1
25
53
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/315/15275/LPayneAJ1315369v1.1.pdf
90d2332a7f81b01d7511af5b65d85690
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
Payne, Alan
Alan John Payne
Alan J Payne
Alan Payne
A J Payne
A Payne
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. An oral history interview with Alan John Payne DFC (1315369 and 173299 Royal Air Force) and his log book. He completed 18 operations as a bomb aimer with 630 Squadron.
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
2015-08-11
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Payne, AJ
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
Alan Payne’s South African Air Force observers or air gunners log book
Description
An account of the resource
South African Air Force observers or air gunners log book for Alan John Payne, navigator, covering the period from 7 November 1942 to 8 August 1946. Detailing his flying training, operations flown, instructor duties and post war squadron duties. He was stationed at RAF Torquay, RAF Eastbourne, RAF Brighton, RAF West Kirby, Queenstown, Port Alfred, RAF Dumfries, RAF Turweston, RAF Silverstone, RAF Winthorpe, RAF East Kirkby, RAF Husbands Bosworth, RAF Llandwrog, RAF Saltby, RAF Matching, RAF Great Dunmow, RAF Aqir and RAF Cairo West. Aircraft flown in were, Anson, Oxford, Botha, Wellington, Lancaster, Halifax and C-47. He flew a total of 18 night operations with 630 Squadron. His pilots on operations were Flying Officer Probert and Flight Lieutenant McDonald. Targets were, Berlin, Stettin, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Stuttgart, Clermont-Ferrand, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Tours, Maille, Amiens and Kiel Bay. This was followed by glider, troop carrying duties and Prisoner of War transport with 620 Squadron. The log book also contains a menu from 10 February 1943 with signatures of those on the course.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Cara Walmsley
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LPayneAJ1315369v1
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.
Egypt
France
Germany
Great Britain
Middle East--Palestine
Poland
South Africa
Atlantic Ocean--Kiel Bay
Egypt--Cairo
England--Devon
England--Essex
England--Leicestershire
England--Merseyside
France--Amiens
France--Clermont-Ferrand
France--Tours
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Stuttgart
Middle East--Palestine
Poland--Szczecin
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
South Africa--Queenstown
Wales--Gwynedd
France--Maillé
North Africa
England--Sussex
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1943-12-02
1943-12-03
1943-12-04
1943-12-29
1943-12-30
1944-01-01
1944-01-02
1944-01-05
1944-01-06
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-01-30
1944-01-31
1944-02-15
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-21
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-02-26
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-10
1944-03-11
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-30
1944-03-31
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1661 HCU
1665 HCU
17 OTU
620 Squadron
630 Squadron
85 OTU
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Anson
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
Botha
C-47
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Ju 88
Lancaster
Me 109
navigator
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
prisoner of war
RAF Aqir
RAF Dumfries
RAF East Kirkby
RAF Husbands Bosworth
RAF Llandwrog
RAF Saltby
RAF Silverstone
RAF Torquay
RAF Turweston
RAF Winthorpe
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1412/26738/LTindallAJ173966v1.2.pdf
f71a81fa60cca73bbffd928026a637c0
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
Tindall, Arthur John
A J Tindall
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
2015-04-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Tindall, AJ
Description
An account of the resource
Nine items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Arthur John Tindall DFC (1388739 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 97 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by June Tindall and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Arthur John Tindall’s navigator's, air bomber's and air gunner’s flying log book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LTindallAJ173966v1
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Description
An account of the resource
A J Tindall’s log book covering the period from March 1942 to 6 November 1945. Detailing his flying training and operations flown as wireless operator/air gunner. He was stationed at RAF Yatesbury (2 RS), RAF Mona (5 AGS), RAF Cottesmore (14 OTU), RAF Wigsley (1654 HCU), RAF Upwood (PFNTU), RAF Bourn and RAF Coningsby (97 Squadron). Aircraft flown in were Dominie, Botha, Wellington, Lancaster, Stirling, Anson and Proctor. He flew a total of 30 night operations with 97 Squadron (first Tour) and 10 night and 2 day operations with 97 Squadron (second tour), a total of 42. Targets were Stuttgart, Hannover, Berlin, Leipzig, Cologne, Frankfurt, Brunswick, Augsburg, Laon, Munich, Schweinfurt, Kjeller, L’Isle Adam, Brest, Argentan, Etampes, Poitiers, Gelsenkirchen, Prouville, Donge and Givors. His pilots on operations were Sergeant Johnson, Squadron Leader Cawdery, Flight Lieutenant Clarke and Wing Commander Ingham.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Terry Hancock
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
1943-10-07
1943-10-08
1943-10-09
1943-10-18
1943-10-20
1943-10-21
1943-10-22
1943-11-03
1943-11-18
1943-11-19
1943-11-22
1943-11-23
1943-11-24
1943-11-26
1943-12-02
1943-12-04
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-20
1943-12-24
1944-01-14
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-01-30
1944-02-14
1944-02-25
1944-02-26
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
1944-04-10
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-04-29
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-09
1944-06-10
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-21
1944-06-22
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-07-26
1944-07-31
1944-08-06
1944-08-11
1944-08-12
1944-08-14
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Norway
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Rutland
England--Wiltshire
France--Argentan
France--Auxi-le-Château
France--Brest
France--Étampes (Essonne)
France--Givors
France--Laon
France--L'Isle-Adam
France--Poitiers
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Munich
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Norway--Kjeller
Wales--Anglesey
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
14 OTU
1654 HCU
17 OTU
84 OTU
97 Squadron
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
bombing
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944)
Botha
Dominie
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Master Bomber
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
Proctor
RAF Bourn
RAF Coningsby
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Desborough
RAF Mona
RAF Silverstone
RAF Upwood
RAF Wigsley
RAF Yatesbury
Stirling
training
Wellington
wireless operator
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1587/26762/Wright BC.1.pdf
7e1547f91266cd6b0ec39303f249e6a3
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
Wright, Barry Colin
B C Wright
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
2020-01-28
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
Wright, BC
Description
An account of the resource
Twenty-five items. Sergeant Barry Colin Wright CGM (1627924) flew an operational tour as a flight engineer on Lancaster with 103 and 166 Squadrons. The collection contains flying logbook, certificate of service and release, documents. letters, newspaper cuttings and photographs. He was badly wounded on an operation to Leipzig 19/20 February 1944.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by MD Wright and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Barry Wright’s navigator’s air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LWrightB1627924v1
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
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
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
Poland
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Yorkshire
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg)
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Munich
Poland--Szczecin
Wales--Vale of Glamorgan
Germany--Mönchengladbach
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
1946
1943-08-30
1943-09-03
1943-09-04
1943-09-05
1943-09-06
1943-09-22
1943-09-23
1943-09-24
1943-09-27
1943-09-28
1943-10-01
1943-10-02
1943-10-03
1943-10-04
1943-10-18
1943-10-19
1943-10-22
1943-11-23
1943-11-24
1943-11-26
1943-11-27
1943-12-02
1943-12-03
1943-12-04
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-20
1943-12-21
1943-12-23
1943-12-24
1944-01-05
1944-01-06
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-23
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-01-30
1944-01-31
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
Description
An account of the resource
Navigator’s air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book for B C Wright, flight engineer, covering the period from 11 July 1943 to 29 May 1946. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF St Athan, RAF Lindholme, RAF Elsham Wolds, RAF Kirmington, RAF Hemswell, and RAF Ossington. Aircraft flown in were Halifax, Oxford, Lancaster, Tiger Moth, Wellington, and York. He flew a total of 25 night operations, 3 with 103 squadron and 22 with 166 squadron. Targets were Mönchengladbach, Berlin, Mannheim, Hannover, Hagen, Munich, Ludwigshafen, Kassel, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Stettin, Brunswick and Magdeburg. His pilot on operations was Pilot Officer Catlin.
103 Squadron
1656 HCU
166 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
flight engineer
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Me 110
Oxford
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Hemswell
RAF Kirmington
RAF Lindholme
RAF Ossington
RAF St Athan
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
York
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1631/26332/LHarringtonBR621165v1.1.pdf
c81074c1182019232e8e04278e82c805
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
Harrington, Harry
Basil R Harrington
B R Harrington
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Harrington, BR
Description
An account of the resource
30 items. The collection concerns Basil 'Harry' Harrington (621165) and contains his log book, photographs, a memoir, documents and letters. He flew B-25 on 226 Squadron and completed 43 operations as wireless operator/air gunner between September 1943 and May 1944.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Carol Marsh and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Basil 'Harry' Harrington's flying log book
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LHarringtonBR621165v1
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Description
An account of the resource
Flying log book for B A Harrington, wireless operator/air gunner, covering the period from 3 September 1943 to 15 May 1944. Detailing his operations flown. He was stationed at RAF Swanton Morley and RAF Hartford bridge. Aircraft flown in was Mitchell. He flew a total of 43 operations with 226 Squadron. Targets were Rouen, Bethune, Audinghen, Cherbourg, Montreuil, Bois de Waripel, Gueshart, Campneuseville, Pommervall, Abbeville, Pas de Calais, Beauvais, Le Groseilleir, Bois de la Tillencourt, Le Plouy Ferme, Bremen, Mons, Belville en Caux, Serqueux, Paris, Arras, Namur, Moyenville, Cambrai, Behen, Busigny, Douai, Ault, Turcoine and Charleville. His pilots on operations were Flight Sergeant Taylor, Flight Sergeant Mills and Warrant Officer White. This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
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.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Belgium--Mons
Belgium--Namur
England--Hampshire
England--Norfolk
France--Abbeville
France--Abbeville Region
France--Arras
France--Audinghen
France--Beauvais
France--Béthune
France--Cambrai
France--Cambrai Region
France--Cherbourg
France--Dieppe (Arrondissement)
France--Douai
France--Le Tréport
France--Forges-les-Eaux
France--Lisbourg
France--Montreuil
France--Neufchâtel-en-Bray
France--Paris
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Pommeréval
France--Reims Region
France--Roubaix Region
France--Rouen
France--Saint-Hilaire (Allier)
Germany--Bremen
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1943-09-16
1943-09-19
1943-10-16
1943-10-20
1943-10-22
1943-10-24
1943-11-11
1943-11-19
1943-11-23
1943-11-25
1943-11-26
1943-12-14
1943-12-30
1943-12-31
1944-01-04
1944-01-05
1944-01-06
1944-01-14
1944-01-21
1944-01-24
1944-01-29
1944-02-03
1944-02-05
1944-02-06
1944-02-29
1944-03-03
1944-03-07
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-02
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-09
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
1944-05-13
1944-05-15
226 Squadron
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
B-25
RAF Hartford Bridge
RAF Swanton Morley
training
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7340/SChattertonJ159568v10277.2.jpg
da605a09f67fbadfc0e38bf4296238d0
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7340/SChattertonJ159568v10278.2.jpg
0b87f5bb2ba3dc21cbdef2028324493f
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
Chatterton, John. 44 Squadron operations order book
Description
An account of the resource
Collection consists of 521 items which are mostly Operations orders, aircraft load and weight tables and bomb aimers briefings for 44 Squadron operations between January 1944 and April 1945. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by M J Chatterton and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. <br /><br />This collection also contains items concerning Dewhurst Graaf and his crew, and Donald Neil McKechnie and his crew. Additional information on <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/109020/">Dewhurst Graaf</a> and <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/115642/">Donald Neil McKechnie</a> is available via the IBCC Losses Database.
