Coughs] yeah, and that was up at the, now where was that? Oh that was up in Castle Kennedy, Scotland I think, yeah. Somewhere up there.
AS: Okay. And then you, you actually sat in an aeroplane for the first time in your life I guess.
LL: Yeah [emphasis], that was the first aircraft was an Anson, yeah. And that’s the first time I sat in the turret. Although they did have a turret during the training, the groundwork, so you could get used to where the bits and pieces are, how, which way the guns were going to be going, how you line them up and all that sort of thing. That sort of ground work consists of, learning all the basics, I think you could call them, yeah.
AS: And you have to strip the gun and clear stoppages and things?
LL: Oh yeah, you – and, and the thing was this. In case you were, had a failure at high altitude, you had all these flying clothes on, thick gloves like gauntlets [emphasis] and how had to fiddle about wearing them, and if you had a middle of winter now you’d have gloves on. And you just imagine trying to strip that thing down, it was a small parts inside the gun, the 303 [coughs] and you had to strip them down and put them back together again, wearing your gloves.
AS: Where do you put all the pieces when you’re in a turret [LL coughs] at twenty thousand feet?
LL: Oh, this is when you’re in the classroom.
AS: Oh.
LL: You do it all when you’re in the classroom. But [emphasis] you got to shout all the way around you in the turret so you’ve got bugs [?] everywhere. It’s like, it’s like drying, riding a motorbike. You don’t, don’t move your arms like that, you just run handle like that, up and down, that’s all, that’s all there is. It’s all under control, so you just, you don’t move [emphasis], you just move your hands like that. Course looking around all the time.
AS: Is the turret electric or hydraulic?
LL: I think oil [emphasis]. I think oil was the driving force behind it, yeah. It must have been, because they were very worried about any oil leaks when, if you’d been attacked, anything like that. Because you can easily slide on it and injure yourself, ‘cause it is a bit rough inside the aircraft because of all the ribs [?].
AS: Mhm.
LL: And you can easily break an arm, break a leg or something when you steady [?] yourself.
AS: Mm. Did you actually like [emphasis] the flying?
LL: Mm?
AS: When you got into the Anson did you actually like they flying and think ‘this is for me?’
LL: I liked the flying a lot, I really enjoyed that, and especially in the Lanc up there, it’s very comfortable, the seat itself was a strap of fabric, no wider than that but a bit longer, connected from one side to there. And you sat on that thing for anything, eight to nine hours.
AS: Good lord.
LL: Now you’d think, well your backside must have been sore but that strap forms the shape of your backside [unclear] end, and we used to be sitting there for eight or nine hours, longer. I forget what the – I supposed it’s somewhere in there, the longest one, eight and a half hours I think, over Germany, that’s the longest flight we had I think. But you don’t’ feel tired [emphasis] and it’s a lovely feeling, sitting in a lot of bloody clouds, yeah. ‘Cause you don’t know what’s coming the other bloody way.
AS: ‘Cause you faced nearly always the tail?
LL: Yeah.
AS: Yeah, mhm, yeah. When you’d finished on Ansons, was that when you –
LL: Oh –
AS: When you’d finished on Ansons, is that when you, when you were qualified and you got your wings?
LL: Oh, wait a minute [?]. No [coughs] you got your wings when you finished your ground training. The last lesson you get, I forget what it’s all about, but then the old chap says ‘right, you’re now classified as sergeants. You’re, you’ve jumped all those ranks just because you going into aircrew, and also your pay goes up as well.’ So it makes a vast difference when you – that’s going from Bridgnorth in Shropshire which is the last of the ground [emphasis] training. You then go up to Castle Kennedy in Scotland for the, to start your, no, to start your flying, proper gun training then, yeah [coughs].
AS: Mm. When you got your wings and your promotion –
LL: Yeah.
AS: Was there a big parade? Did any – did your relatives come or?
LL: Erm [pause] and where was it? We were in Bridgnorth, I know that [papers shuffle]. Oh, no I think we were in the classroom in Bridgnorth, that was RAF Bridgnorth, yeah. And when the, when the ground course finished, the instructor, he then informed you that you were then made sergeant, you jumped all the ranks and you were made a sergeant and your pay went up as well. [Papers shuffling] so that was a good thing, yeah.
AS: Yeah, [laughs] absolutely. So you went then I suppose on leave for a while, did you?
LL: Erm, I think we might have had a, a long weekend or something like that. Ah yeah [coughs] ‘cause I went home that weekend when we passed out. Now who did I meet? I met somebody – unimportant anyway.
AS: Mm.
LL: Walking through town, a pal a long time ago, a school kid, yeah. I’d gone – I had a bit of a long, a long weekend [emphasis] I think they called it when I went home. And then from there we went from, I went from Swansea all the way up by train to Scotland.
AS: To Castle Kennedy, yeah. Okay, and when you finished Castle Kennedy –
LL: Yeah.
AS: It was round about the time of D-Day. When –
LL: Well, I was never going to teach [?] [coughs] but if it’s in there, mm.
AS: Shall we have a pause for a minute?
[Tape paused and restarted.]
AS: Right Les, we pick up again. I’d like to talk about the OTU and the Wellingtons and –
LL: Yeah.
AS: And crewing up. When you got to the OTU how did you form a crew? How did the crew all [LL laughs] get together?
LL: It was brilliant [emphasis]. You never, you never seen such a process – you couldn’t invent such a thing. I [unclear] gunner, Bill Jenkinson. I suppose – oh, I was behind the door, that’s my favourite bit, behind the door. And Bill was on that side. I said to him, I said to Bill, I said ‘oh, have you got anybody else with you? Why not grab a wireless operator or something like that?’ ‘No,’ I said ‘let’s go and have a look, see what we can see,’ and walked into all these chaps of pilots and navigators, and when [unclear] barracks, and when they were in this long line I saw a pair of feet sticking right out. I said ‘let’s have a look and see what that is, he looks a big bloke.’ [AS laughs] and that was the skipper, a New Zealander.
AS: What’s his name?
LL: And we walked up to him and said ‘you got any crew members yet.’ ‘No.’ I said ‘well you got two gunners,’ ‘oh that’s a good start’ [AS laughs]. We picked up like that [emphasis]. It was long [?], if somebody fancied you, it was – if you didn’t like them then you just passed on. But ‘oh, he looks a friendly’ – ‘I know him, I had a couple of pints with him,’ like that. That’s how you picked up a crew.
AS: So when –
LL: You wouldn’t believe – it was so lackadaisical the way everybody come together as a crew, and yet it worked beautifully.
AS: So you chose your skipper because of the size of his feet?
LL: Yeah [AS laughs]. It’s rather strange how seven people like that, complete strangers, can come together and form a crew. And all more or less you work and play in, with one aircraft, it’s brilliant. And yet you just knitted together and formed a complete crew, yeah.
AS: And when you’d done this dating [?], did you go out and socialise to get to know each other?
LL: Oh, oh yeah. Oh, I’ll tell you a funny thing happened, it’ll make you laugh. When the course – now what was that called? Ah [pause] –
AS: At the OTU?
LL: Upper Heyford.
AS: At the OTU, yeah.
LL: Erm, OTU.
AS: Mhm.
LL: We’d finished the course and everybody passed and we had a party in the sergeants mess, and the – we had lots of drinking going on and all that. And old Bill the rear gunner, he said ‘that bird from the sergeants mess, the cook, she’s caught my eye. I’m going to chat her up’ he said ‘when we finish.’ Well, it was sometime later on I did catch a glimpse of him. Of course he had to see her the following night or something, so I said to him, I said ‘oh, how did you get on last night?’ He just lay on the bed fully clothed looking miserable as sin. I said ‘what did you do?’ I said ‘what did you get?’ [AS laughs]. And he fell silent for a while. I said ‘you must have had some – you must have done something’ or another, similar comment like that. I said ‘what did you get?’ ‘That’s it on the table’ he said, chunk of bread and a chunk of cheese [AS and LL laugh]. I said ‘all that fuss for nothing,’ he said ‘a chunk of cheese and’ – right in the middle of the table. We enjoyed it anyway, we had, I think we had a bottle of beer hidden away somewhere, but it was enjoyable, yeah.
AS: Mhm. Was the flying at the OTU, was it very intensive? Did you do a lot of flying?
LL: Operation – yeah [emphasis]. There is – you do all sorts of trips, daytime and at night time. Short ones, ops, what do you call them? Bumping and something or another –
AS: Circuits and bumps.
LL: Ah yeah that’s it, good, circuits and bumps. You do a lot of that, day and night so that the pilot can get used to flying the aircraft. That’s more than anything else, because there’s nothing you can do from the gunner’s point of view at night time, you can’t see nothing. Not a thing, it’s completely black. You can look down, you can see one light or anything. And the only lights you see is the runway lights, and you can see them quite a distance away. But that’s the only thing to guide [emphasis] you, and it’s up to the navigator to know exactly where you are, so you learn from them, and I should imagine they got some beacons [emphasis] dotted all over the country so, and each one is tuned differently, so you tune, the navigator tunes into them. That’s how they guide you down a narrow alleyway because you’ve got flying, aircraft flying in all directions during the war. You could have a collision anytime [emphasis], you never know it, but that’s it, that’s what it’s all about.
AS: Mm. When you were at the OTU you were – were you straight away confident straight away that you’d chosen a good pilot?
LL: Erm, I think we did. We had a couple of rough landings, bumps, but like everybody else the more you do your job, the more efficient you become. Like you learn – I kept on missing [emphasis] when I was flying over the target, and fair enough the pilot of the, I think it was the Anson, he was very patient because they tell you off in a, a personal way, not giving you a good bollocking but advising [emphasis] you is a proper phrase, what you’ve got to do so everything goes along smoothly like that, yeah. Good enjoyable, I enjoyed it, sitting in there.
AS: Mm, okay. When you moved onto the OTU as a crew, where there many accidents among the other crews at OTU?
LL: [Coughs] Well [pause]. We were at – nearly every [emphasis] station, RAF station we went, we went with an aircraft went missing. Up at [unclear] Castle Kennedy, an Anson went missing over the, not the North Sea, the West Coast.
AS: The Irish Sea?
LL: Yeah, ah that’s, Irish Sea, yeah.
AS: Mm.
LL: He went missing up there. Next station – oh, then we, there was a Wellington. Oh, the Wellington went and crashed somewhere in mid Wales and it must have gone somewhere into a bog [emphasis] because it, it sunk out of sight, nobody could find it. So wherever it is it’s down there rotting. And then we got to – nothing happened up at Newark, Winthorpe. Oh, the Lanc finishing school, that’s the first time you’re in a Lancaster. Joining the circuit I spotted a black shadow on the ground of an aircraft, and you could practically recognise it as a Lancaster. But the strange thing about it was, as if some yob [emphasis] had been there with a spray gun, blood red, and gone all the way around it, framed it just like that. This black shadow on the ground, in line with the perimeter track. And just a line of red all the way round it. They reckon that the black was a plane, the red was the remains of a crew, yeah, when it exploded. There’s nothing, there’s nothing left to show, it was a crew there, it’s just that red mark.