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
2016-03-14
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Chatterton, J
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Underlined] BRUNSWICK 14-1-44 [/underlined]
DATE 14:1:44.
[Table of bomb loads]
[Table of Preselection]
[Table of aircraft height, F.H.S. and Time Interval]
Petrol. 1500 [underlined] bt. [/underlined] 10,800.
Q.F.F. Met Windows. to target “C” rate Within 30 rate “D” Homeward rate “C”.
ZERO. 1915
Target. BRUNSWICK Effort. 500.
[Table of Long Delays]
NB/ 4000 GP’s ADD 6 SECS TO TIME INTERVAL.
Newhaven Ground marking. Wanganui as emergency.
Routemarkers TI. Yellow. Posn P (5252N-0840E) Outward.
Attack will open with sticks of Flares & Green TI in target Area. Aiming pt. marked TI red, kept marked T.I. Green. If target obscured by cloud release Pt marked Flares red & Green stars.
Main Force aim T.I red if visible or centre of all T.I. Green
N.B. TI red [underlined] will [/underlined] be dropped in large salvos at start of attack.
[Page break]
[Diagonally through this page] Scrubbed.
[Calculations]
Peg in 10th hole.
[Table of aircraft weights for take off]
[Calculations]
Only If cloud obscures TI’s a/c should aim at centre of all flares red + Green stars on 145°(M). Bombsight set for True Ht & A/S & Zero Wind.
Route markers TI [underlined] Yellow Posn Q [/underlined] 5222N 0859E Homeward.
Keep south of marker to avoid BREMEN.
Mosquitos will carry out spoof attack on Magdeburg & Berlin with TI’s & bombs.
Base – 5305N,0400E (A) – 5250N,0930E (B) – Target – 5200, 1030E (C) – 5230N,0820E
5305N, 0400E (A) – BASE.
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
Bomb aimers briefing 14 January 1944 - Brunswick
Description
An account of the resource
Indicates two bomb loads for operation. Include preseletion and false height settings, Window, long delays and other weapon details. Method mentions Newhaven and Wanganui marking for route and target. On the reverse more bomb loads and settings followed by bombing and marking instructions including by Mosquito. Mentions Mosquito spoof attack on Magdeburg and Berlin. Page is struck through with line and undecipherable word.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-14
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page form document partially filled in
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
SChattertonJ159568v10277, SChattertonJ159568v10278
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.
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Magdeburg
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01-14
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
briefing
Mosquito
target indicator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/376/6930/PHouriganM18030101.1.jpg
0ac021dfc7ac0851115d8f0cb7762b9c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/376/6930/PHouriganM18030102.1.jpg
33875b4d5052a479aa69cdaa7252dcef
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
Hourigan, Margaret
Margaret Hourigan
M Hourigan
Description
An account of the resource
158 items. An oral history interview with Margaret Hourigan (1922 - 2023, 889775 Royal Air Force) and 156 target photographs taken by 50 and 61 Squadron aircraft during 1944. Margaret Hourigan served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as a plotter with Fighter Command before being posted to RAF Waddington and RAF Skellingthorpe with Bomber Command.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Margaret Hourigan 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
2019-04-16
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
Hourigan,M
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
Brunswick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHouriganM18030101, PHouriganM18030102
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Braunschweig
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Target photograph of Braunschweig. No detail visible,some smoke or dust and light streaks. Captioned' 5', '16 SKELL. 14/15.1.44//NT 5" 21,000 [arrow] 145° 1924 BRUNSWICK. X. 1X4000+15X4+8X30. 31SECS. P.O.ORAM. X.50'. On the reverse '[underlined] P/O ORAM. [/underlined] BRUNSWICK. 14/15TH JAN. 1944'.
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hourigan, Margaret. Folder PHouriganM1803
50 Squadron
aerial photograph
bombing
RAF Skellingthorpe
target photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/376/7198/PHouriganM18030175.2.jpg
78ad97188e06564116a72ae09af2cb2f
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/376/7198/PHouriganM18030176.2.jpg
dee85a614fdfd1f3a7617ab4e4f0e987
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
Hourigan, Margaret
Margaret Hourigan
M Hourigan
Description
An account of the resource
158 items. An oral history interview with Margaret Hourigan (1922 - 2023, 889775 Royal Air Force) and 156 target photographs taken by 50 and 61 Squadron aircraft during 1944. Margaret Hourigan served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as a plotter with Fighter Command before being posted to RAF Waddington and RAF Skellingthorpe with Bomber Command.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Margaret Hourigan 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
2019-04-16
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
Hourigan,M
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
Brunswick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHouriganM18030175, PHouriganM18030176
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Braunschweig
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Target photograph of Brunswick. Totally obscured by dust and haze. Some light streaks. Captioned '4', '10 SKELL.14/15.1.44//NT. 8" 22,000 [arrow] 145° 1915 BRUNSWICK.C.1X4000. 15X4. 8X30. 31SECS. P/O JENNINGS. C. 50.'. On the reverse '[underlined] P/O JENNINGS [/underlined] BRUNSWICK 14/15TH JAN.1944'.
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hourigan, Margaret. Folder PHouriganM1803
50 Squadron
aerial photograph
bombing
RAF Skellingthorpe
target photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1254/36057/MBakerWB1392752-161128-06.2.pdf
7f72644b2513fb7c0e933579896ba4e2
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Baker, William Benjamin
Biff Baker
W B Baker
Description
An account of the resource
45 items. The collection concerns William Benjamin "Biff" Baker DFC (Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents art work and and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 115 and 626 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Pamela Baker and catalogued by Nigel Huckins and Peter Adams.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-11-28
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Baker, WB
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
Crew photograph and list of operations
Description
An account of the resource
First page - photograph of seven airmen wearing battledress with brevet standing in front of a Lancaster. Captioned 'Lancaster - 138 Squadron, Alf Warren (3rd from the left) mid upper gunner'. Then follows a list of thirty-one operations between 2 December 1943 and 7 July 1944. In all cases F/L W Breckenbridge was the captain and in most (not in 10) P/O Baker was the mid upper gunner. Mentions operation to Berlin on 30 January 1944 when three crew, including Baker, were wounded and the wireless operator Sgt J Hall was killed.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12-02
1943-12-16
1943-12-23
1944-01-14
1944-01-21
1944-01-27
1944-01-30
1944-04-18
1944-04-20
1944-04-22
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-05-03
1944-05-07
1944-05-09
1944-05-19
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-27
1944-06-06
1944-06-09
1944-06-12
1944-06-15
1944-06-17
1944-06-22
1944-06-25
1944-06-27
1944-06-30
1944-07-06
1944-07-07
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
France--Bruz
France--Normandy
France--Merville-Franceville-Plage
France--Orléans
France--Paris
France--Flers-de-l'Orne
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Maubeuge
France--Neufchâtel-en-Bray
France--Abbeville
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Vaires-sur-Marne
France--Vierzon
France--Caen
France--Reims
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph and six page (3 duplicate) printed document
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MBakerWB1392752-161128-06
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Baker list of operations
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
138 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944)
flight engineer
killed in action
Lancaster
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
pilot
tactical support for Normandy troops
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2003/38297/LBrownCR1334289v1.1.pdf
1fe47202b7a12860ceb8e665d188f006
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
Brown, Cyril Robert
C R Brown
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
2017-12-13
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Brown, CR
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. The collection concerns Cyril Robert Brown (b. 1921, 1334289
Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and a photograph. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 106, 9 and 617 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Susan Crosby and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
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
Cyril Robert Brown’s flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
C.R. Brown’s Flying Log Book from 5 April 1942 to 7 May 1946 detailing training, operations and instructional duties as a bomb aimer. Based at Portage La Prairie (No. 7 Air Observers School), Paulson (No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School), Winnipeg (No. 5 Air Observers School), RAF Kinloss (No. 19 Operational Training Unit), RAF Winthorpe (1661 Conversion Unit), RAF Syerston (106 Squadron), RAF Bardney (9 Squadron), RAF Woodhall Spa (617 Squadron), RAF Swinderby (1660 Conversion Unit), RAF Skellingthorpe, RAF Sturgate and RAF Waddington (61 Squadron). Aircraft flown: Anson, Battle, Whitley, Manchester, Lancaster and Stirling. Records a total of 35 night operations. Targets in France, Germany, Italy and Norway are: Angoulême, Berlin, Bochum, Brunswick, Clermont-Ferrand, Cologne, Dortmund-Ems Canal, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Hanover, Krefeld, Leverkusen, Lyons, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Metz, Milan, Modane, Mölbis, Mulheim, Munich, Nordhausen, Nuremburg, Oberhausen, St Etienne, Tonsberg, Turin and Wurzburg. Later notes include a Cook's Tour flight and participation in Operations “Dodge”, “Spasm”, “Wastage” and “Frontline”. His pilots on operations were Flight Sergeant Brown, Pilot Officer Whetter, Flying Officer Ham, Squadron Leader Howroyd, Flying Officer Cole, Flight Lieutenant Hadland, Flight Lieutenant Lipton and Flying Officer Bain. <br /><br />This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943-06-12
1943-06-13
1943-06-14
1943-06-15
1943-06-21
1943-06-22
1943-07-03
1943-07-04
1943-07-09
1943-07-10
1943-07-12
1943-07-13
1943-07-24
1943-07-25
1943-07-26
1943-08-07
1943-08-08
1943-08-10
1943-08-11
1943-09-23
1943-09-24
1943-09-27
1943-09-28
1943-10-18
1943-10-19
1943-11-10
1943-11-11
1943-11-18
1943-11-19
1943-11-23
1943-11-24
1944-01-01
1944-01-02
1944-01-03
1944-01-14
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-28
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-03-04
1944-03-05
1944-03-10
1944-03-11
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-17
1944-03-20
1944-03-21
1944-03-23
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-03-26
1945-03-03
1945-03-04
1945-03-16
1945-03-17
1945-04-04
1945-04-07
1945-04-08
1945-04-26
1945-04-27
1946
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Norway
Scotland
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
France--Angoulême
France--Clermont-Ferrand
France--Lyon
France--Metz
France--Modane
France--Saint-Étienne (Loire)
Italy--Po River Valley
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Bochum
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal
Germany--Essen
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Leverkusen
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia)
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
Germany--Würzburg
Italy--Milan
Italy--Turin
Manitoba--Portage la Prairie
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Norway--Tønsberg
Scotland--Moray
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Manitoba
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Leitch
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LBrownCR1334289v1
106 Squadron
1660 HCU
1661 HCU
19 OTU
61 Squadron
617 Squadron
9 Squadron
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
Battle
bomb aimer
bombing
Bombing and Gunnery School
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
Cook’s tour
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Manchester
Operation Dodge (1945)
Operational Training Unit
RAF Bardney
RAF Kinloss
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Sturgate
RAF Swinderby
RAF Syerston
RAF Waddington
RAF Winthorpe
RAF Woodhall Spa
Stirling
training