AS: Good lord. We’ll pause for a second.
[Tape paused and restarted.]
AS: Lesley, you were talking about lights, or not having any lights at night –
LL: Yeah.
AS: Could you see the exhausts from your own aircraft, from the Wellington or the Lancaster when you were flying?
LL: I don’t think – I wasn’t aware of it –
AS: Mhm.
LL: But I don’t think, I don’t think we, no I don’t think we did bother with it. We never saw anything because [coughs] I think that the flame from the engine would pass through the back end of it and disappear.
AS: Mhm.
LL: So you did – I don’t think, I can never remember seeing any light or flame or, coming from the engines.
AS: Okay.
LL: And I think they had an extended exhaust pipe [coughs] and it goes under the wing rather than over the top. So it’s out of sight [?] anyway, yeah [coughs].
AS: Yeah. There were two of you as gunners, there was you and Bill Jenkinson.
LL: Yeah.
AS: How did you decide who was gonna be the rear gunner and who was gonna be –
LL: Oh, well, well we were in a bedroom like this, a long hut. A peace [emphasis] time building, brickwork. Bill was on that side of the door, I was behind it.
AS: Mhm.
LL: And I had a look around and Bill was the nearest and I said ‘you got anybody to go up with you Bill?’
AS: Mm, mm.
LL: ‘No not yet’ he said, ‘but I want to be a rear gunner.’ ‘Oh that’s alright,’ I said, ‘I’ll take mid upper gunner position then’ –
AS: Oh so you decided between you?
LL: Yeah.
AS: Yeah, okay.
LL: He said ‘alright, that’s [coughs] that’s what I want to be, rear gunner.’ So that’s how we decided.
AS: Mm, okay. So you did a fair bit of flying at the OTU on Wellingtons.
LL: Yeah.
AS: Were they good, were they good aircraft, or were they pretty ropey at that time?
LL: No, oh [emphasis]. They must have been reliable because I think [emphasis] now you come to mention it, a lot of them were [coughs] exit [?] squadron.
AS: Mhm.
LL: And that had to be kept in a good condition, especially going on operations. The good maintenance on that aircraft was carried on I think through the training sessions. So you did have reliable aircraft – I can’t ever remember us having, if we ever – well you have a stimulated three engine landing for practice with a pilot [coughs], see how it handles landing and taking off.
AS: okay. So you were on forty-four course at –
LL: Sixty, sixty one.
AS: Okay. The, the course you were on at 16 OTU that was forty-four course. Did you, did you pass out from there, did you have a passing out parade when you finished at OTU?
LL: Erm [pause] Upper Heywood.
AS: Mm.
LL: OTU, operational training – no [emphasis] apart from having this, this party at the end of the course when Bill and all this cook from the sergeants mess catching his eye [AS laughs]. That’s the only incident I can remember [emphasis] in there.
AS: Okay.
LL: It was a very quiet sort of a station, yeah.
AS: Okay. And then you went on leave [emphasis], did you?
LL: I think we must have because I remember – I went on, possibly a long weekend because I went home to Swansea and I had to get on, what do you call the, they call the Coastal Train down there. It goes all the way round the outside of Wales until you get up into Scotland. You didn’t go across the midlands, I think they were kept clear for munitions [?] and all so you go on this track [coughs], going through small village all the way up to go up to Scotland.
AS: That must have taken forever [emphasis].
LL: Yeah, it does. But it’s surprising how quickly time goes when you’re moving, you know. And you tend to remember [emphasis] places like that. You, you seen it in your school days on a map where certain places are, so like ‘oh this is so and so,’ ‘that’s so and so.’ You go, time soon goes, yeah. Oh take my tea away, too much, too much of that.
AS: Mhm. Then after the OTU you went onto Stirlings at the Heavy Conversion Unit at Winthorpe.
LL: Er, yeah, Winthorpe, that’s where we were Stirlings.
AS: Mhm.
LL: Very, very quiet, not much happened on that station to my, to my knowledge anyway.
AS: Mhm.
LL: No I can’t think of any [coughs] –
AS: But at –
LL: Winthorpe –
AS: Mm.
LL: Stirlings, no I don’t think much happened on there. Very quiet station.
AS: Okay, mhm.
LL: At Winthorpe, yeah. Near Newark, yeah.
AS: Mhm.
LL: That’s it.
AS: But then, then did you start doing exercises with fighter aircraft in the sky, on the Stirlings?
LL: Erm –
AS: The fighter affiliation [?] –
LL: We didn’t do it on the Wellingtons because it’s got no mid upper turret, so the Stirling would have been the first aircraft. No hang on. The Wellington would have been a job for the rear gunner, there’s no mid upper gunner turret, so I used to stand at the astrodome and looking out possibly [unclear] one of the navigator might want it or somebody want some information. You can see everything but there’s nothing to see, it’s all black. So what they expect you to see in the darkness like that I don’t know. But I had a sometimes it was a longish journey and other times it was just bumps, bumps and whatever, yeah [coughs].
AS: Mhm. So that’s just over a month on Stirlings from mid October to mid November 1944. I suppose pulling you together as a crew still.
LL: Yeah, well you go from Wellingtons which has only got one active turret, you go onto a Stirling then which has got the two.
AS: Mm.
LL: It’s got three turrets actually – one in the doors, mid upper turret and a tail gunner, yeah.
AS: Mhm.
LL: But there’s only two gunners there anyway.
AS: And so does the bomb aimer use the front turret?
LL: Yeah, Well sometimes if necessary he can [emphasis] get up there if you got time [coughs].
AS: And then you went on, for a short time to the Lancaster Finishing School.
LL: Yeah.
AS: Right.
LL: Yeah, yeah we passed away [?] – yeah the Lanc Finishing School is the last time, oh the first time you sit in [emphasis] a Lancaster, ‘cause then that prepares you for your next station which for us was just up the road in Lincoln. That’s the only place, the first place you sit in a turret of a Lancaster, so the Lancaster Finishing School. That’s the whole idea of it, introduce you to the aircraft you’re going to fly, yeah, which is a good thing really, yeah.
AS: And how did that feel? Did that feel –
LL: I rather liked it myself, yeah, quite pleasant. It was a nice steady aircraft when you were flying, you know, it was rather stable, and often you see them bumping about but that one, it seems to hold itself dead level the whole time. It’s pretty well set up. I think that applies to a lot of them during the war.
AS: And that was a really modern aeroplane then.
LL: Yeah, yeah. And according to the book, it was a mark three I believe that we ended up with up on the squadron, ‘cause you had all the latest radar equipment and all that stuff in it.
AS: Mhm. But nothing special happened at Lanc Finishing School that you recall?
LL: Erm, apart from seeing that shadow with the red painted on, that was a very quiet station, yeah. You do, you do day and night flying in it. But you can’t see a blooming thing at night, anyway.
AS: Even though you’ve got the best view at the top of the aeroplane?
LL: Yeah you can’t see – well, people don’t realise what a blackout is. A blackout is every [emphasis] light [emphasis] is out [emphasis].
AS: Mhm.
LL: It’s complete darkness, and if you happen to show a light it’s so quiet that you can hear somebody shout out ‘put that bloody light out,’ or so ‘shut that doors, shut that window,’ something like that.
AS: Mhm.
LL: Because it’s so black [emphasis] that you spotted straight away – you go ‘well what the hell’s that then?’ Or ‘some buggar’s opened the window’ or something like that.
AS: But when you’re airborne with the stars and the moon, could you see horizontally or above you? [LL coughs] Could you see other aircraft in the sky, for instance?
LL: [Pause] You could see the horizon, the dark earth and if it’s a moonlit light you could see the curve of the earth and the difference – the horizon [emphasis], you could see the difference. Now, an interesting thing happened there. Talking about UFOs, now this is true this. There was a starlit night; you could see the horizon and the end of the darkness and all of the stars. And I thought ‘that’s funny, that star’s moving faster than the others.’ I kept on coming around to it [coughs]. That one star, that I believe could have been one of these foreign things, a UFO I believe. I tell you why, [talking in the background]. Yeah, it’s rather strange, nobody speaks [emphasis] when you’re in an aircraft, everybody’s concentrating on the job. You’re a navigator you’re concentrating, engineer, and all that you concentrate on – and I was looking and I thought ‘he’s moving.’ And I followed that. As it got overhead, I heard – nobody speaks [emphasis] when you’re flying, and this voice, I heard this voice as clear as you were talking. ‘We’re of no danger to you.’ So where did that voice come from? Nobody spoke, you never speak unless you’re telling the navigator tells the pilot ‘oh we’ve got to turn right here, and our starboard’ or something like that, or somebody passing a message, that’s the only time you speak. And you see somebody spoke just [emphasis] as clear as if it was in the aircraft with you. ‘We’re of no danger to you,’ so where did the voice come from?
AS: Wow. Did you discuss this with your crew later?
LL: No, well the thing is, you never mentioned – and this is strange. You never mentioned anything inusual [emphasis] because you then put everybody on nerves end –
AS: Mm.
LL: Thinking ‘now what’s he on about?’
AS: Yeah.
LL: But then the next thing you know, ‘what the hell’s he bloody on about, silly, he bloody drunk again,’ something like that. But, so you kept everything to yourself, and this is why it’s so quiet in the aircraft, the only time you’d speak if you’re passing instructions to anybody.
AS: It sounds like you were a very disciplined [emphasis] crew. Did your skipper keep tight discipline and make –
LL: Erm, well it seemed that we were completely at ease. I can’t remember the pilot or anybody for that sort of losing their temper. It’s rather strange, as if you’re entering another world. It’s very calm [emphasis] in there, when you’re flying, whether it’s the quietness, the only sound you can hear is the engines, but then you got your helmet on and you got your earphones, so you blocked out all the sound, the external sounds. So the only thing you can hear is when anybody speaks inside [emphasis] the aircraft. Otherwise it was dead quiet. It’s like this place now, yeah.
AS: Can you hear your own breathing?
LL: Hmm?
AS: Can you hear your own breathing on your mask? Checked – 59:41
LL: Ah now you come to mention, you did sometimes if you got excited, yeah. You’re bound to, yeah, and oh, another time was if your oxygen tube, pipe got disconnected, then you can hear all sorts of things then. Bad connection [?] from you to the turret, it’s complete, you can’t hear nothing else ‘cause it’s all coming through there, and what goes there comes from the person who’s either flying it or the crew, other members of the crew, yeah.
AS: So did you have this then, did your oxygen come disconnected?
LL: Yeah, it did. Now what happened there then? [Pause] oxygen lack at high altitude is very dangerous. A lot of things can go wrong, you’re maybe doing things that you would not normally do [coughs]. But, so you do take care of all your equipment at all times, to make sure everything is working right, and every switch is in the right position sort of thing.
AS: Mm.
LL: You got to be very careful when you’re flying.
AS: Did you check on each other to make sure you were all –
LL: Oh, oh, I’ll tell you what, I used to regular but you do it in a manner that you’re not scaring them, not upsetting them. ‘You alright down there Bill? You warm enough?’ Some remark like that.
AS: Yeah.
LL: You didn’t agitate any problem or anything like that, you kept quiet. Because anybody under tension could miss things. But when it’s all quiet like that and you’re concentrating you were quite safe I think, yeah.
AS: Mm. When you were on the ground as a crew, did you practice your drills? Your dingy drills, your evacuation drills?
LL: Well, Bridgnorth was some of the ground staff. Oh we did some dingy [emphasis] drill up at [unclear] at Castle Kennedy in Scotland. You cling onto an imitation, well a platform which represented the wing of the aircraft, and you want to jump [emphasis]. You’re in a pond, and then you had to get to the raft. Now, with all the flying clothes on, everything, you’re heavy, and you’ve got to get there as quickly as you can, otherwise – well it’s not all that deep anyway just sufficient to wet yourself or so, all your clothes. And you just go in and sort of change and put dry clothes on.
AS: Mhm, when you finished, or any time really, did you really think about ‘well, I’ll be going bombing soon?’ Did you think that you were about to go to war?
LL: No, not to my knowledge. I never – flying was just flying to me, and you look forward [emphasis] to it, it’s getting you off the ground. You join the Air Force to flying an air, to flying in aircraft, not to keep marching on the bloody square all the time.
AS: So even on operations you were keen to go flying?
LL: Oh, oh yeah. Never where you are – you wanted to get away from the, from the monotony of class, in the classes, because quite often you get different instructors but the subject is always the same. They drilling [emphasis] it into you, they, and they’ve got to succeed in getting that knowledge into you because it could save your life, and not only you but the aircraft and the rest of the crew.
AS: So going on operations was almost a relief [emphasis] to stop –
LL: It was in a way [pause]. There was a – I forget what happened, but we were on a very heavy raid. Loads of bloody shells everywhere, exploding all around you. I found that – now this is stupid [emphasis]. I was in an aircraft with five or six tonnes of high explosive bombs. I was trying to stand up in the mid upper turret, shaking like a leaf on a tree, shivering, frightened like hell, and it, well. It’s like the noise is like flying in a thunderstorm, a very heavy thunderstorm. And then the bumping [emphasis] about of bumps from the shells [?] is like when they go on these rapid waterfalls, you’re bumping all over the place – what was the other thing? Very calm sort of thing. I suddenly – I was shaking like mad, and then as quickly as it appeared, the condition disappeared completely. Instead of being frightened or scared stiff and god knows what, I just sat down there in amongst all this noise and what have you, I just sat and relaxed. And as if somebody had said ‘welcome to the club, you’re a survivor. You lost the fear of death.’ And there it was, in exactly the same conditions, shaking like mad and all that, I just sat down like we are now, and as if I was on a training flight. And all this going on outside, just outside the door [emphasis], and I just sat down there as if nothing was wrong. How your brain bloody works I don’t know, but I just sat down there, still the same conditions, but I wasn’t worried.
AS: Mm.
LL: It’s funny really, yeah, ‘cause – just normal training flight and I must be bloody mad or something [AS laughs].
AS: And you were fine from then on?
LL: Yeah.
AS: Yeah.
LL: We were going on a raid, I forget where it was, somewhere, somewhere heavy [emphasis] I know that. And I know one thing that – in the, oh, we got a 50, 61 Squadron newsletter that comes out once every three months I think. Somebody wrote an article about what happened over at Hamburg on this – it’s on there, the raid during the 61 Squadron I think [papers shuffling]. Oh, some bloke describing all the anti-aircraft shells everywhere. And these German [papers continue to shuffle] jets in amongst the aircraft. What did he – and someone else wrote it, that’s what drew my attention to it. It was completely wrong [emphasis]. He made it up, because the day in question, the 9th of the 4th, not one anti-aircraft shell was fired, and the only aircraft we saw was a German jet, the 262, and that flew head on, straight through the middle, plonk. Right through this group, turned round and knocked down three aircraft. We didn’t see the fourth go down but you’re in a group of six sevens, forty-two, six across and six behind them below, and that fighter knocked down three on one, on our side. You got the, I think the bombing leader on that end comes up to us and it’s a tail end Charlie sort of thing [coughs]. You there [?] to form the six in the front. That thing went down, but that thing [?] got shot on the following day with the Yanks. They damaged this aircraft, they had to find a place to land, and when they was looking and doing something with the controls of the aircraft, he didn’t see the crater in the middle of the runway. Straight in and up he went. That was the following day.
AS: That was the German pilot?
LL: Yeah.
AS: So, so with your six sevens of forty-two aircraft, that was both squadrons flying together, 50 and 61?
LL: Well, it was the son of the late rear gunner, he [pause] – did he phone or ring, write a letter? [Pause] I forget now.
AS: Okay, we’ll, we’ll come back to that later.
LL: [Unclear] no we’ll come back to it.
AS: Mm. So you were forty-two, in daylight, flying in formation.
LL: Yeah.
AS: Okay, so that must have been the two squadrons together.
LL: Ah, ah I know, I know. In that logbook, that’s all the operations and all the flying we did as a crew.
AS: Mhm.
LL: No other squadron is mentioned, but the son of the rear gunner, he must have something, telly or something, internet. He found that the Dambusters are not mentioned in there, but the Dambusters and us were on the same raids.
AS: Okay.
LL: And how I know that, we were on the one raid and I pointed out to the – it was Bill started it first. He said ‘look at that light down there’ he said ‘down on the port side.’ And he said something about ‘possibly turn back soon because it looks like the engines were not coping with the load.’ And we followed this progress, you didn’t focus on it you just casually glanced – it kept on coming nearer and nearer. But when that thing came near enough, we thought it was an extra fuel tank you know, to set fire to buildings, but that was the latest bomb that the RAF aircraft would, could carry. What was it, twenty-two thousand pounds?
AS: Is it the, the Tall Boy was it?
LL: Yeah.
AS: Yes.
LL: And that’s what they called it. But we followed that and gradually, so it came level with us, and you know when people bail out of an aircraft they travel at the same speed as the aircraft, and same applies to your bomb load, because when that plane gradually comes up dead level with us, wing tip to wing tip, the release of such a weight, that plane disappeared. I couldn’t see it, I couldn’t bend my head back to see if they were overhead, but it just disappeared. And I was left with a view of this great big bomb flying level with our [AS laughs] wingtip. If we had a camera, nobody would have believed it was a fake picture, but it was the – I’d heard of [?] the people travel the same speed as the aircraft when they bail out, so that bomb load does and gradually [emphasis] it sinks. But for what seemed like an eternity it just stood there level with the wing and then it dropped. The size of that thing there, my gosh [emphasis], long as this bloody room nearly.
AS: Well I think [emphasis] the biggest one was twenty-two thousand pounds was it?
LL: Yeah that’s it, that was, that was this Dambusters aircraft [coughs] because a raid is made up of possibly a dozen or more squadrons all different ones, all with different purposes and all with different buildings to go to, stores or oil depots or things like that.
AS: Yeah, could you remember, could you talk me through a typical raid, from getting up in the morning to going to briefing, what was it like? [LL coughs] say a daytime raid.
LL: Well you get up in the morning – well more often than not your day, your own [emphasis] day starts about dinner time, because you’d been out, say, the night before, so you’ve had your kip and you go down to the sergeants mess for lunch. And then you got your briefing [emphasis] in the afternoon, and then similar, if it’s a late takeoff it’s normally about tea time or something like that.
AS: What was the briefing like?
LL: Erm, well they give you all the details, the name of the target – well it’s more for navigation than anything else. Bu you’re also advised that there are certain airfields about with various fighters in there. And at that point of the war [?] it was mainly German jets, the 262. And that’s the only time we ever – I’ve actually been that close it’s practically this distance away from here to the other side of the passage. And I should imagine that pilot, he would have knocked down the three outside ours, and that was I think two 61 Squadron aircraft went down and a 50, and I could imagine now [emphasis], I didn’t think of it then, I could imagine the bloke swinging his aircraft around and lining it up, and he weren’t that far away, he couldn’t have bloody missed us, and I should imagine that as he was able to press the button, I told him, the pilot, to take aversive action, and the pilot caught up and eighty-one [?] straight through, yeah. Carried on, he knocked down that three besides us and that was it, yeah.
AS: Mm. The luck of the draw.
LL: Sometimes it gets exciting but otherwise it’s boring [emphasis].
AS: Mhm.
LL: You’re just sitting there doing nothing. Nothing you can do about it, no.
AS: When you were flying on daylights –
LL: Yeah.
AS: Did you have fighter escort?
LL: No, never saw any.
AS: Okay.
LL: They might have been out of range, some distance away not to distract your attention, but I could, could never ever, 1943, forty-four, no forty-five –
AS: Forty-five.
LL: February forty-five was the first raid we’d done. Never had I seen anything there to protect us, you had to protect yourselves.
AS: So you weren’t, you weren’t told at briefing that there’d be –
LL: Yeah.
AS: You weren’t told at the briefing that there would be fighter cover or anything?
LL: Yeah, that’s all you, that’s all you relied on, whatever the squadron leader tells you during your briefing.
AS: Mm.
LL: Nothing else, target and all this and that, and they tell you the airfields with various aircraft, but at that time of the war, it ended a couple of days later anyway [emphasis], and [coughs] I’ll tell you what, in the areas [?] sort of thing, give you some advice, but you never took too much notice of it, because you know in about two, three days the war’s gonna end.
AS: So when you, so when you went on ops you knew this was just about the finish did you?
LL: Yeah, for us it was a limited period of time from the beginning of February I think it was until what was it, May?
AS: May, yeah.
LL: Yeah, that’s my wartime experience, that, the last three months, yeah.
AS: So –
LL: It was bad enough then –
AS: Yeah.
LL: When you consider fifty-six, fifty-eight youngsters lost, thousand [emphasis] lost like that.
AS: Mhm.
LL: Great number of men, and all youngsters, yeah.
AS: And still being killed at the very end.
LL: Yeah, yeah.
AS: Like your three aircraft.