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1277/19137/LOwenDE1153507v2.1.pdf
4e8224b0d4e784e17c8ec259cc504ae5
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
Owen, David Eric
D E Owen
Description
An account of the resource
Two Log books belonging to D E Owen (153507 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a flight engineer with 149, 617 and 9 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Marian Owen and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-23
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Owen, DE
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
D E Owen’s flying log book for navigators, air bombers, air gunners, flight engineers. Two
Description
An account of the resource
Flying log book for navigators, air bombers, air gunners, flight engineers for D E Owen, flight engineer, covering the period from 29 August 1942 to 9 May 1946. Detailing his flying training operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF Stradishall, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Lakenheath and RAF Scampton, RAF Balderton, RAF Syerston, RAF East Kirkby, RAF Bardney, RAF Waddington, RAF Salbania and RAF Binbrook. Aircraft flown in were, Stirling, Lancaster and Oxford. He flew 24 night operation with 149 squadron and one operation with 617 squadron until crashing on Salisbury plain during low level exercise and being admitted to hospital During his time with 617 Sqn he had one flight piloted by Guy Gibson (27.7.43 low level cross-country). He returned to flying on 2 February 1944 and then completed 3 daylight and 3 night operations with 9 squadron. Targets were, St Jean de Luz, Stuttgart, Turin, Bordeaux, Duisburg, Lorient, Hamburg, Cologne, Nurenburg, Munich, Mannheim, Rostock, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Le Creusot, Milan, Merseburg, Bremen, Farge, Molbis, Lutzkendorf and Prince Eugen. He had one Cook's tour flight and participated in Operation Exodus and Operation Dodge. His pilots on operations were Flight Lieutenant Kellaway and Wing Commander Harrison.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LOwenDE1153507v2
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.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
England--Lincolnshire
England--Suffolk
France--Le Creusot
France--Lorient
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Merseburg
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Rostock
Germany--Saxony
Germany--Stuttgart
Italy--Milan
Italy--Turin
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1942-11-16
1942-11-17
1942-11-22
1942-11-23
1942-11-28
1942-11-29
1942-11-30
1942-12-16
1942-12-17
1942-12-20
1943-01-15
1943-01-23
1943-02-03
1943-02-04
1943-02-05
1943-02-13
1943-02-14
1943-02-15
1943-02-16
1943-02-17
1943-03-03
1943-03-04
1943-03-08
1943-03-09
1943-03-10
1943-03-11
1943-03-12
1943-04-15
1943-04-16
1943-04-17
1943-04-18
1943-04-20
1943-04-21
1943-05-22
1943-05-23
1943-05-24
1943-05-25
1943-05-26
1943-05-27
1943-06-11
1943-06-12
1943-06-19
1943-06-20
1943-07-29
1943-07-30
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
1945-03-22
1945-03-27
1945-04-07
1945-04-08
1945-04-09
1945-04-13
1945-05-04
1945-05-12
1945-06-13
149 Squadron
1657 HCU
1668 HCU
617 Squadron
9 Squadron
air sea rescue
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
Cook’s tour
crash
Distinguished Service Order
flight engineer
Gibson, Guy Penrose (1918-1944)
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
mine laying
Operation Dodge (1945)
Operation Exodus (1945)
Oxford
RAF Balderton
RAF Bardney
RAF Binbrook
RAF East Kirkby
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Scampton
RAF Stradishall
RAF Syerston
RAF Waddington
Stirling
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/834/18744/LGeachDG1394781v1.1.pdf
59b50cd8ae7d2f0c31f827ee6cc31b42
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
Geach, David
D Geach
Description
An account of the resource
<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/218400/"></a>52 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer David Geach (1394781 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, correspondence, photographs of his crew, his log book, cuttings and items relating to being a prisoner of war. After training in Canada, he flew operations as a bomb aimer with 623 and 115 Squadrons until he was shot down 24 March 1944 and became a prisoner of war. He was instrumental in erecting a memorial plaque to the Air Crew Reception Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. <br />The collection also contains a scrap book of photographs.<br /><br />Additional information on his crew is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/218400/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Harry Wilkins and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-03-14
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Geach, DG
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Geach's flying log book for aircrew other than pilot
Description
An account of the resource
Flying log book for aircrew other than pilot for David Geach, bomb aimer, covering the period from 22 November 1942 to 2 September 1952. Detailing his flying training, operations flown, being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war, returning to flying, post war with 7 Squadron. He was stationed at RCAF Dafoe, RCAF Rivers, RAF Bobbington (aka RAF Halfpenny Green), RAF Hixon, RAF Woolfox Lodge, RAF Downham Market, RAF Waterbeach, RAF Witchford and RAF Upwood. Aircraft flown in were, Anson, Bolingbroke, Wellington, Stirling, Lancaster and Lincoln. He flew a total of 15 operations, 1 Nickel operation with No.30 Operational Training Unit, 2 night operations with 623 Squadron and 12 night operations with 115 Squadron. Targets were, Rennes, Frisian Islands, Bordeaux, Berlin, Brunswick, Stuttgart, Augsburg and Frankfurt. His pilot on operations was Pilot Officer McCann. Shot down on his seventh operation, to Berlin.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LGeachDG1394781v1
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
France
Germany
Great Britain
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Norfolk
England--Rutland
England--Staffordshire
France--Rennes
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Stuttgart
Netherlands--West Frisian Islands
Saskatchewan--Big Quill Lake
Manitoba--Brandon Region
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Saskatchewan
Netherlands
Saskatchewan--Dafoe
Manitoba
Manitoba--Rivers
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1952
1943-08-19
1943-08-20
1943-10-03
1943-10-08
1943-10-09
1943-12-29
1943-12-30
1944-01-01
1944-01-02
1944-01-14
1944-01-20
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-20
1944-02-25
1944-02-26
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-24
115 Squadron
1665 HCU
1678 HCU
30 OTU
623 Squadron
7 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Anson
anti-aircraft fire
Bolingbroke
bomb aimer
bombing
Bombing and Gunnery School
Heavy Conversion Unit
Ju 88
killed in action
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 2
Lincoln
Me 110
mine laying
Operational Training Unit
prisoner of war
propaganda
RAF Downham Market
RAF Halfpenny Green
RAF Hixon
RAF Upwood
RAF Waterbeach
RAF Witchford
RAF Woolfox Lodge
shot down
Stirling
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/416/7525/LTwellsE171780v1.2.pdf
73558e079e66be61a7b00685db613f4a
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
Twells, Ernest
Ernie Twells
E Twells
Description
An account of the resource
19 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Ernie Twells DFC (1909 - 1979, 6042416, 805035 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books training notebooks, his medals and lucky mascot. It also includes a scrap book of photographs.
Ernie Twells served as an engine fitter before remustering as a flight engineer. He completed 65 operations with 619 and 617 Squadrons including sinking the Tirpitz.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ernest Twells 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
2015-10-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Twells, E
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ernie Twells’ navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LTwellsE171780v1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Description
An account of the resource
Royal Air Force Flying Log Book for Ernie Twells, flight engineer, covering the period from 15 June 1943 to 19 August 1945. Detailing training, operations flown and post war flying. He was stationed at RAF Swinderby, RAF Woodhall Spa, RAF Bramcote, and RAF Nuneaton. Aircraft flown in were Lancaster, Wellington and Dakota. He flew 65 operations. 24 Night operations with 619 Squadron. 25 Daylight and 16 Night with 617 Squadron. Targets were, Antheor Viaduct, Berlin, Boulogne, Brest, Brunswick, Dusseldorf, Essen, Etaples, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Juvisy-Paris, Kassel, La Pallice, Le Havre, Leipzig, Lorient, Lyon, Milan, Modane, Munich, Nurnberg, Pas de Calais, Rilly La Montagne, Saumer Tunnel, Siracourt, St Cyr-Paris, St Etienne, Tirpitz-Alten Fiord, Tirpitz-Tromso. Toulouse, Watten and Wizernes. His pilot on operations was Flight Lieutenant Knights.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Italy
Great Britain
Norway
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Lincolnshire
England--Warwickshire
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Brest
France--Etaples
France--La Pallice
France--Le Havre
France--Lorient
France--Lyon
France--Modane
France--Paris
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Saint-Étienne (Loire)
France--Saumur
France--Toulouse
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Munich
Italy--Milan
Norway--Tromsø
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Braunschweig
France--Watten
Germany--Düsseldorf
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
France
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
1943-07-24
1943-07-25
1943-07-26
1943-07-27
1943-07-28
1943-07-29
1943-07-30
1943-08-15
1943-08-16
1943-08-27
1943-08-28
1943-08-31
1943-09-01
1943-09-03
1943-09-04
1943-09-06
1943-09-07
1943-10-03
1943-10-04
1943-10-05
1943-10-08
1943-10-09
1943-10-18
1943-10-19
1943-10-20
1943-10-21
1943-10-22
1943-10-23
1943-11-03
1943-11-04
1943-11-10
1943-11-11
1943-11-22
1943-11-23
1943-11-24
1943-11-26
1943-11-27
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-20
1943-12-21
1943-12-27
1943-12-28
1944-01-01
1944-01-02
1944-01-14
1944-02-08
1944-02-09
1944-02-12
1944-02-13
1944-03-02
1944-03-03
1944-03-04
1944-03-05
1944-03-10
1944-03-11
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-17
1944-03-28
1944-03-29
1944-03-30
1944-04-05
1944-04-06
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-19
1944-06-20
1944-06-22
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-07-17
1944-07-20
1944-07-21
1944-07-25
1944-07-31
1944-08-01
1944-08-04
1944-08-05
1944-08-06
1944-08-07
1944-08-08
1944-08-11
1944-08-13
1944-08-14
1944-08-16
1944-08-18
1944-08-27
1944-09-11
1944-09-12
1944-09-15
1944-09-20
1944-09-21
1944-10-28
1944-10-29
1944-11-12
1944-11-13
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
1660 HCU
617 Squadron
619 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944)
bombing of the Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Le Bourget railways (18/19 April 1944)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
bombing of the Siracourt V-weapon site (25 June 1944)
bombing of the Watten V-2 site (19 June 1944)
bombing of the Wizernes V-2 site (20, 22, 24 June 1944)
bombing of Toulouse (5/6 April 1944)
C-47
flight engineer
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Normandy deception operations (5/6 June 1944)
Operation Catechism (12 November 1944)
Operational Training Unit
RAF Bramcote
RAF Swinderby
RAF Woodhall Spa
Tirpitz
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1486/26760/YClarkB1578273v1.1.pdf
aa56d3b8c08edc66acaf34fed6efeb7a
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
Warburton, William
W Warburton
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-02-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Warburton, W
Description
An account of the resource
Ten items. Sergeant William Warburton (1911 -1944, 1067053 Royal Air Force) flew operations as a flight engineer with 61 Squadron. He and his crew failed to return from operation in january 1944. Collection contains a scarpbook with contributions from most of the crew, letters to his father, letter to A Brander's father as well as Brander's logbook, research on his aircraft loss and locating relatives of the crew by M Warburton (nephew) and extracts from B Clak's diaries for December 1943.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Michael Warburton and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br />Additional information on William Warburton is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/124345/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The Diary of Sgt. Bernard Clark RAFVR Nov 30th-Dec 20th 1943
Sgt. Bernard (Bunny) Clark 1943. He was 35 when he volunteered for the RAF and was nicknamed 'Granddad' by his fellow crewmembers. He was lost in action in January 1944 whilst returning from a bombing mission over Berlin in Lancaster Bomber DV400 QR-Y.