LL: Yeah.
AS: Yeah.
LL: Yeah, practically the last, last day but one, down they went. I did see one of those Lancs splitting off. Either the pilot, mid upper gunner was sound asleep or something, or the bomb aimer above wasn’t with it because that aircraft broke right in half [emphasis], with [unclear] where the mid upper turret, mid upper turret gunner must have been killed instantly because the aircraft broke in half and the tail end gone down there swinging like a pendulum.
AS: Mm.
LL: And the whole front of it just went straight down. I don’t think any of them, anybody got out of it alive, I think they lost. Another aircraft was shot down further down and out of that, what was that, twenty, twenty, only a few survived, all the rest gone. There aren’t any survivors – once they start going down you can’t get out of them, yeah. That’s a big problem.
AS: Hmm. So still really dangerous with the flak and the fighters.
LL: Yeah you, well you did worry about it I think internally, but I think it soon passes over once you get used to it I think. You get accustomed to all this noise and bumping that goes on, and you accept it as part of the job, simple as that, yeah.
AS: Okay. We were talking about a typical mission. After the briefing you’d have your meal and then what would happen?
LL: Well erm [pause] first thing out to the aircraft. What you do there from then on, you were double checking all what everybody else had done. You check all your equipment, navigator and wireless operator, everything, everyone checks everything is okay. And then you just hang about, have a chat with the ground crew, discuss something like that. You just spending time until a tank [?] would takeoff. Comes on usually has after a meal or sometime in the afternoon, yeah [zipping noise].
AS: How did you get out to the aircraft?
LL: Oh, well we had transport [zipping noise]. We had one of these little round Land Rover things, you never walked because moving about on foot you’re sweating, and that’s the last thing you want to get into an aircraft and you gonna fly high and you’re sweating, because then you really get cold [emphasis]. It’s like when you have a bath in the winter, it’s not so comfortable as having a bath in the summer. It’s still having a bath [coughs] and you’re still flying but if you’re sweating you’re much colder. [Coughs] it’s a bloody nuisance this is.
AS: Did your flying kit generally keep you warm?
LL: Yeah, yeah. It was electrically operated, like yeah – oh it was like a pair of overalls [emphasis] you put on completely. Under your – oh, it was outside your trousers but I think you had your jacket – oh you had all your flying clothes on, thick, thick like sheep’s wool uniform –
AS: Mhm.
LL: All over you to keep you warm. And you wore mittens or gloves, gauntlets, they were plugged in as well. It was like an electric seat and that kept you warm when you were flying.
AS: Okay.
LL: So it wasn’t too bad.
AS: And some of your trips were quite long weren’t they?
LL: Oh yeah. I done eight and a half hours I think, or was it nine? But they’re not as long as some of these people have done, they’ve gone further and flying for ten or twelve hours.
AS: Mhm. And Nuremburg, that’s a long one.
LL: Yeah. I think eight and a half or nine and a half was the longest I think we done. It’s recorded in there anyway, somewhere.
AS: Mm. A really basic question is how did you use the loo, or did you, in the aeroplane?
LL: How did you?
AS: Use the toilet in the aeroplane? With all this suit [emphasis] on.
LL: Ah, now that’s a big problem. I never can remember, I never did do anything. Because the last thing you do, usually after a meal, you dive into the toilet and you get rid of all your problems down there [AS laughs]. And then – you got to be relaxed before you get in the aircraft. Remember you don’t want any distractions of any description.
AS: Mhm.
LL: That’s the only way I can put that, yeah.
AS: Changing tack a little bit, your skipper was commissioned.
LL: Yeah.
AS: Did that make a difference to the way the crew operated?
LL: No, he was still a skipper to us.
AS: Mhm.
LL: Mm, number – I think – well no, don’t forget you’re flying together, you’re practically living together, you don’t necessarily use the same sergeants mess because you’re not supposed to fly, what was it? A four engine aircraft, say a Stirling, a pilot must have – I don’t think the pilot was allowed to fly one of them unless he was a pilot or flying officer [coughs]. And when you got onto the Lancasters as if there was an unwritten law. You can’t fly in these aircraft unless you’re a flight lieutenant.
AS: Really?
LL: Yeah. And straight away, you move from one station to another and you gain all those ranks, and it’s the same as when we passed out at a training centre. You go from the lowest rank in the RAF to a sergeant, with an increase in pay which is a good thing, yeah.
AS: Did you, did you – what did you feel about bombing at the time? Was it just a job or did you feel sympathy for the people underneath, or?
LL: Erm, bear in mind that at that time I was living in Swansea and we were going through a Blitz over there.
AS: Mm.
LL: And they say that you dump [?] the bomb that’s going to kill you, you don’t hear that coming down. But you can’t get any nearer than about a hundred yards and you can still hear it, because I think it was at, what I remember, this chap must have been a doctor, and his wife and a son, and they were in a bungalow and that disappeared, and that was only a hundred yards away. But you heard this noise like a whistling sound, and that was it on its way down, the bomb on its way down. There was nothing left, there was a great big hole there and that’s all that was left of that little bungalow.
AS: In Swansea?
LL: Yeah, and that was during the Blitz, yeah. A bit of a noisy place down there. And we weren’t even in the centre of the town, we were on the edge of it, only about a well, a mile, maybe a mile and half from the centre of the town. Otherwise it was just a distant banging that goes on [coughs].
AS: Mm. And then at the end of May, operations, well, operations stopped. You finished operational flying in May 1954.
LL: Yeah.
AS: What happened to you after that?
LL: Interesting. The squadron got rid of its Lancasters. It changed over to the Lincolns. Now you might know, the Lancaster had a mid upper turret, the Lincoln hadn’t. So all the mid upper gunners had to remuster, and you had a discussion ‘where you going to go to?’ Sometimes the officers required certain people at certain stations, but more often than not they remuster to go to Marsham [?] to learn to drive [coughs]. Because don’t forget we were only kids at the time, only eighteen, so the more you learnt the better, and this is how I come to end up in Marsham [?] learning to drive.
AS: Okay.
LL: And that was a – what was I then? I left the flying when I was well, eighteen, I was still eighteen then, yeah. Yeah that’s when I went over to Marsham [?] and I’ve been in the air ever since, yeah.
AS: When you remustered, you kept your rank –
LL: Yeah, yeah you kept your rank and your pay.
AS: And your badge?
LL: Yeah, and the badge [coughs]. I never know, never knew where my wing went, my air gunner’s wing, and the length of ribbons like I got on the photograph.
AS: Mhm.
LL: Somebody must have thrown them out, I don’t know where. I used to keep a lot of the stuff altogether like we did with this.
AS: Mhm.
LL: But where they’ve gone to – they’ve disappeared now, anyway.
AS: Mhm. So you remustered as a driver in the Air Force.
LL: Yeah.
AS: And then where did you get posted to after that?
LL: Ah, where, Marsham [?]. I remember being interviewed with a friendly officer. He said ‘right, now’ he said, ‘we got to get posted now. What about going down to St Athan’s? That’s in Wales.’ I said ‘no good going down there, pubs are closed on Sundays’ [AS laughs]. That’s all I could answer, then he looked through some books around. ‘Bristol’ he said.’ ‘Ooh that’s alright’ I said, ‘I got a niece or a relative still down there in Bristol,’ I said ‘we could go down there.’ ‘Pucklechurch’ he said, that was a transport maintenance station and we used to do a lot of this, taking the vehicle, RAF vehicles from Pucklechurch and I think it’s up to Quedgeley [emphasis], place near Gloucester?
AS: Mm.
LL: I used to do that run quite often, and this is funny. Now then, what was required by the mechanics, whatever was on that list, you had to bring that vehicle in. You take the vehicle out that had been repaired and restored, and you bring another back, so you didn’t have an idle journey. And I came back, all sorts of private cars, officers cars, and all. And you know what those Queen Mary’s are?
AS: Yes, mhm.
LL: The long aircraft carriers. I had to bring one of them back [coughs]. You had a building – on the station, Pucklechurch, you had a building, car park was this side, had this, I had this car, this Queen Mary, and I must have remembered what the driving instructor had said. ‘Pause briefly, have a look what sort of route you’re going to take, if you’re getting the vehicle out [emphasis] of the car park. And you’d get so far and close round [?] to the bend, and then you start turning,’ so you were lined up ready to go on. And I thought ‘well briefly I did that’ but in reverse, and I paused very slowly and I thought ‘I’ve gotta go there, there, there, there.’ I levelled [?] then lined myself up – I didn’t move the vehicle, just looked. ‘Right go on then, right God, I’ve worked the route out how to go out backwards with this Queen Mary,’ I went all the way around and went all the way in. Never touched the side [AS laughs] and all of a sudden I heard this voice. ‘Loosemore you’re a liar,’ well I thought ‘how’s that?’ I looked round, couldn’t see anybody, and I heard this voice again. And there was this, I think it was the transport officer and he said ‘you’re a bloody liar, you tell anybody who’s just done that they’ll call you a bloody liar mate.’ I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’d never driven a Queen Mary before, and I just didn’t want to shut him down [?], go so far and backed up and that was dead [emphasis] in line. I could see the pillars of the windscreen, between the windscreen and it was all in, dead in line. And that’s what that transport officer was shouting.
AS: Mm.
LL: ‘You tell anybody you just done that,’ and I was dead [emphasis] in line. And he wouldn’t believe me, wouldn’t believe me.
AS: Brilliant.
LL: I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d never driven one before [AS laughs], mm.
AS: When, just as you left the squadron –
LL: Yeah.
AS: What was it like leaving your crew? Did they go on without you?
LL: Ah, no. That was rather strange that. I don’t think, no. It was proper procedure, because you were guided towards an office and all this rubbish, what I call rubbish piled on the floor. The officer then said ‘dump all you want to get rid of, take what you want,’ just like that. And there was all sorts of stuff, but your uniform, you didn’t want that, a lot of stuff straight on the pile. But if there was anything you wanted you just grabbed. I grabbed a couple of towels, that’s about all I wanted. Nice brand new towels, and I forget [?] what I didn’t want, but I could have had anything off that pile, he just said ‘take all you want.’ But I couldn’t for the life of me, well there was nothing I wanted really.
AS: Mm.
LL: Everything. But I did grab a couple of towels.
AS: Mhm.
LL: And all the other, the wrong number on it but you could always cross that number off and put your own number next to it, and name, yeah.
AS: What about leaving your crew, what did that feel like?
LL: Well as I said, I didn’t know they’d gone [emphasis].
AS: Oh okay.
LL: No, because I was sent straight to the dumping ground, the office.
AS: Mhm.
LL: When they went, I hadn’t seen then since [coughs] ‘cause they went possibly to another, to get ready to go to another station.
AS: Mm.
LL: Because I think they left, they left Skellingthorpe and they might have gone somewhere onto another squadron [coughs].
AS: Okay, so you didn’t manage to keep in touch?
LL: Oh, the only – oh I did with, oh I make [pause], did I see him? I might have had a letter or a phone call to say that the rear gunner who travelled from Ormskirk in Lancashire [coughs].
AS: Mm.
LL: He was with a fellow officer. I think we were all warrant officers by then. Oh they were at Crewe Station, and he said, he had to answer a call of nature [coughs]. And he was with this other bloke, I think a warrant officer, with his two kitbags [coughs]. When he came out his mate was missing and his kitbag. All his kit was in there. His family didn’t know what he had done during the war. The bloke disappeared, so did his kitbag with all his stuff like that in there.
AS: All his logbook and –
LL: I thought, he was telling me about it [coughs]. And when I was – I had a letter from his son telling me, telling me what happened, I thought ‘well, it’s not fair really.’ He’d got all this – it wasn’t too long back. His family didn’t know anything about his service life, not a thing. So been in contact with him, I thought ‘well, it’s only fair.’ You can change my name to any member of the crew, it’s exactly the same. All the flying you do is as a crew [emphasis], and all, no stranger amongst them. So if I take my name off and put yours instead, nobody could be any wiser because you all fly together as a crew and not as an individual with somebody else. So the recording on there is exactly the same, right the way through.
AS: Mm.
LL: All seven of us got exactly the same written on there.
AS: So you made a copy and gave it to –
LL: Yeah –
AS: The son.
LL: I did, I copied it I think.
AS: Yeah.
LL: You can have that if you want it.
AS: Thank you.
LL: It’s entirely up to you.
AS: Thank you.
LL: I think – oh, when I did the copying for Bill I done an extra one, in case I came across somebody else who wanted one, so I’ve always had – it’s been spare so I’m alright that way [?].
AS: Thank you. That’s been absolutely [emphasis] – we’ve been talking for two hours. Shall we stop now, I think?
LL: What do you want to do now, anything?
AS: I think we’ve pretty well covered most [emphasis] of what I was going to say, maybe we could pause now.
LL: Well what we could do, we could open that door there and when – you can unlock it and have a bit of air come through, it’s getting a bit stale in here, yeah.
AS: That’s what we’ll do. Thank you very much.
LL: Yeah.
AS: Cheers.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Lesley Joseph Loosemoore
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adam Sutch
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
2015-11-16
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ALoosemoreLJ151116
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:41:32 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Les Loosemore describes his upbringing and employment history in Swansea before joining the war in 1945. He describes the Blitz in Swansea before training to be a mid upper gunner for 61 Squadron. He describes his rather intensive training, including his time at the Lancaster Finishing School, the crewing up process, the importance of maintaining equipment and the various aircraft he flew, including Ansons, Wellingtons and Lancasters. He articulates the atmosphere onboard an aircraft during an operation, recalling the silence as everyone concentrated on their own duties and the fear he felt on his first few operations. He recalls watching the aircraft next to him dropping a Tallboy (or Grand Slam) bomb, before likening the noise of a operation to that of heavy thunder. He flew operations for three months before the war ended, at which point the mid upper gunners were no longer needed. He retrained as a driver although missed saying goodbye to his crew.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Katie Gilbert
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
Wales--Swansea
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
1944
1945
61 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
Anson
bombing
crewing up
fear
Grand Slam
ground personnel
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Me 262
military service conditions
Operational Training Unit
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Upper Heyford
RAF Winthorpe
sanitation
service vehicle
Stirling
Tallboy
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/475/8357/PBoyntonS1512.1.jpg
b8f48f9aeb2acc9b01ed571e88e5da23
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/475/8357/ABoyntonS150624.1.mp3
0ed41bfbe8c8db1cab395ef730cc5b81
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
Boynton, Stuart
Thomas Stuart Boynton
T S Boynton
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Boynton, S
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Stuart Boynton (1622415 Royal Air Force), He served as an air gunner with 103 Squadron.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Stuart Boynton and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TSB. 1923,19,1939 I left Bridlington Grammar School eh, then, which I didn’t join the RAF straight away I joined the Air Training Corps, I was in there for about a year and a half. The war had already started after about a year and a half I thought well I’ll volunteer for Aircrew, which I went down to London, passed with flying colours, as I think and after that I was eh. I am trying to think where I went after various placed in the RAF in England. I was in Harrogate, I was in, up at South Shields. Then, I am trying to think of it, dates. That’s 1939 so, in after I had been in the RAF a few months I was posted to South Africa and my first wife and I then decided, ‘shall we get married and save the money until the war’s finished?’ Which, I got married when I was only twenty it was in the February ’43. And eh, the next within a week of being married I was transferred to South Africa where I, where I was on the Ansons, flying in the Ansons. On returning from South Africa about a year afterwards I as posted to LLandwrog in Wales. While in Wales there was quite a lot of flying the Anson again and eh just before my birthday which was 21st of March 1924, 1924 yes my first birthday my I was, my was transferred, I was transferred and posted to Finningley which is now Doncaster Airfield. So, so in February 1923, I was born in ’23, 1943 I was flying to South Africa which I say after South Africa I went to LLandwrog. Getting to Finningley which is on 21st birthday which was 1944 I was travelling from LLandwrog to Finningley with a kit bag over my shoulder, that was my 21st birthday. So consequently I flew from Finningley, I was on the Wellingtons for a short time. Eh, a leaflet trip to Holland dropping leaflets then from Finningley I went to Lindholme just down the road onto Halifax’s. While there I had a leaflet trip again to Holland and then from Lindholme I was posted to Hemswell onto the Lancasters. From Hemswell I was posted to Elsham, that’s where I did my first operation. I am only guessing now, Elsham I should say get to Elsham some time in September which was ’44. Our first operational trip was early I should say early November and I you ask me what that was like I can only answer [unclear] It was absolutely horrendous. The flak and everything else was shocking we were caught in the eh, eh the searchlights. Anyway with a bit of luck we got home safely. I just said to skipper ‘I am pleased were back from that,’ I said ‘ thirty trips like this we will double grave before we get to thirty trips.’ Anyway that was all right, we went into land, as we landed we flew straight off the airfield. The plane went up on its side we were straight off, all flat tyres. so that was the first one. After that most of our trips was over what we call the Happy Valley which was the German Steel places, Essen, most of mine was to Essen. Anyway we flew to Essen, we was very pleased to get back. Anyway we did about another ten trips after that ten or eleven trips after that. A couple of pretty bad ones after that but the biggest majority were what you call very easy. The last one we never made as we were coming on our way back, we had a very easy trip, a very quiet trip. The Rear Gunner said ‘We got a; fighter on our port side Skipper.’ Anyway he tried to do the evasive did a bit of a mm a mm, tried to get rid of him anyway. Consequently after about ten minutes, half an hour. Oh I thought we were on our way home. The next thing I knew was the Pilot saying ‘Abandon aircraft were on fire.’ I said, I was I went off in rotation. Just as I was going I saw, three [unclear] last thing I remember saying to my Skipper ‘I’ll see you down stairs Phil.’ With that I was pulling me ‘chute, just as I was pulling me ‘chute, I just heard on intercom the Rear Gunner say ‘Christ I’ve pulled me ‘chute.’ With that I’d gone, I didn’t know what happened after that. But what happened after that I was, only left on the plane was the Pilot, the Rear Gunner and the Mid Upper both the Gunners were Canadians. The young lad I thought I was the ablest, the youngest twenty one. Eddie was only just turned eight, nineteen for all I know he panicked and wouldn’t jump with the Mid Upper, Canadian, wanted him to jump with him, but he refused to jump. ‘No I’m not jumping.’ So all the Pilot said to Mid Upper ‘Get yourself off I’ll try to land the plane.’ The Mid Upper said, he jumped, as his ‘chute opened, all he saw was the wing dropped off with that the plane went straight into the ground, both killed. I have always said, I have always tried to find out to find out why this time, he was a bit older than me but had got two daughters. His wife had left Jersey, she was living in a hotel. Where ever he went she was living in hotels. So what she was left with was two daughters, no home to go to. I said I’ll, I always said he should have got decorated but he never did. So that is about all that I can say about that. So anyway when we was, when we were shot down we were taken to just a little village near from where we was shot down. They had seen us coming down so we had no chance of escaping. So they put me into a billet a Nissan hut with about thirty young Germans in. As I went in I was the only one of the crew that at the time, they found. I thought ‘well I am going to get knocked about here with all these lads.’ I had been in there about half an hour, one of them sidled up to me ‘there you are,’ gave me a bit of their ersatz bread. I thought it was awful, I put it in me pocket. Anyway about another half hour went by another young lad came, German lad, could speak, he could speak a bit of English. He just said ‘ me was a prisoner of Americans me look after you.’ With that he gave me a couple of blankets for the night. That is about all I could say about them, they were very good. But even today I still think now that would be December 1944 we were shot down. Even today he said, ah that is what he did say to me, ‘We have,’ when I was in this Nissan hut, ‘you have broken our lines we are now going to push you back.’ I never thought anything more about that at all until after the war. It must have been what you called ‘The Battle of the Bulge.’ So automatically now I often think ‘ I wonder if there are any of these young lads still living today?’ That’s all, that’s all I can say about that one. So after that we, we I was posted to eh, I can’t remember the name where was it, posted into Poland and one night, one morning woke up, right evacuating the camp. The Russians were coming very close to where, to where we were, so we had to, as the Russians were advancing we had to march away from them. So we were on, in the middle of winter, we were marching until about one or two in the morning carried on might have been one or two weeks, I don’t know. But there again I was one of the lucky ones, the last morning we were on the walk we’d get into farm, I’d went into the farm I were in the barn. I was one of the last in the barn and this would be one o’clock in the morning. When I woke up, whatever time it was, I don’t know all I can say it was light, it could have been five o’clock in the morning. There I was laid outside where it was twenty degrees below. I went, I couldn’t, me hands were, I couldn’t get me hands together, me feet was frozen, I said ‘ the only thing if the lads lit a fire.’ Got warmed up within two or three hours we were back on the wa,march again. So consequently we marched and again for another week, how long I don’t know. Once again I was very lucky one day they just piled all our section, our section were piled into rail trucks and how many were in the trucks I don’t know how we got on for weeing or whatever I don’t know how we got on about that. All I know before it took us about a day a day and a half on this truck, finished up somewhere near Berlin. That is when the Russians liberated us which was what I gather, I don’t know. I don’t know [unclear] prisoners. Once again I would be guessing but it was sometime in April time, May. I don’t know when the war finished. But once they, I always remember the Russians coming through our camp knocking all the fences down. There were men and women on the tanks, just the same and I must admit at the time I thought ‘well they are just like a pack a bandit these lot.’ We got on well with them, they didn’t bother with us, we didn’t bother with them. They would not, we were there two or three weeks at least, the Americans sent a couple of Troops to move us and they said ‘ you are going when it is out turn, we will let you know when you are going.’ So we got fed up of waiting, one day we set off from the camp ‘we will make our way to the Elbe to get across ourselves.’ So we [unclear] a mile down the road next thing we got, the Russians were in front of us back to the camp ‘ you go when we tell you.’ Consequently eh why I know a bit about the time there eh when they did allow us to go we got to Brussels, we got a bit of money, we got showered and everything, money we had a night out in, in Brussels. Consequently when I got back home my second birthday was May the 23rd 1945, So but, so consequently I didn’t get back for me twenty first, I didn’t get back until after me birthday which would be after the 23rd 1945. Consequently I was one of the last prisoners back so I got indefinite leave. So indefinite leave I was posted, well I was in Bridlington, got posted to Scarborough so I was backwards and forwards from Brid to Scarborough for about three or four months. Finally when the war finished they decided aircrew you could [unclear] aircrew but you could only go as ground crew. I just had to come out, I came out of the forces. So that’s about all I can tell you, that’s about it in a nutshell. That’s about all I could say. My Pilot was one of the last to leave Jersey before the Germans occupied Jersey. He was on the last boat to leave, his wife went with him, a young girl, went with him. They got married before they [unclear] over to England and where ever he was posted, Phil, she was in the hotel somewhere. She followed him around so there she was when he got shot down she was stood there on her own with two kids and that’s why I think he should have got married. The main thing of all so consequently I knew Phil only five months of my life and for seventy odd years I have never forgotten him [appears upset].