CREW LIST: Sgt Bernard (Bunny) Clark. Flt/ Sgt Phil Brander. P/O Frank Langley. F/O Alan Beetch. P/O LLoyd Cumming. Sgt Bill Warburton. F/O Bob West.
Orders to pack and be ready to move by 1600hrs. Everybody binds away at moving in the evening, especially as we know the conditions that exist where any NCO has to report after ordinary duty hours, nobody wants you, nobody cares, it’s each man for him self. At 1630 hrs after a very hurried tea we climb aboard an ordinary RAF truck bound for Skellingthorpe, No. 61 Squadron.
The WAAF MT driver informed us that she did not want the job as she has a date in Lincoln so we had better hold on, and away we go. By Jove we did go! Slung from one side of the lorry to the other, Bob shot a bit of a line and sat up front with the WAAF.
We reported to the guardroom about 5pm. Just as we surmised nobody expected us or had any idea we were on the way. Bob and Allan went to the officer's mess to try their luck and find out if the orderly officer was available, but instead they found Squadron Leader Moss, actually our CO. He was very decent and having a few minutes to spare (ops had been scrubbed) he fixed us up with billets. Back to the old nissen!
The boys Phil, LLoyd and Bill went to the ENSA show, Alan and I made the 2 mile journey to the nearest telephone box to make our whereabouts known to our respective Ball and Chains! Of course Audry was pleased to hear me once again or at least she seemed to be. So, back to the Sgt's mess for me, and the officer's mess for Alan. After a reasonable supper we made our way back across site 3, through the woods and across a field to our site 4. I had an interesting chat with one or two of the inmates, all members of 61 Squadron and so to bed.
2.
Dec 1st
We had breakfast and met Bob, Alan and Frank, all walked up to the 61 Sqdn flights and checked in OK. I reported to the signals and met all the boys and signals officer F/Lt Newbound, quite an enthusiastic Australian, unfortunately he is posted to go away Friday. After lunch we all had an interview with the squadron leader Moss (our wing commander is away on leave) he gave us quite a pep and gen talk and quite an interesting description for what to expect whilst on ops.
Frank and I went into Lincoln and saw the pictures "5 Graves to Cairo", and of course, we had to call in one of the locals for an odd one, night cap!!
Dec 2nd Reported to signals at 0930 we went out to one of the planes and did a DI; had quite a lot of interesting new gen. After lunch we all (the crew) caught the camp bus to Waddington (main station) to visit pay accounts etc arriving back at Skelly for tea.
We played cards in the billet, LLoyd, Bill, Phil and I and by heck did I catch a cold!!
I couldn't do anything right, anyway I managed to hang out till suppertime without being too much in debt. Had a very primitive bath after supper in fact I was almost as dirty by the time I managed to get dressed owing to the layers of mud on the bathroom floor!
We finished the evening up with a game of table tennis and snooker. All the boys were away- Berlin! There was hardly anyone in the mess at all.
Dec 3rd
Reported at 0930 again, did a DI on M for Mike. M had been to Berlin but was in good shape (no faults). Changed my flying boots for new type, very good idea (new boots I mean). Reported to section after lunch and had a nice job of reading all the standing orders. I see they have copped me for group exercise tomorrow nice and early, Phil was down on the list for operations with another crew but the aeroplane was u/s. Bill has been detailed as F/E stand by, Bob fixed up with his 2nd dicky trip and Alan has had to practice the flight plan just as if he was going on the trip. Frank and LLoyd have disappeared into town, so I have spent most of the evening trying to get our stove alight with wet wood: what a job!! Had supper and so to bed.
Dec 4th
Boys all still landing at 8am from Leipzig Bob got back ok and had quite a good trip. My watch let me down. Instead of 7.15 getting up I didn't get going until 8am, had to report to signals by 8.20 for group W/T exercise. Hell of a cold morning lots of frost. Fortunately, I managed to get a lift up to Flts.
Didn't do too well on exercise, too cold and too many people talking and interfering. Did the usual DI afterwards on E for Easy, had lunch and collected my laundry, back up to the flights by 2pm. We all got ready for our cross-country take off 8.45 put forward to 6.45, we managed to wangle sandwiches from the mess and all filled our flasks.
After waiting all evening and eventually getting out to the aircraft, the exercise was scrubbed. Aircraft u/s and the weather closing in too quickly. We all sat in the crew room and ate up the food, finished up the tea and enjoyed Bobs talk on his experience over Leipzig. We managed to get to bed about 1030.
3.
Dec 5th
Another white frosty morning and some fog. Took boots in for repair and did a DI on E for easy again. We got down for lunch early, as we were going to fly first after lunch.
Fog clamped down again so flying scrubbed. We spent a good 2 hours getting lots of new gen. All had tea, then Bill and I walked to the phone at Swanpool, got through to Audrey ok, and had quite a chat for 4-5 minutes, then back to our billet-chorus when we walked in
-where the heck have you been? Bob Alan LLoyd and Phil playing bridge and waiting for Bill and me to play Poker! There goes my last financial means; I nearly always loose. We didn't play after all; the bridge game was too exciting for them to leave, anchored down about 10.30.
Dec 6th
Real bull inspection Adj and Squadron Leader Moss came round at 9am everything ok. Too foggy (to) fly again so the usual DI and the dinghy drill complete with Mae West and Harness in W for William. We walked down to the mess for lunch. A very stormy mess meeting at 13.15 due to bad food and general conditions in the mess and the dining hall. Back to the flight for general discussion group for the topic- Will bombing win the war?
Some bright ideas put forward and quite a good show. Walked back to the mess had my haircut at the camp barbers- quite a good job for a change. Had tea with Bill all the others changed quickly and went into Lincoln (still very foggy). Bill and I spend the evening in the billet, good fire and a good book.
Dec 7th
Up at the usual time 7.30, breakfast improved (after the mess meeting) did the usual DI and then lecture for all of us. After lunch too foggy for flying again and had short lecture on RDF, then met Alan, Frank and Bob, caught the camp bus into town. Did a bit of shopping, not much in the shops although thousands of people about. We went into Boots for tea, in came LLoyd and then Bill so we all had rissoles and chips and welsh rabbit, bread and butter, tea and mince pies. We all went to see the good old film 'The Four Feathers' still very enjoyable, we all had a drink or two afterwards before catching the bus at 10pm. What a struggle, lots of fellows left behind to walk 5.5 miles; And so to bed ; at 11pm.
Dec 8th
Still too thick to fly did the usual DI, nothing doing, so a spot of dinghy drill with our complete clothing on. After lunch another lecture and down for tea at 4.30. Bob and Alan came along and we played poker and for once I won 5/8pence to be exact. Bed about
10.30. Phil made a few snares and set them in the wood behind the hut.
4.
Dec 9th
Phil and I up a bit earlier to have a look at the snares, but no luck. Fog not so bad, prospects of flying! Did the usual DI, and then did a spot of painting in the helmet room. Had lunch and got back to the section ready to fly, all dressed up in Mae West, harness, boots etc. Gunners in their electrical suits and in the bus ready to go out to the aircraft. Met sent an urgent message cancelling the trip, as the fog was closing in too fast, so back we go cursing the weather etc. Took a photo of the whole crew, but the camera stuck, hope I can have it done ok. Tea about 5pm, then Bob and Alan came along for poker and chess I actually won 3/8 pence-wonders will never cease.
Went along to supper about 9pm dogs and bread! And back to bed 10.30. Dec 10th
Up at usual time DI. on M with Phil and Frank. Lectures after lunch, changed and went to Lincoln with Frank. After tea we went to the pictures 'China' (not too bad). Popped in for one or two and caught the bus back to camp 10pm. Phil, Bob and LLoyd played cards all evening and so to bed.
Dec 11th
Up in the morning at the usual time. Up to the flights, find we are down for our cross country take off 3pm. Did the usual DI. Collected food after lunch for the boys and got out 'R' Rodger. It seemed to have quite a lot of hold ups and there were lots of ground staff fellows working on it.
Airborne at last 3.30 climbed up to 22,000 only 37 deg. below but lovely and warm in our cabin. Stood and looked out of the astrodome. The sunset was really marvellous, all the colours of the rainbow, and layers of snowy clouds far below us looked like deep snow everywhere. Our route was from base, Upper Hanford, Wales, up the Irish Sea in between the Isle of Man and across Scotland down to Doncaster then out to Winglet. We could not do our bombing as the R T packed up on us.
I sat down on a box; the plane was bouncing all over the place due to our flight just under the clouds. I couldn't fix the TX so we packed up and went back to base, soon got down and then we dived into the sandwiches and tea.
After taking off flying clothes we all went down to the mess for supper, jumped into bed about 10.30 pm.
5.
Dec 12th
After breakfast we went up to the flights and did the usual DI. Took my boots in for repair, cleaned up the helmets and Mic's after yesterday's trip as oxygen always makes them wet with condensation etc.
After lunch finished of the helmets and cycled down to the billet; did a spot of mending socks etc. Afternoon lecture over, back to tea at 4pm, and down to billet, played cards and so to bed.
Dec 13th
Met Bob and the others after breakfast, then up to flights. We were down for fighter AF but after hanging about all morning vis too bad.
After lunch Bill, Frank, Phil and I went out to 'Y' our new plane, just gave her the once over, seems ok. After tea Bob rang up we go out to fly at 5.30pm practice bombing trip take off at 6.30 for about 2 hours Wainfleet range.
We used Vis Rdf for the first time; it seems wizard, Frank and Phil ok at Gunnery. Had supper and went to bed at 10pm.
Dec 14th
Awful morning, fog and frost walked out to 'Y' did the DI, all the others did their stuff too. After lunch went back to the billet and mad up ye old stove and cleared up a bit. Phil caught his victim in a snare. Problem now is how to cook the same. Lectures in the afternoon and back to the billet. After tea wrote a couple of letters, in the mean time Phil cleaned the rabbit and skinned it all ready for the pot, so on it goes. In bed about 10.30. Dec 15th
Not too good again, so up to the flights, did runners job to ops room and orderly room. Went out to 'Y' did a spot of cleaning up, as W/Commander had an inspection of all aircraft in the afternoon we buzzed around until 4.15. After tea Bob and Allan joined us in a game of poker until 8pm. All went across to supper and back to bed at 10.30
Dec 16th
Better morning as regards weather, did the usual DI. Bob and Allan came up to 'Y' Good news, ops on.
Checked everything up ok, back to the flights for briefing, low and behold, Berlin for our first op!! Transport to the mess for the ops meal egg and bacon, bread and butter and coffee.
Bill, LLoyd, and I dashed off to change into long underwear. Phil collected coffee and orange, we were transported all of us back to the crew room and final briefing then out to the aircraft with half an hour to go to zero.
All excited , engines revved up and down the taxi path with a full load of cookie and incendiaries nickels etc. Quite a crowd to cheer us off, then off we go 6.40pm, climbing up and up then the first snag, Monica packs in on one side.
6.
I go back to check up and find the fuselage door open, the wind pressure was terrific I can only just close the door but cannot fasten it, so back comes Bill with a piece of rope and ties up the door. I manage to get M on the go and everything seems grand with first contact with base. Next thing we are over the enemy coast near Amsterdam tons of cloud and some flak bursting, on to Berlin at about 21,000 ft.
Not very cold we appear to be well on time and in the stream ok, in between Bremen and Hanover right on the markers and bang on track. Lots of flares but cloud too thick for SL, Up comes target right on time. Frank calls back on the intercom to say he is in trouble with the oxygen and feeling awful. Bob asks him to hang on till off the target if possible and on we go. Lloyd espies the target markers and we fly level on to them and zump! Bombs gone!! Ok from Lloyd. My thoughts as I felt the floor of the aircraft jerk when the cookie went were: take that one and those and share between you!
Faint call for help from Frank and lots of gurgles over the intercom, so Bob asked me to see what I could do for him. Armed with a potable bottle (oxy) I went down the back with the aid of my torch. The back door was open about two inches and by Jove the wind came through like a knife. I managed to open Frank’s doors in his turret putting my hand and arm under his arm, I stretched up and tried to break ice from his oxygen mask, I could see lots of flares and lights outside; talk about November 5th!! Just then some tracer shot by us, below and behind (luckily) Frank, although almost out, turned his turret in the direction of the tracer on the port beam, so I was trapped by my arm in between the turret and the rear of the fuselage. I felt scared because I only had 2mins left in my oxygen bottle, I struggled out after what seemed to be ages and then I dropped my torch and lost it make matters worse.
7.
After what seemed an age I plugged my oxygen tube into the elsan spare and recovered my breath a bit, it was hellish cold although it was only 25 degrees below on the gauge.
I struggled back to my place forward and told Bob how hopeless things were with Frank (we were still well in the flack and flares area in fact a flare just whizzed by our tail, a near thing for us)
Bob gave me a long oxygen tube (spare) and taking two or three portable bottles and another torch I went down to see Frank, he was just all out. I got his doors open again and pulled him flat on his back on the wooden plank (from his turret to the tail cross-member) then I pulled his oxygen mask off, plugged the spare one onto the elsan oxygen and popped the new mask on his face. After a bout 5 or 6 minutes he began to flicker his eyes about and try to sit up but I made him lay still and told him to take his time and then get back into his turret leaving the door open, still using the spare mask.
I then went up to the front and started work again. All this time we were getting away from Berlin and just missed Rostock and on to Denmark, across Denmark and out over the North sea. Lots of flack on the Danish coast, but although Bob had come down several thousand feet to help Frank, we dived through the barrage ok.
Frank gradually got back to normal except his electrical suit did not work and he was very cold, we carried on until we got just off the coast nr Cromer. Cloud only 700 ft high so we kept it there until we got back to base.
Base Gave us no 7 position and in we came to make a wizard landing about 12.39 midnight. The ground crew cheered us in and we soon got down to breakfast after interrogation, we eventually got into bed at 2.45 am.
So ended our first operational trip, Bob had already had his baptism of fire before at Leipzig. Glad to say Frank soon felt better; but was quite sick due to rushing about, I think without oxygen etc.
Dec 17th
Foggy again, we got out of bed, 12-15, lunchtime and LLoyd was actually awake first! Wonders will never cease! After lunch went out "Y" and cleaned her up inside and then Alan and I went into Lincoln to do some shopping; unfortunately by the time the bus came and we got to town the shops were already closing, we were unlucky.
We had some tea in Boots' cafe; it was quite nice, Welsh Rabbit and chips. Phil came in and we all went to the Ritz to see "Batann", which was quite a blood thirsty picture.
Afterwards we just popped in for a quick drink and then met Frank before catching the bus. We all managed to climb on the bus at 10-15, it was always crowded and everyone trying to get on, it was terrible. We finally arrived back at camp around 11pm and fell into our beds.
8.
Dec 18th
Thick fog again, no flying. Did the usual D I on "Y", checked all the helmets and had a look at the results of the raid. Quite a good concentration on the target, although we lost 30 bombers in the process. Our photograph was quite good, another Lanc was flying quite a long way below us and it came out pretty good in the photo.
It rained like blazers in the afternoon, came down form the flights at about 3pm. We all played cards for the rest of the afternoon and then about 5pm, Phil, Bill and I scrounged off to the mess. We managed to get a good supply of bread and butter and piping hot tea for our flasks. Back at the billet LLoyd supplied us a spread from out of his Canadian parcels, smashing, we had toast and sardines and there was spam aplenty. We finished it all off with a wizard fruit cake, stiff with fruit and nuts.
We continued to play cards until 10 o'clock and I had amassed the princely sum of six shillings before we had finished. The weather has been awful this evening, wet and windy. I wonder whether it will be ops tomorrow. Our passes have all gone in to the orderly room, ready for our leave. And so, off to bed.
Dec 19th
Fine morning but very cold. Went up to the flights and did the usual DI. Fixed up to go to Waddington. Stopped for an early snack before boarding the 12-30 bus to Waddington. I had a very nice lunch in the Sergeants' mess and then on to pay parade at 2pm.
(Lord Nuffield 5/- per day whilst on leave) just what the doctor ordered! And two weeks pay! Caught the bus back to camp, had tea, met Bob, Alan and Frank and off we went to Southwold, roughly a two hour trip and we arrived at approximately 7-30. We got back in the mess for supper and then on to the billets for bed.
PPS...Did manage to ring Audrey from Waddington and when I got back a letter from her was waiting for me in the mess with the news about Brown being killed.
Dec 20th
Up to the flights, very cold strong wind, did the usual DI in "Y". Rumour circulating that ops were on. Complete panic, ops are on, rush to check everything and then down for lunch. Briefing at 12-45 and then we had bacon and eggs before we went back down to site for change underwear. Back for business, Frankfurt the target! Early take-off, all out to "Y" in good time. We have 13000lbs of destruction on board, 1 cookie, 4x 1000lbs and the rest incendiaries. Take-off okay, what a relief to get off the deck, gained height and set off. Had some bad luck, three or four minutes had passed when the inner engine started bumping, M and G very jumpy so Bob decided couldn’t go any further.
Out to sea, jettisoned the bombs and bought back the incendiaries. Turned round, heading back towards port all the time loosing height rapidly. Landed early, we then had supper and got ready for leave. We heard that Frank was grounded by the MO, so we had young Chapman in the rear turret (his 19th op). We were very disappointed, although it was better than pranging over there. Leave tomorrow, we hope. 12-30, bed.
DECEMBER 20TH WAS THE LAST DATE RECORDED IN DAD’S DIARY.
He then went on leave for Christmas. After his leave he completed 7 more operations. The first two were taken from his log book; the remaining five were taken from squadron records:
1-1-44 OPS Berlin
2-1-44 OPS Berlin
5-1-44 OPS Stettin
14-1-44 OPS Brunswick
20-1-44 OPS Berlin
21-1-44 OPS Magderburg
27-1-44 OPS Berlin….. FAILED TO RETURN *
Crew list of Lancaster Bomber DV400 QR-Y
F/O R.A. West (Bob) Pilot
F/Sgt A.P. Brander (Phil) AUS Air Gunner P/O F. Langley (Frank) Air Gunner
F/O A.V. Beetch (Alan) Navigator
P/O L.W. Cuming (Lloyd) CAN Bomb Aimer Sgt B. Clark (Bernard) Wireless Operator
Sgt W. Warburton (Bill) Flight Engineer
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
Extract from Bernard Clark's diary
Description
An account of the resource
Transcript of the Diary of Sgt. Bernard Clark RAFVR 30 November – 20 December 1943 with notes by M Warburton. Includes head and shoulders portrait of an airman wearing greatcoat and side cap. Includes crew list of his aircraft. Entries contain details of daily activities including daily inspections, flying and operation to Berlin and Frankfurt. Concludes with list of operations in Jan 1944 including last where they failed to return.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
B Clark
M Warburton
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Lincoln
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Magdeburg
Poland
Poland--Szczecin
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-11-30
1943-12-01
1943-12-02
1943-12-03
1943-12-04
1943-12-05
1943-12-06
1943-12-07
1943-12-08
1943-12-09
1943-12-10
1943-12-11
1943-12-12
1943-12-13
1943-12-14
1943-12-15
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-18
1943-12-19
1943-12-20
1944-01-01
1944-01-02
1944-01-05
1944-01-14
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-27
Format
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Nine page printed document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Diary
Photograph
Identifier
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YClarkB1578273v1
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 Australian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Bloomfield
61 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
flight engineer
killed in action
Lancaster
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
pilot
RAF Skellingthorpe
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1486/26761/YClarkB1578273v2.2.pdf
561c50fe9e9f73880104d5e04258e1b9
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
Warburton, William
W Warburton
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-02-17
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Warburton, W
Description
An account of the resource
Ten items. Sergeant William Warburton (1911 -1944, 1067053 Royal Air Force) flew operations as a flight engineer with 61 Squadron. He and his crew failed to return from operation in january 1944. Collection contains a scarpbook with contributions from most of the crew, letters to his father, letter to A Brander's father as well as Brander's logbook, research on his aircraft loss and locating relatives of the crew by M Warburton (nephew) and extracts from B Clak's diaries for December 1943.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Michael Warburton and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br />Additional information on William Warburton is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/124345/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The Diary Extract of Sgt. Bernard Clark ROYAL AIR FORCE VR Dec 20th 1943
Sgt Bernard Clark was 35 when he volunteered for the RAF and was nicknamed 'Granddad' by his fellow crewmembers. All the crew were lost in action in January 1944 whilst returning from a bombing mission over Berlin, in their Lancaster Bomber DV400 QR-Y.