MJ. You shouldn’t you don’t have to worry, that’s part of it you see.
TSB. Yeah and all that I can say is that a marvellous lad, man, fellow.
MJ. Do you remember his full name, do you remember his full name, do you remember his name?
TSB. Phillip.
MJ. Do you remember his surname?
TSB. Picot that all it was and consequently I mentioned the two daughters and his three aunties all the rest of the family have all died. But the daughters have married very well they are very happy. Two lovely families two and two and eh three aunties I think they have all lost their husbands. But they are all lovely people, lovely people.
MJ. Went to London for your medical ?. [?].[unclear]
TSB. Yeah I can’t think [unclear] I know I went from Kings Cross [unclear] I walked from Kings Cross I can’t remember where it was now but I nineteen, as I say about eighteen to nineteen I was twenty three ‘40 to 1942 I should think would be when I came in forces, long time [laugh]. But eh no at least I have often said eh you have got your memories haven’t you, they are worth a lot your memories. That is why I get so sentimental with Phil my Pilot because as I say I only knew him five months. We were very friendly, we were very very friendly. Not many days gone bye without I think something about him.
MJ. What made you so friendly, what what ?
TSB. I don’t know, just the crew, I think during the war you you, fact, you you made up as a crew, seven of you and I think they tried to keep that crew as separate as they could. So in other words eh anybody lost they weren’t missed as much, they look after themselves because each crew was more or less, they look after themselves. So whenever we went down to the pub the seven of us went out together eh at least most nights of the week, five or six but we always stuck together all the time we were flying. Your mates, you were what you call mates as simple as that. In other words at the end of the day unless you were lucky, you died together. But eh I say I have these thoughts many a time but I am very happy and [unclear] I have had a marvellous life, marvellous life. As I say one of my old aunties I used to see her ninety five or so, she fell down stairs, I have not forgot she turned round to us and she said ‘Stuart I don’t want anybody to live as long as I have lived,’ she said ‘ I am not ready for going yet’ she lived till ninety seven well I got to ninety two now and she was definitely the eldest of all of my family. If I could get to ninety eight whither I do or not, grace of Gods is that. Eh but if I get to ninety eight I shall finish up as the eldest one in the family that’s it.[laugh]. But she was a right battle axe was my auntie, she taught me a lot and I still think of her at ninety seven anyway I’ve got to ninety two whither I get to ninety five by the grace of God, you don’t know, you don’t know. One thing certain and a betting man and I used to like betting on the horses and that as a betting man one certainty is we all know we have to die sometime. It’s a good job we don’t know when. We do we all know we have got to go sometime. And I say when I talk about luck if I get to a hundred very good but whither I do or not you don’t know. There is a lot of luck in life as well you know some people are born lucky and some are [unclear]. And I don’t know about you, you had an accident didn’t you. Was it motor accident you had then?
MJ. Em I’ll make sure this is on, go on.
TSB. After the war my mother, well during the war my mother got a telegram eh, just missing. So she went berserk, demented, crackers then of course shortly after that, presumed killed. So that she is worse than ever then about a month after that somebody came dashing into mums shop at Hilderthorpe Road End Bridlington saying ‘Nellie, Nellie, Stuarts alive, Stuarts alive.’And how they got to know that, not from the Air Ministry it was given over the news by Lord Haw Haw that Flight Sergeant Boynton is now a prison of war in Germany. That’s the first time my Mother new I was living. And it wasn’t, she didn’t get it from the RAF or the Ministry, Lord Haw Haw made it over the news one night, one day that’s first thing, first time she knew I was living. [laugh] killed presumed dead, it was a totally different thing when she knew I was still living you see.
MJ. On behalf of the International Bomber Command I would like to thank Warrant Officer Stuart Boynton on the date of the 24th of June 2014. Thank you very much my name is Michael Jeffery.
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
Stuart Boynton Interview
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mick Jeffery
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
2015-06-24
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ABoyntonS150624, PBoyntonS1512
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.
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
During 1939 Stuart left grammar school and joined the Air Training Corps. After about half a year he volunteered for air crew and was accepted. He and his girlfriend were married in February 1943. Stuart was posted to South Africa working on Ansons and about a year later was posted to Llandwrog in Wales. His next postings were to RAF Finningley, flying in Wellingtons and to Holland dropping leaflets from a Halifax. From RAF Finningley he went to RAF Lindholme, RAF Hemswell and RAF Elsham Wolds. Stuart described his first operational trip as absolutely horrendous. Most of the crew’s trips were then to the Ruhr and the German steel works in Essen. After that they did another ten or eleven trips. During the last trip the crew had to abandon the aircraft when it was shot down and burst into flames. All but two of the crew (one being the pilot, Phil Picot) baled out before the aircraft hit the ground. Stuart was captured and taken to a hut which housed about 30 Germans, but he was treated well. Stuart was detained in Poland. Their camp had to evacuate during a winter night as the Russians were advancing. They were marching for two or three weeks before being taken to a camp in Berlin by rail. They were liberated and eventually Stuart was posted to RAF Scarborough. He came out of the at the end of the war and said he had had a marvellous life.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
Poland
South Africa
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Yorkshire
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Essen
Wales--Carmarthen
Netherlands
England--Lincolnshire
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1943-02
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:23:24 audio recording
aircrew
Anson
bale out
bombing
Halifax
Lancaster
love and romance
military ethos
pilot
prisoner of war
propaganda
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Finningley
RAF Hemswell
RAF Lindholme
RAF Llandwrog
the long march
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/459/8254/PNorthGJ1605.1.jpg
f00c428ce7c6ba2bec8586efdfc1001e
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/459/8254/PNorthGJ1606.1.jpg
68cf3b0dd8f84af0420825997aad9c12
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/459/8254/PNorthGJ1605-1.1.jpg
8bb92b7b8b810bbd9d806297594f65c5
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
North, Geoffrey John
North, G J
North, Johnny
Description
An account of the resource
31 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Geoffrey John 'Johnny' North, DFC, (173836, Royal Air Force) who served as a rear gunner on 428, 76 and 35 Squadrons flying Wellington, Halifax and Lancaster. He was called up in 1940 from his job as a tailor in Saville Row where he returned after the war. He was shot down on an operation to Duisburg on 21 February 1945. The collection contains his logbook, an account of his shooting down, capture and time as a prisoner of war, including documentation, forced march to another camp in 1945, liberation and repatriation. The collection includes membership documents for Royal Air Force Association, Pathfinders Association and Caterpillar Club as well as personnel documentation, Pathfinder badge correspondence and photographs of crew and squadron as well as other memorabilia.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Carole Bishopp 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
2016-05-20
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
North, G
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
SIXTH FROM LEFT IN FIRST STANDING ROW F/SGT HALL. EIG [DELETED] HT [/DELETED] TH FROM RIGHT IN REAR STANDING ROW, SELF.
SEVENTH FROM LEFT FRONT ROW SGT PADDY JOHNSON, BOMB AIMER, MARRIES DAUGHTER OF BAKERS SHOP IN THIRSK. SHOT DOWN P.O.W.
[drawn line with two arrows connects this line with the first line] TAKEN OFF FLYING HEAVY AIRCRAFT FIT FOR OPS (THANK GOD!), CREW DISPERSED AMONG OTHER CREWS.
428 Squadron. Dalton Feb. 1943
RAF C.O. WAS NOT ALOWED TO FLY DUE TO EYESIGHT, BUT HE DID INCLUDING GOING ON OPS! ON NIGHT LANDINGS HIS BOMB AIMER HAD TO CALL OUT “IN GREEN” “IN YELLOW” “IN RED” AS HE WAS COLOUR BLIND TOO! HIS PLANE WAS FITTED WITH HIDDEN SWITCH TO CUT OFF NAVIGATION LIGHTS, WE DIDNT [sic] KNOW AND ONE NIGHT COULDNT [sic] GET THE LIGHTS TO COME ON, DAMN NEARLY PRANGED BY HALIFAX IN TOPCLIFFE CIRCUIT WHEN WE WERE IN DALTON CIRCUIT, TWO CIRCUITS OVER LAPPED! HE LEFT SQUADRON FOR NON FLYING [sic] DUTIES FEB/MARCH 1943. WHAT A MAN, MUST HAVE BEEN 50 YEARS OLD. RESPECTED BY ALL THE STATION.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
428 Squadron
Description
An account of the resource
A squadron group of Royal Air Force personnel sitting and standing in rows in front of a Wellington. There are two men standing up through the cockpit roof of the aircraft. On the reverse the title '428 Squadron 1943, Dalton, Feb 1943'. Statements on the location of members of Geoffrey North's crew including himself (eighth from the right in rear standing row). A story concerning the commanding officer who was not supposed to fly.