CREW LIST: F/O R.A.West (Bob) Pilot. Sgt W. Warburton (Bill) Flight Engineer. Sgt B. Clark (Bernard) Wireless Operator. P/O F.Langley (Frank) Air Gunner.
F/O A.V.Beetch (Alan) Navigator. F/Sgt L.W. Brander (Phil) AUS Air Gunner P/O L.W.Cuming (Lloyd) CAN Bomb Aimer.
…… A better morning as regards weather, did the usual DI. Bob and Allan came up to 'Y' Good news, ops on.
Checked everything up ok, back to the flights for briefing, low and behold, Berlin for our first op!! Transport to the mess for the ops meal egg and bacon, bread and butter and coffee.
Bill, LLoyd, and I dashed off to change into long underwear. Phil collected coffee and orange, we were transported, all of us, back to the crew room and final briefing then out to the aircraft with half an hour to go to zero.
All excited, engines revved up and down the taxi path with a full load of cookie and incendiaries nickels etc. Quite a crowd to cheer us off, then off we go 6.40pm, climbing up and up then the first snag, Monica packs in on one side. (Device for locating enemy aircraft.)
I go back to check up and find the fuselage door open, the wind pressure was terrific I can only just close the door but cannot fasten it, so back comes Bill (Flight Engineer) with a piece of rope and ties up the door. I manage to get Monica on the go and everything seems grand with first contact with base. Next thing we are over the enemy coast near Amsterdam, tons of cloud and some flak bursting: on to Berlin at about 21,000ft.
Not very cold: We appear to be well on time and in the stream ok, in between Bremen and Hanover right on the markers and bang on track. Lots of flares but cloud too thick for searchlights, up comes the target right on time.
Rear gunner Frank calls back on the intercom to say he has trouble with the oxygen and feeling awful. Bob (Pilot) asks him to hang on till off the target if possible and on we go. LLoyd espies the target markers and we fly level on to them and zump! Bombs gone!! Ok from LLoyd. My thoughts as I felt the floor of the aircraft jerk when the cookie went were: take that one and those and share between you!
Faint call for help from rear gunner Frank and lots of gurgles over the intercom, so Bob asked me to see what I could do for him. Armed with a portable bottle (oxy) I went down to the back of aircraft with the aid of my torch. The back door was open about two inches and by Jove the wind came through like a knife.
I managed to open Frank's doors in his turret, putting my hand and arm under his arm, I stretched up and tried to break ice from his oxygen mask, I could see lots of flares and
lights outside: talk about November 5th!! Just then some tracer shot by us below and behind (luckily.) Frank, although almost out, turned his turret in the direction of the tracer on the port beam, so I was trapped by my arm in between the turret and the rear of the fuselage. I felt scared because I only had 2 minutes left in my oxygen bottle.
I struggled out after what seemed to be ages and then I dropped my torch and lost it, making matters worse.
After what seemed an age I plugged my oxygen tube into the elsan spare and recovered my breath a bit, it was hellish cold although it was only 25 degrees below on the gauge.
I struggled back to my place forward and told Bob how hopeless things were with Frank (we were still well in the flack and flares area in fact a flare just whizzed by our tail, a near thing for us)
Bob gave me a long oxygen tube (spare) and taking two or three portable bottles and another torch I went down to see Frank, he was just all out, I got his doors open again and pulled him flat on his back on the wooden plank (from his turret to the tail cross-member) then I pulled his oxygen mask off and plugged the spare one on to the elsan oxygen point and popped the new mask on his face. After about 5 or 6 minutes he began to flicker his eyes about and try to sit up, but I made him lay still and told him to take his time then get back into his turret leaving the door open, still using the spare mask.
I then went up to the front and started to work again. All this time we were getting away from Berlin and just missed Rostock and on to Denmark, across Denmark and out over the North Sea with lots of flack on the Danish coast. Although Bob had come down several thousand feet to help Frank, we dived through the barrage ok.
Frank gradually got back to normal except his electrical suit did not work and he was very cold: we carried on until we got just off the coast nr Cromer. The cloud only 700 ft high so we kept on until we got back to base.
Base Gave us no 7 position and in we came to make a wizard landing about 12.39 midnight. The ground crew cheered us in and we soon got down to breakfast after interrogation, we eventually got into bed at 2.45 am.
So ended our first operational trip, Bob had already had his baptism of fire before at Leipzig. Glad to say Frank soon felt better; but was quite sick due to rushing about, I think without oxygen etc.
December 20TH was the last date recorded in Sgt Bernard Clark’s diary.
1-1-44 OPS Berlin 14-1-44 OPS Brunswick 27-01-44 OPS Berlin
2-1-44 OPS Berlin 20-1-44 OPS Berlin FAILED TO RETURN
5-1-44 OPS Stettin 21-1-44 OPS Magderburg
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
Extract from Bernard Clark's diary
Description
An account of the resource
Transcript of diary entry for 20 December 1943. Includes crew list. Account of their first operation to Berlin on. He was wireless operator. Mentions anti-aircraft fire over coast, problems with Monica system, problems with oxygen, problems with rear turret and gunner and return to base. Concludes with list of operations in January 1944, the last of which they failed to return from.
Creator
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B Clark
Format
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Two page typewritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Diary
Identifier
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YClarkB1578273v2
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
Royal Australian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Braunschweig
Poland
Poland--Szczecin
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12-20
1944-01-01
1944-01-02
1944-01-05
1944-01-14
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-27
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
David Bloomfield
61 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bomb aimer
bombing
flight engineer
killed in action
Lancaster
military service conditions
navigator
pilot
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1395/26925/LHoneyFWG915946v2.2.pdf
3ed9002a723198adf0f6c310ec01983c
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
Honey, Fred
F W G Honey
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
2015-04-27
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Honey, FWG
Description
An account of the resource
15 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Fred Honey (915946 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents, decorations and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 104 and 101 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Christopher Honey and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
F W Honey’s observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book. Two
Description
An account of the resource
Observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book one, for F W Honey, wireless operator, covering the period from 14 October 1941 to 26 June 1945. Detailing his operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF Malta, RAF Kabrit, RAF Luffenham, RAF Woolfox, RAF Bitteswell, RAF Ludford Magna, RAF Westcott, RAF Oakley and RAF Silverstone. Aircraft flown in were Wellington, Anson, Lysander and Lancaster. He flew a total of 45 operations, 25 night operations with 104 squadron and 20 night operations with 101 squadron as special duties operator. Targets were Tripoli, Naples, Castel Benito, Brindisi, Messina, Benghazi, Misurata, Heraklion, Dusseldorf, Modane, Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Braunschweig, Magdeburg, Stuttgart and Schweinfurt. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Benitz DFC, Flight Lieutenant Brown, Pilot Officer Syme, Pilot Officer McConnell, Flight Lieutenant Collins, Flight Sergeant Bennett, Flight Lieutenant Robertson and Pilot Officer Adamson.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LHoneyFWG915946v2
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.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Italy
Libya
Malta
England--Buckinghamshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Leicestershire
England--Rutland
France--Modane
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Greece--Ērakleion
Italy--Brindisi
Italy--Messina
Italy--Naples
Libya--Miṣrātah
Libya--Tripoli
Libya--Banghāzī
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
North Africa
Egypt
Egypt--Kibrit
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1941-10-15
1941-10-16
1941-10-19
1941-10-20
1941-10-21
1941-10-22
1941-10-25
1941-10-29
1941-10-30
1941-10-31
1941-11-01
1941-11-02
1941-11-03
1941-11-07
1941-11-08
1941-11-09
1941-11-10
1941-11-11
1941-11-12
1941-11-17
1941-11-18
1941-11-19
1941-11-20
1941-11-22
1941-11-25
1941-12-07
1941-12-11
1941-12-14
1941-12-18
1941-12-19
1941-12-28
1941-12-29
1942-02-22
1942-02-23
1942-03-06
1942-03-09
1942-03-10
1942-03-30
1942-03-31
1942-04-11
1942-04-12
1943-11-03
1943-11-10
1943-11-11
1943-11-18
1943-11-19
1943-11-22
1943-11-23
1943-12-02
1943-12-03
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-20
1944-01-14
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-01-30
1944-01-31
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-21
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
101 Squadron
104 Squadron
11 OTU
17 OTU
29 OTU
aircrew
Anson
bombing
Lancaster
Lysander
Operational Training Unit
RAF Bitteswell
RAF Ludford Magna
RAF North Luffenham
RAF Oakley
RAF Silverstone
RAF Westcott
RAF Woolfox Lodge
training
Wellington
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1363/22876/LThomasAF1851072v1.2.pdf
7199e1de2e3454b37f272f2424a0d2d8
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
Thomas, Arthur Froude
Description
An account of the resource
Eight items. The collection concerns Arthur Froude Thomas (b.1922 1851072 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, 7 photograph albums, and his decorations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 90 and 149 Squadron.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by S Thomas 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
2020-02-11
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
THomas, AF
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
Flying Officer A F Thomas’ RAF navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
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.
Description
An account of the resource
Flying Officer A.F. Thomas’ RAF Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, from 4th November 1943 to 26th March 1947, detailing his training, operations, instructional and post-war duties as a flight engineer. Also contains several photographs of aircraft and occasional notes. He was stationed at RAF Woolfox Lodge (1665 and 1651 Conversion Unit), RAF Tuddenham (90 and 149 Squadron), RAF Wratting Common (1651 Conversion Unit), RAF Methwold (149 Squadron), RAF Feltwell and RAF Stradishall (149 Squadron). Aircraft in which flown: Stirling Mk I, Stirling Mk III, Lancaster Mk I, Lancaster Mk III and Lancaster Mk I (FE). He flew a total of 35 operations with 90 and 149 squadrons (8 day, 27 night). Targets in Belgium, France and Germany were: Abbeville, Amiens, Cherbourg, Courtrai, Dortmund, Essen, Frisians (mining), Gelsenkirchen, Gironde, Hattingen, Heligoland, Kamen, Kattegat, Kiel Bay, Kiel, Laon, Merseburg, Osterfeld, Potsdam and Regensburg. Several operations are listed as ‘Special’ or with unnamed targets. He took part in Operations Manna, Exodus and Dodge as well as going on Cook's Tours. His pilots on operations were Warrant Officer Poynton DFC and Flight Lieutenant Cowing.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Leitch
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LThomasAF1851072v1
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.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Norfolk
England--Rutland
England--Suffolk
Europe--Frisian Islands
Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea)
Atlantic Ocean--Kiel Bay
Belgium--Kortrijk
France--Abbeville
France--Amiens
France--Cherbourg
France--Gironde
France--Laon
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Essen
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Hattingen
Germany--Helgoland
Germany--Kamen
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Merseburg
Germany--Osterfeld
Germany--Potsdam
Germany--Regensburg
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1943-12-20
1944-01-04
1944-01-14
1944-01-21
1944-01-25
1944-01-27
1944-01-30
1944-02-11
1944-02-12
1944-02-15
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-22
1944-02-25
1944-03-04
1944-03-05
1944-03-16
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-20
1944-03-23
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-03-26
1944-04-05
1944-04-09
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-12
1944-04-13
1944-04-17
1944-04-18
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-09
1945-02-22
1945-02-23
1945-02-25
1945-02-26
1945-03-11
1945-03-14
1945-03-17
1945-04-04
1945-04-05
1945-04-13
1945-04-14
1945-04-15
1945-04-20
1945-05-02
1945-05-07
1945-05-13
1945-06-01
149 Squadron
1651 HCU
1665 HCU
90 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
Cook’s tour
flight engineer
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
mine laying
Operation Dodge (1945)
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
RAF Feltwell
RAF Methwold
RAF Stradishall
RAF Tuddenham
RAF Woolfox Lodge
RAF Wratting Common
Special Operations Executive
Stirling
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1492/43450/NClaydonFE220824-03.1.jpg
1679a35cc02867d05b31099c5b5bd2ef
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
Claydon, Frank Edward
F E Claydon
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
2016-03-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Claydon, FE
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Frank Edward Claydon (130537 Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 166 Squadron and was killed 14 January 1944. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Frances Madeley and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Frank Edward Claydon is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/104367/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Frank Claydon
Description
An account of the resource
A memorial article about Frank telling of his professional and service life.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Railway Service Journal
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-08
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Hamburg
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
NClaydonFE220824-03
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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.
1944-01-14
aircrew
killed in action
missing in action
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1492/43426/PClaydonFE22010004.1.jpg
a852e0719cfe0629defb2e733b675085
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
Claydon, Frank Edward
F E Claydon
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
2016-03-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Claydon, FE
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Frank Edward Claydon (130537 Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 166 Squadron and was killed 14 January 1944. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Frances Madeley and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Frank Edward Claydon is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/104367/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Frank Claydon's Grave
Description
An account of the resource
A cross marking Frank's final resting place.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01-14
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PClaydonFE22010004
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
aircrew
final resting place
killed in action
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2262/41014/LHightonG160645v1.1.pdf
cdc835ad9498636fceadad3c4acab601
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
Highton, George
Description
An account of the resource
Nine items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer George Highton (b. 1923, 160645 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 192 Squadron.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Highton and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-02-12
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
Highton, G
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
George Highton's Royal Canadian pilot's flying log book. One
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LHightonG160645v1
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Description
An account of the resource
G Highton’s Pilot’s Flying Log Book covering the period from 08 May 1942 to 08 April 1944. Detailing his flying training and operations flown as a pilot. He was stationed at RCAF Penhold (36 SFTS), RAF Kingstown (15 EFTS), RAF Church Lawford (18 PAFU), RAF Wing (26 OTU) and RAF Feltwell and RAF Foulsham (192 Squadron). Aircraft flown in were Stearman, Oxford, Tiger Moth and Wellington . He flew on 35 night radio counter-measures special operations with 192 Squadron. Operations were patrols to Dutch coast, Bay of Biscay, French coast, Belgian coast, Norway, Channel, Heligoland and unspecified areas.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Canada
France
Great Britain
Netherlands
Norway
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Canada
England--Buckinghamshire
England--Cumbria
England--Norfolk
England--Warwickshire
Germany--Helgoland
Alberta
Germany
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Terry Hancock
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-09-27
1943-10-02
1943-10-05
1943-10-07
1943-10-13
1943-10-18
1943-10-22
1943-10-28
1943-11-03
1943-11-18
1943-11-22
1943-11-30
1943-12-09
1943-12-12
1943-12-15
1943-12-20
1943-12-22
1943-12-29
1944-01-14
1944-01-20
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-01-30
1944-02-15
1944-02-18
1944-02-25
1944-03-02
1944-03-04
1944-03-07
1944-03-13
1944-03-18
1944-03-22
1944-03-26
1944-04-06
1944-04-08
192 Squadron
26 OTU
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Flying Training School
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
pilot
RAF Church Lawford
RAF Feltwell
RAF Foulsham
RAF Wing
Stearman
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/892/26017/LHuttonGR1586017v1.2.pdf
7424f2584be4289534e54d097dbb6ce8
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
Hutton, George
G Hutton
Description
An account of the resource
35 items. An oral history interview with George Hutton (b. 1921, 1586014 Royal Air Force), his log book, photographs and documents. He flew operations as a mid upper gunner in 199 and 514 squadrons. The collection also contains an album of photographs of George Hutton's service and telegrams about his wedding.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by George Hutton and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-05-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hutton, GR
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
George Hutton’s navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
G.R. Hutton’s Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, from 19th May 1943 to 24th August 1945, detailing training, operations and instructional duties as an Air Gunner. He was stationed at RAF Pembrey (1 AGS), RAF Waterbeach (1651 HCU and 514 Squadron), RAF Lakenheath (199 Squadron), RAF Andreas (11 AGS), RAF Fersfield (2 Group Support Unit) and Melsbroek and Achmer air bases (180 squadron). Aircraft in which flown: Blenheim, Wellington III, Wellington X, Stirling, Lancaster II, Martinet, Anson, Mitchell II and Mitchell III.
He completed his first tour of duties with 199 and 514 squadrons, a total of 30 night operations (plus three ‘boomeranged’), on the following targets in Belgium, France, Italy and Germany: Aachen, Angers, Berlin, Bordeaux (mining), Brunswick, Cape Griz Nez, Cologne, Courtrai, Essen, Fougeres, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Hanover, Kassel, Laon, Leipzig, Modane, Mont Lucon, Nantes, Nuremburg, Ouistrehan (near Caen), Paris, Rouen, Schweinfurt, Stuttgart, Trappes and Turin.
On 6 June 1944 he noted “PASSENGER - BRITISH WAR CORRESPONDANT”.
He completed a second tour of 10 daytime operations with 180 squadron on the following targets in France, Netherlands and Germany: Arnhem, Cloppenburg, Dunkirk, Lubeck, Oldenburg, Sogel, Soltau and Voorst. His pilots on operations were Flight Lieutenant Waterfield, Flight Sergeant Ashpitel, Pilot Officer Woods, Pilot Officer Crombie, Pilot Officer Duncliff, Warrant Officer McGowan and Flight Lieutenant Barlow.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Leitch
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LHuttonGR1586017v1
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.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
Wales--Carmarthenshire
Germany--Lower Saxony
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
Italy--Po River Valley
Belgium--Brussels
Belgium--Kortrijk
France--Angers
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
France--Caen
France--Opale Coast
France--Dunkerque
France--Fougères (Ille-et-Vilaine)
France--Laon
France--Modane
France--Montluçon
France--Nantes
France--Paris
France--Rouen
France--Yvelines
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Cloppenburg
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Friedrichshafen
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Lübeck
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Oldenburg
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Sögel
Germany--Soltau
Germany--Stuttgart
Italy--Turin
Netherlands--Arnhem
Netherlands--Voorst
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
1943-08-01
1943-08-02
1943-08-10
1943-08-11
1943-08-12
1943-08-13
1943-08-16
1943-08-17
1943-08-23
1943-08-24
1943-08-27
1943-08-28
1943-09-15
1943-09-16
1943-09-17
1943-09-27
1943-09-28
1943-10-03
1943-10-04
1943-10-05
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-24
1943-12-25
1944-01-14
1944-02-19
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-26
1944-03-27
1944-03-30
1944-03-31
1944-04-11
1944-04-12
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-28
1944-05-29
1944-05-30
1944-06-04
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1945-04-03
1945-04-08
1945-04-10
1945-04-11
1945-04-12
1945-04-17
1945-04-19
1945-04-21
1945-05-01
1945-06-04
1651 HCU
180 Squadron
199 Squadron
514 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
B-25
bale out
Blenheim
bombing
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
Cook’s tour
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 2
Martinet
mine laying
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
propaganda
RAF Andreas
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Pembrey
RAF Waterbeach
Stirling
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1792/45129/LWilsonH1342819v1.2.pdf
52ffc531f0d4bd6890a709034f5ca53f
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
Wilson, Harold
H Wilson
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-01-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wilson, H
Description
An account of the resource
24 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant Harold Wilson DFM (Royal Air Force) who flew two tours completing 45 operations as a bomb aimer on 9 and 97 squadrons. Collection contains an identity document, a letter, his flying log book, a memoir and photographs (including some while he was a member of a missing research and enquiry unit in Germany after the war).
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Barbara Armstrong and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Harold Wilson's flying log book
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LWilsonH1342819v1
Description
An account of the resource
Harold Wilson’s Flying Log Book from 28/11/42 to 2/4/54, detailing training, operations and instructional duties as an Air Bomber (and later Navigator). Also contains various memorabilia including a photograph, reunion invitation and newspaper clipping about the award of the DFM. Based at: Port Elizabeth (42 Air School), Jurby (No. 5 Air Observer School), RAF Cottesmore, RAF Saltby, RAF Market Harborough (all No. 14 Operational Training Unit), RAF Wigsley (No. 1654 Conversion Unit), RAF Bardney (No. 9 Squadron), RAF Warboys (PFF Navigation Training Unit), RAF Coningsby (No. 97 Squadron), RAF Manby (Empire Air Armament School), RAF Swinderby (No. 1660 Heavy Conversion Unit and 201 Advanced Flying School), RAF Middleton St George (No. 2 Air Navigation School), RAF Scampton (No. 230 Operational Training Unit), RAF North Luffenham (No. 240 Operational Training Unit), RAF Oakington (No. 30 Squadron), RAF Perth (No. 11 Reserve Flying School). Aircraft flown: Anson, Oxford, Blenheim, Wellington, Halifax, Lancaster, Dakota.
Records a total of 45 operations (42 night, 3 day) with 9 and 97 Squadron. Targets in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are: Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Stettin, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Stuttgart, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, Marignane, Munich, Clermont Ferrand, Toulouse, Louailles, Annecy, Amiens, Maisy, St. Pierre du Mont, Argentan, Rennes, Poitiers, Greil (Saint-Leu-d'Esserent), Culmont Chalindrey, Nevers, Courtrai, Donges, Givors, Brest, Deelen Airfield, Bordeaux, Darmstadt and Konigsberg.