Members of the crew of Halifax DK229 NA-W hit by anti-aircraft fire on the 10th July 1943 have been identified by their family members.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PNorthGJ1605, PNorthGJ1606
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Topcliffe (North Yorkshire)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Andy Hamilton
Steve Baldwin
Ffai Gritten
428 Squadron
aircrew
RAF Dalton
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/102/3571/MBooneRH1331310-150729-020003.2.jpg
ae8f0f1980371c91a5a28c7de1e9fb61
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/102/3571/MBooneRH1331310-150729-020004.2.jpg
d415c7180ea7b09373c8544df47861f9
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/102/3571/MBooneRH1331310-150729-020005.2.jpg
bd40b5bd980cf154d46b66ade38f410a
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
Boone, Ronald
Ronnie Boone
R Boone
R H Boone
Description
An account of the resource
The collection concerns Ronald Henry Boone (1331310, Royal Air Force). It includes five photographs, his personnel record and a record of his operations. Ronald Boone was an air gunner and flew operations with 77 Squadron at Royal Air Force Elvington and then 35 Squadron from RAF Graveley. He was killed when his Halifax was shot down by a night fighter on an operation to Münster 11/12 June 1943. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Sandra Jones and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br />Additional information on Ronald Boone is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/202629/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-01
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Boone, R
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] 18 Feb 1943 [/underlined]
Mine laying ops.
Route: [underlined] BASE [/underlined] ===[underlined] HORNSEA [/underlined]===[underlined] BALTRUM [/underlined]. Release point:54.08. N [underlined] FLAMBOROUGH [/underlined]===[underlined] BASE [/underlined]
Bomb Load: 1 MK IV B200 - NIL DELAY
1MK IVB 202 - NIL DELAY
NIL Cameras
NIL Nickels
Halifax 11 DT 685 “C”
F/SGT Goodwin found good visibility and his mines were laid in position as detailed from a height of 800ft. Moderate amount of light and heavy flak. A searchlight was observed at eastern side of [underlined] JUIST [/underlined] Aircraft landed safely.
[underlined] 26/7 Feb 1943 [/underlined]
Halifax DT 643 “A”
Target [underlined] COLOGNE [/underlined]
Route: BASE===SOUTHWOLD===NORDWYKE===TULICH===DUREEN===NORDWYKE===BASE.
Bomb loads 2 x 1000-37 pistol fuse 845
810 x 4lb incendiaries (ord)
32 x 30lb incendiaries (ord)
Nickels - Aircrafts A + J
Cameras - All aircraft.
Primary site located, dropped bombs on green TI Marker from 15000ft, whole area well carpeted from incendiaries, no distinctive fires. Nickels dropped 15 minutes after bombing. Enemy believed to be ME109 passed overhead 10ft above our aircraft and attacked from starboard quarter from 800 yards closing to 600 yards, evasive action taken, M109 [sic]broke away to port. Flak moderate heavy 2 searchlights cones seen. Returned safe.
[page break]
[underlined] 26/27 March 1943 [/underlined]
Halifax 11JB 842 “E”
Left base 19.51
Landed back 00.19.
Bombing [underlined] DUISBERG (SR) [/underlined]
Bombs dropped at 18000ft cloud over target 10/10ths and results of bombing not seen. Large explosion was seen as aircraft left target area, 4 packages of G10 nickels were dropped after bombing. Numerous ineffective searchlights. Landed safe.
[underlined] 27/28 March 1943 [/underlined]
Bombing [underlined] BERLIN [/underlined]
Left base 19.56
Landed back 22.13
Took off but found Constant Speed Unit on Port inner was fluctuating. Bombs jettisoned safely position 53.46 N 02.01 E. also nickels. Returned safe.
[underlined] 29/30 March 1943 [/underlined]
Bombing [underlined] BERLIN [/underlined]
Left base 21.50
Landed back 05.11
Bomb loads: 2 x 1000 GP TD 0 025
5 x SBC (90 x 4)
5 x SBC (8 x 30)
Bombs dropped onto cluster TI markers from 18000ft. Ground haze at target, 2 fires seemed to be developing. 3 G 14 nickels dropped after bombing. Fires were seen when our aircraft was 120 miles away on return journey, flak light and number of searchlights. Return safe.
[page break]
[underlined] 28/29 April 1943 [/underlined]
Halifax 11 JB 846 “L”
[underlined] DUISBO? [/underlined]
Left base 20.24
Landed back 03.12
Mine laying dropping point 56.51 N x 11.09 E
Mines 1 x G 708 IV
1 X B 200 IV
Dropped at 300ft in position. Ordered flak from 2 flak ships, encountered no damage to aircraft and 12 searchlights in operation. Operation completed.
[underlined] 30th April/1st May 1943 [/underlined]
Bombing [underlined] ESSEN [/underlined]
Crew briefed but aircraft didn’t take off.
[underlined] 4/5 May 1943 [/underlined]
Bombing [underlined] DORTMUND [/underlined]
Left base 22.41
Landed back 03.54
Target attacked from 16300ft release point being 3 or 4 red TI markers in bombsite. Whole target covered with fires. Red explosion followed by blue one then big white flash was observed. Heavy flak from 3 or 4 guns observed and appeared to be accurately predicted. Safe return.
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
Ronald Boone operations on 77 Squadron
Description
An account of the resource
Details of nine operations carried out between February and May 1943 from RAF Elvington on 77 Squadron flying Halifax. Targets include Cologne, Berlin and several in the Ruhr.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three page typewritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MBooneRH1331310-150729-020003, MBooneRH1331310-150729-020004, MBooneRH1331310-150729-020005
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--Yorkshire
England--York
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
1943-03
1943-04
1943-05
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jeremy Patton
77 Squadron
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
Halifax
Halifax Mk 2
incendiary device
Me 109
mine laying
propaganda
RAF Elvington
searchlight
target indicator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/152/1787/PHemsworthR15040036.2.jpg
a28fb52f73d0ef7bead63f5ef980289f
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
Hemsworth, Ron
Ron Hemsworth
R Hemsworth
Description
An account of the resource
266 items. The collection consists of one oral history interview with Ron Hemsworth (1472158 Royal Air Force) and 265 photographs, mostly taken at Dulag Luft, Stalag Luft 1 and Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camps
The photographs have been organised according the initial letters of the caption.
A consists of 19 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. They cover the non commissioned officers’ arts & crafts exhibition: some models are for display and others are for use; there are also paintings and jewellery.
B of 54 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft, covering sporting, theatrical, musical and model making activities. The funeral of Sergeant J C Shaw, who was shot whilst attempting to escape is covered with several photographs.
C consists of 42 photographs taken at the sports day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. Activities include rugby, running, high jumping, long jumping, long distance walking, shot putting, discus throwing and basketball. Betting on the events was carried on.
D consists of 42 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in 1942 and 1943. They cover theatrical, musical and model activities. The plays were written or adapted by the airmen. Some of the models seen in section A are being sailed or steamed on the camp pond.
E consists of 39 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in March and April 1943. They cover three plays written or adapted by the airmen.
F consists of 28 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3, Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft prisoner of war camps. They cover two plays written or adapted by the airmen. Also shown are views of the camp, four recaptured escapees, a sentry in his box, the NCOs rugby team and Christmas dinner 1940.
G consists of 38 photographs taken at the Flieger Jockey Club Gala Day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1943. There are many varied fancy dress themes in addition to jockeys - an American cheerleader and an Uncle Sam, cowboys and Indians, a Welsh and a Scottish section, Indian (Asian) marching band, Maoris, Highland dancing, a lot of men dressed as women, bands, top hatted 'toffs'. Betting activities were carried out on the results of the hobby horse type races shown.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ron Hemsworth and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hemsworth, R
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-04
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.
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
D40 Frank Hunt's Orchestral Concert. Stalag Luft 3 Feb 43
Pianist playing a grand piano on stage
Description
An account of the resource
Pianist dressed in dark suit is playing a grand piano on the stage.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHemsworthR15040036
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hemsworth, Ron collection. Subsection D
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland--Żagań
Poland
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
entertainment
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/152/1785/PHemsworthR15040034.2.jpg
1ee6f116147ec3de67027bb35b823228
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
Hemsworth, Ron
Ron Hemsworth
R Hemsworth
Description
An account of the resource
266 items. The collection consists of one oral history interview with Ron Hemsworth (1472158 Royal Air Force) and 265 photographs, mostly taken at Dulag Luft, Stalag Luft 1 and Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camps
The photographs have been organised according the initial letters of the caption.
A consists of 19 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. They cover the non commissioned officers’ arts & crafts exhibition: some models are for display and others are for use; there are also paintings and jewellery.
B of 54 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft, covering sporting, theatrical, musical and model making activities. The funeral of Sergeant J C Shaw, who was shot whilst attempting to escape is covered with several photographs.
C consists of 42 photographs taken at the sports day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. Activities include rugby, running, high jumping, long jumping, long distance walking, shot putting, discus throwing and basketball. Betting on the events was carried on.
D consists of 42 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in 1942 and 1943. They cover theatrical, musical and model activities. The plays were written or adapted by the airmen. Some of the models seen in section A are being sailed or steamed on the camp pond.
E consists of 39 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in March and April 1943. They cover three plays written or adapted by the airmen.
F consists of 28 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3, Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft prisoner of war camps. They cover two plays written or adapted by the airmen. Also shown are views of the camp, four recaptured escapees, a sentry in his box, the NCOs rugby team and Christmas dinner 1940.
G consists of 38 photographs taken at the Flieger Jockey Club Gala Day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1943. There are many varied fancy dress themes in addition to jockeys - an American cheerleader and an Uncle Sam, cowboys and Indians, a Welsh and a Scottish section, Indian (Asian) marching band, Maoris, Highland dancing, a lot of men dressed as women, bands, top hatted 'toffs'. Betting activities were carried out on the results of the hobby horse type races shown.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ron Hemsworth and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hemsworth, R
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-04
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.
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
D38 Frank Hunt's Orchestral Concert. Stalag Luft 3 Feb 43
Violinist and pianist on stage
Description
An account of the resource
A violinist is standing on the stage and behind him the pianist seated behind a grand piano.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHemsworthR15040034
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hemsworth, Ron collection. Subsection D
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland--Żagań
Poland
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
entertainment
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/152/1784/PHemsworthR15040033.2.jpg
96f9372f41c6194b6fbd028b6bb27a17
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
Hemsworth, Ron
Ron Hemsworth
R Hemsworth
Description
An account of the resource
266 items. The collection consists of one oral history interview with Ron Hemsworth (1472158 Royal Air Force) and 265 photographs, mostly taken at Dulag Luft, Stalag Luft 1 and Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camps
The photographs have been organised according the initial letters of the caption.
A consists of 19 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. They cover the non commissioned officers’ arts & crafts exhibition: some models are for display and others are for use; there are also paintings and jewellery.
B of 54 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft, covering sporting, theatrical, musical and model making activities. The funeral of Sergeant J C Shaw, who was shot whilst attempting to escape is covered with several photographs.
C consists of 42 photographs taken at the sports day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. Activities include rugby, running, high jumping, long jumping, long distance walking, shot putting, discus throwing and basketball. Betting on the events was carried on.
D consists of 42 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in 1942 and 1943. They cover theatrical, musical and model activities. The plays were written or adapted by the airmen. Some of the models seen in section A are being sailed or steamed on the camp pond.
E consists of 39 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in March and April 1943. They cover three plays written or adapted by the airmen.
F consists of 28 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3, Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft prisoner of war camps. They cover two plays written or adapted by the airmen. Also shown are views of the camp, four recaptured escapees, a sentry in his box, the NCOs rugby team and Christmas dinner 1940.
G consists of 38 photographs taken at the Flieger Jockey Club Gala Day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1943. There are many varied fancy dress themes in addition to jockeys - an American cheerleader and an Uncle Sam, cowboys and Indians, a Welsh and a Scottish section, Indian (Asian) marching band, Maoris, Highland dancing, a lot of men dressed as women, bands, top hatted 'toffs'. Betting activities were carried out on the results of the hobby horse type races shown.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ron Hemsworth and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hemsworth, R
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-04
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.
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
D37 Frank Hunt's Orchestral Concert. Stalag Luft 3 Feb 43
Orchestra, conductor and two airmen on stage
Description
An account of the resource
The conductor and orchestra are facing the camera. Two airmen are standing on the right of the photograph.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHemsworthR15040033
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hemsworth, Ron collection. Subsection D
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland--Żagań
Poland
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
entertainment
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/152/1783/PHemsworthR15040032.2.jpg
6dfcc09a1ac5519d76941044b3088337
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
Hemsworth, Ron
Ron Hemsworth
R Hemsworth
Description
An account of the resource
266 items. The collection consists of one oral history interview with Ron Hemsworth (1472158 Royal Air Force) and 265 photographs, mostly taken at Dulag Luft, Stalag Luft 1 and Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camps
The photographs have been organised according the initial letters of the caption.
A consists of 19 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. They cover the non commissioned officers’ arts & crafts exhibition: some models are for display and others are for use; there are also paintings and jewellery.
B of 54 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft, covering sporting, theatrical, musical and model making activities. The funeral of Sergeant J C Shaw, who was shot whilst attempting to escape is covered with several photographs.
C consists of 42 photographs taken at the sports day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. Activities include rugby, running, high jumping, long jumping, long distance walking, shot putting, discus throwing and basketball. Betting on the events was carried on.
D consists of 42 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in 1942 and 1943. They cover theatrical, musical and model activities. The plays were written or adapted by the airmen. Some of the models seen in section A are being sailed or steamed on the camp pond.
E consists of 39 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in March and April 1943. They cover three plays written or adapted by the airmen.
F consists of 28 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3, Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft prisoner of war camps. They cover two plays written or adapted by the airmen. Also shown are views of the camp, four recaptured escapees, a sentry in his box, the NCOs rugby team and Christmas dinner 1940.
G consists of 38 photographs taken at the Flieger Jockey Club Gala Day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1943. There are many varied fancy dress themes in addition to jockeys - an American cheerleader and an Uncle Sam, cowboys and Indians, a Welsh and a Scottish section, Indian (Asian) marching band, Maoris, Highland dancing, a lot of men dressed as women, bands, top hatted 'toffs'. Betting activities were carried out on the results of the hobby horse type races shown.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ron Hemsworth and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hemsworth, R
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-04
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.
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
D36 Frank Hunt's Orchestral Concert. Stalag Luft 3 Feb 43
Man seated by grand piano on stage
Description
An account of the resource
A man in dinner jacket and bow tie is seated beside a grand piano on the stage.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHemsworthR15040032
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hemsworth, Ron collection. Subsection D
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland--Żagań
Poland
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
entertainment
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/152/1782/PHemsworthR15040031.1.jpg
8cb0b405da6f562c81ceb7d35df242a7
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
Hemsworth, Ron
Ron Hemsworth
R Hemsworth
Description
An account of the resource
266 items. The collection consists of one oral history interview with Ron Hemsworth (1472158 Royal Air Force) and 265 photographs, mostly taken at Dulag Luft, Stalag Luft 1 and Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camps
The photographs have been organised according the initial letters of the caption.
A consists of 19 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. They cover the non commissioned officers’ arts & crafts exhibition: some models are for display and others are for use; there are also paintings and jewellery.
B of 54 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft, covering sporting, theatrical, musical and model making activities. The funeral of Sergeant J C Shaw, who was shot whilst attempting to escape is covered with several photographs.
C consists of 42 photographs taken at the sports day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. Activities include rugby, running, high jumping, long jumping, long distance walking, shot putting, discus throwing and basketball. Betting on the events was carried on.
D consists of 42 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in 1942 and 1943. They cover theatrical, musical and model activities. The plays were written or adapted by the airmen. Some of the models seen in section A are being sailed or steamed on the camp pond.
E consists of 39 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in March and April 1943. They cover three plays written or adapted by the airmen.
F consists of 28 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3, Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft prisoner of war camps. They cover two plays written or adapted by the airmen. Also shown are views of the camp, four recaptured escapees, a sentry in his box, the NCOs rugby team and Christmas dinner 1940.
G consists of 38 photographs taken at the Flieger Jockey Club Gala Day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1943. There are many varied fancy dress themes in addition to jockeys - an American cheerleader and an Uncle Sam, cowboys and Indians, a Welsh and a Scottish section, Indian (Asian) marching band, Maoris, Highland dancing, a lot of men dressed as women, bands, top hatted 'toffs'. Betting activities were carried out on the results of the hobby horse type races shown.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ron Hemsworth and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hemsworth, R
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-04
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.
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
D35 Frank Hunt's Orchestral Concert. Stalag Luft 3 Feb 43
Large orchestra being led by a conductor
Description
An account of the resource
A conductor stands on a podium directing the orchestra. They are seated on stage with a variety of instruments
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHemsworthR15040031
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hemsworth, Ron collection. Subsection D
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland--Żagań
Poland
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
entertainment
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/152/1781/PHemsworthR15040030.2.jpg
e836bd8b8170155c35d3ca8acb505122
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
Hemsworth, Ron
Ron Hemsworth
R Hemsworth
Description
An account of the resource
266 items. The collection consists of one oral history interview with Ron Hemsworth (1472158 Royal Air Force) and 265 photographs, mostly taken at Dulag Luft, Stalag Luft 1 and Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camps
The photographs have been organised according the initial letters of the caption.
A consists of 19 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. They cover the non commissioned officers’ arts & crafts exhibition: some models are for display and others are for use; there are also paintings and jewellery.
B of 54 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft, covering sporting, theatrical, musical and model making activities. The funeral of Sergeant J C Shaw, who was shot whilst attempting to escape is covered with several photographs.
C consists of 42 photographs taken at the sports day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1942. Activities include rugby, running, high jumping, long jumping, long distance walking, shot putting, discus throwing and basketball. Betting on the events was carried on.
D consists of 42 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in 1942 and 1943. They cover theatrical, musical and model activities. The plays were written or adapted by the airmen. Some of the models seen in section A are being sailed or steamed on the camp pond.
E consists of 39 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in March and April 1943. They cover three plays written or adapted by the airmen.
F consists of 28 photographs taken at Stalag Luft 3, Stalag Luft 1 and Dulag Luft prisoner of war camps. They cover two plays written or adapted by the airmen. Also shown are views of the camp, four recaptured escapees, a sentry in his box, the NCOs rugby team and Christmas dinner 1940.
G consists of 38 photographs taken at the Flieger Jockey Club Gala Day at Stalag Luft 3 prisoner of war camp in August 1943. There are many varied fancy dress themes in addition to jockeys - an American cheerleader and an Uncle Sam, cowboys and Indians, a Welsh and a Scottish section, Indian (Asian) marching band, Maoris, Highland dancing, a lot of men dressed as women, bands, top hatted 'toffs'. Betting activities were carried out on the results of the hobby horse type races shown.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ron Hemsworth and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hemsworth, R
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-04
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.
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
D34 Frank Hunt's Orchestral Concert. Stalag Luft 3 Feb 43
Clarinetist and Pianist on stage
Description
An account of the resource
A man standing holding a clarinet with a second man seated behind a grand piano.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHemsworthR15040030
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hemsworth, Ron collection. Subsection D
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland--Żagań
Poland
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
entertainment
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/272/1103/PBubbGJ16010030.2.jpg
1c815538f59c54c89ae17338cb2575d7
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/272/1103/PBubbGJ16010032.2.jpg
d5e45a0d0abe96e63c39918c07fbb732
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/272/1103/PBubbGJ16010031.2.jpg
13a723a3f69794db011f3b21076100ea
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/272/1103/PBubbGJ16010029.2.jpg
199f1e092174048cdc6d73ec5ed8a177
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
Bubb, George. Album
Description
An account of the resource
32 items. The album contains photographs, propaganda, service material, memorabilia and research concerning George Bubb's service with 44 Squadron at RAF Spilsby.
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
Bubb, GJ
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[photograph]
[page break]
[underlined] LEFT TO RIGHT [/underlined]
[underlined] BACK ROW [/underlined]
J. HEANEY. E. RAY E. HEMMINGS, P. MANNING. J.MARSDEN. F. WOODS. E. NASH J. FLETCHER. W. BOOTH. E. UDEN
[underlined] MIDDLE ROW [/underlined]
A. TANNER. L. PARKER. E. GORDON. K. FORD. J. HARDING. H. SMITH. J. McKAY. W. GULLIS. A. MOORE. G. WARRINER. R. WYLES. R. GILL. P. MOOR
[underlined] FRONT ROW [/underlined]
[underlined] G. BUBB [/underlined] J. BRASH. G. WILLIAMS . F/O. JOHNSON. Sgt. A. FRANCIS W. GEDDES. R. WILLIAMSON S. REED.
[underlined] CHIVENOR FEB. 1943 [/underlined].
[page break]
[repeat of previous page]
[page break]
[repeat of first photograph]
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
Royal Air Force personnel at RAF Chivenor
Description
An account of the resource
On one page 29 airmen, an officer and a sergeant in three rows. All airmen apart from one in battledress are in uniform tunic and side caps. Front row is seated with a flying officer and sergeant in the centre. Rear two rows standing. To the left and right buildings and at the rear a corrugated roof. Separate document on another page provides names of all participants in group portrait. George Bubb is front row first on the left. At the bottom 'Chivenor Feb 1943'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph and one handwritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PBubbGJ16010029, PBubbGJ16010030, PBubbGJ16010031, PBubbGJ16010032
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Devon
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
RAF Chivenor