His pilot on all operations was F/O Lasham.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One colour photocopy
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Leitch
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
South Africa
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Belgium--Kortrijk
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Durham (County)
England--Huntingdonshire
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Rutland
France--Amiens
France--Annecy
France--Argentan
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
France--Brest
France--Calvados
France--Clermont-Ferrand
France--Donges
France--Givors
France--Haute-Marne
France--Marignane
France--Nevers
France--Oise
France--Poitiers
France--Rennes
France--Sablé-sur-Sarthe
France--Toulouse
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Darmstadt
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Russia (Federation)--Kaliningrad (Kaliningradskai︠a︡ oblastʹ)
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Munich
Germany--Schweinfurt
Poland--Szczecin
Germany--Stuttgart
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
Netherlands--Gelderland
Scotland--Perth
South Africa--Port Elizabeth
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943-12-02
1943-12-03
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-20
1943-12-23
1944-01-05
1944-01-14
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-02-26
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-09
1944-03-10
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-06
1944-05-07
1944-05-09
1944-05-10
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-07-04
1944-07-05
1944-07-12
1944-07-13
1944-07-15
1944-07-16
1944-07-20
1944-07-21
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-07-26
1944-08-11
1944-08-12
1944-08-13
1944-08-14
1944-08-15
1944-08-16
1944-08-17
1944-08-18
1944-08-25
1944-08-26
1944-08-27
1945
1946
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
14 OTU
1654 HCU
1660 HCU
9 Squadron
97 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Anson
Blenheim
bomb aimer
bombing of Luftwaffe night-fighter airfields (15 August 1944)
bombing of the Creil/St Leu d’Esserent V-1 storage areas (4/5 July 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
C-47
Cook’s tour
Distinguished Service Medal
Halifax
Halifax Mk 2
Heavy Conversion Unit
Initial Training Wing
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
memorial
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
RAF Bardney
RAF Bourn
RAF Coningsby
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Jurby
RAF Manby
RAF Market Harborough
RAF Middleton St George
RAF North Luffenham
RAF Oakington
RAF Saltby
RAF Scampton
RAF Swinderby
RAF Warboys
RAF Wigsley
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1523/41467/LLoveAI1815027v1.1.pdf
53167fb804ae061a5ba211680b00d4bc
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
Love, Ikey
Albert Ivon Love
A I Love
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-10
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
Love, AI
Description
An account of the resource
15 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Albert "Ikey" Ivon Love (1922 - 2016, 1815027 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, items, and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 90 and 7 Squadrons before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by G Love and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ikey Love's navigator's, air bomber's and air gunner's flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
Navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book for A Love, Flight Engineer, covering the period from 17 August 1943 to 22 March 1944, when he was shot down and became a prisoner of War. He was stationed at RAF Stradishall, RAF Wratting Common, RAF Tuddenham, RAF Upwood and RAF Oakington. Aircraft flown in were Stirling and Lancaster. He flew a total of 25 operations, 9 with 90 squadron and 12 with 7 squadron. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Hinde and Flying Officer Williams. Targets were Montlucon, Friesians, Mannheim, Kattegat, Bremen, Leverkusen, Bay of Biscay, Brunswick, Berlin, Magdeburg, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, and Frankfurt.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea)
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Suffolk
France--Montluçon
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Leverkusen
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Netherlands--Friesland
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LLoveAI1815027v1
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
Mike Connock
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-09-15
1943-09-16
1943-09-21
1943-09-23
1943-09-27
1943-10-08
1943-10-09
1943-11-18
1943-11-19
1943-11-30
1944-01-14
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-30
1944-02-15
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-15
1944-03-22
1657 HCU
7 Squadron
90 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
flight engineer
Heavy Conversion Unit
killed in action
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 3
mine laying
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
RAF Oakington
RAF Stradishall
RAF Tuddenham
RAF Upwood
RAF Wratting Common
shot down
Stirling
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1051/11429/ANorwoodG160201.1.mp3
af850e59b7c9af6724ffc5903a78c5f1
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
Norwood, Gerard
Gerard Thomas Norwood
G T Norwood
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Gerard Norwwod (1604811 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as an air gunner with 460 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
2016-02-01
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
Norwood, G
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
GN: Hughie Edwards, VC.
NM: Ok. Carry on.
GN: And this is one of the records I’ve worked out because of, well we’ll come to it when we, when we get to this bit because this is I have to tell you not all about it because it’s a bit deceiving.
NM: Ok. Let me just make a start. Can I just make —
GN: Deceiving because —
NM: Can I just make a start Mr Norwood and then we’ll —
GN: I’ve got quite a few photographs but —
NM: Yeah.
GN: This one is one that makes me —
NM: Gerald Norwood interview.
GN: Terrible of this country for their attitude of veterans of Bomber Command. But I’ve been to Australia a couple of times. The last time we went to Australia we had dinner at the French Embassy in Canberra and the Ambassador said, ‘Is there anyone here of you that flew on D-Day?’ I said, ‘Yes. There was quite, one or two of us.’ And he said, ‘Well, give me your names.’ He said, ‘We cannot issue you a medal,’ he said, ‘But we’ll see what we can do.’ But since they’ve done this they have given all Australian, but you have to be Australian to get it but they sent to the English people that weren’t born in Australia or anything a diploma to say you operated on D-Day for France and, but, but this country gave us nothing. You know. This is only because I went to Canberra you see. If we hadn’t gone to Canberra we wouldn’t even have known about that. But anyway let’s get on. Let’s sort this out for you.
NM: That’s interesting.
GN: Because —
NM: Can I, can I just make an introduction?
GN: Yeah.
NM: And then what I’d like to do is ask you a few general questions.
GN: Yeah. Yeah. Certainly.
NM: Then the idea is they don’t want to hear me talk. They want to hear you talk.
GN: I see. Yes.
NM: So I shall, I shall keep quiet. I might make a few notes.
GN: Yeah.
NM: And then there might one or two questions as we go through it.
GN: Right.
NM: But the idea is to listen to you tell your story. Ok. So, the date is February the 1st. I’m with Gerard Norwood.
GN: That’s right.
NM: At his Lancaster Lodge appropriately, in Well Cottage, Ivinghoe Aston in Leighton Buzzard.
GN: That’s right. Yeah.
NM: In Bedfordshire.
GN: Yeah.
NM: And so can I ask you to tell me a little bit about your background? Your childhood, your growing up before you joined the Air Force.
GN: Yeah. Now, well, this is why I’ve got this actually because I was born in Berkhamsted but we lived in Bricket Wood and unfortunately when I was two years old my father died. I didn’t even know my father really because I was too young to remember him. And my mother struggled along but eventually she got married again and when we moved we moved into Watford. But unfortunately, my elder brother and myself we couldn’t get on with our step-father and we left home and went in to lodgings when we were fifteen years of age. And when the war broke out and I was with my brother and we were trainees at an engineering factory as a centre lathe turner. And it was only after working for about from 1939 to 1942 in the factory working twelve hour nights seven nights a week when all my friends had been called up or volunteered for service I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing just turning wheels and things? Doing nothing really for the war effort.’ It was absolutely nothing. So I thought well I’ll volunteer. So I went to, from one Friday morning, I came off of work and went up to Deansbrook Road, Edgeware Drill Hall to volunteer. Well, when I tried to volunteer the Army man said, ‘Show me your registration card.’ So I showed him. He said, ‘No. Sorry. You’re a Reserved Occupation. You can’t.’ I tried the Navy and the same thing happened. I went eventually to the Air Force because pre-war I had, when I was about twelve to fourteen years old I did, when we first moved to Watford I did something and I joined an Association which at that time was made by this man and they lived in bungalows just off of Watford bypass and he started the ATC. But it wasn’t called the ATC. It was called the Air Defence Cadet Corps and we marched in the Lord, last Lord Mayor’s Show before the war and if you check you’ll find not only all the donations of the people that made it but a list of Cadets and you’ll find my name is down there somewhere at the bottom. So I thought to myself well let me try the Air Force. So I tried the Air Force and he said, ‘Well —’ he said, ‘You can’t.’ He said, ‘The only thing you can volunteer for is air crew. If you want to fly,’ he said, ‘I can, I can put you down.’ So I did do. I said, ‘Well, you can do that.’ And about three weeks later I got a letter from the Air Force to report to Oxford University to sit an examination and a medical. And I went to Oxford and then after going through all the different phases there I was put forward to the selection board and the air vice marshal there said, ‘We are very surprised that you, with the education you had because you only had a normal school education for two years from twelve to fourteen —’ When we moved to Watford because I went to, because at Bricket Wood there was no school and you couldn’t, there was no transport or nothing. No buses to take you. You had to walk. And the only schooling we had was at the top of Mount Pleasant Lane, Bricket Wood you turned right was Munden and at that time it was Sir Holland-Hibbert but he was Lord Knutsford afterwards when his mother died and he had his own private school for his worker’s children. And all the local children had to go to that school because it was the only one there. And the only teachers we had were two women but they, they were, they were absolutely brilliant because they were really strict but they taught you in such a manner that you couldn’t forget what they told you because the things like, well say the rivers of Scotland. Tweed, Forth, Tay, Dee, Don, Spey and Clyde. I mean the way they taught you you never forgot and that’s what he said, ‘We were very surprised because you passed everything except mathematics and if you are willing to go to night school for three nights a week before you go to work for six weeks on mathematics we will swear you in today and give you the King’s Shilling.’ Which I did and well, after about three or four months I was called up and went to St Johns Wood and did the square bashing and so forth. Then we were transferred and it was, by this time it was about November ’42. They transferred us to Ludlow in Shropshire under canvas and it was pouring with rain. It was absolutely mud and every morning they used to call you out and say, ‘Right. We want twelve of you. The first twelve here will go to this ITW.’ And I missed out on two or three and eventually I got one and I went to Number 7 ITW at Newquay. But unfortunately, I’d been at Newquay I suppose about six or seven weeks and I was struck with rheumatic fever and I had to be taken to sick quarters and of course I lost about three weeks training. And when the exam came I failed the exam because I had no, no possibility of catching up with the others and I was sent then to Blackpool, the Suspended Air Section at Blackpool awaiting discharge to go back to my job. I was there probably two or three weeks and I got called up to the office and the officer said, ‘Are you sure you want to go back to Civvy Street?’ I said, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do.’ He said, ‘There is.’ He said, ‘If you’re willing, and you don’t want to go back to Civvy Street you can re-muster today and I’ll guarantee that you’ll be a sergeant in six weeks to seven weeks.’ So I said, ‘Well, I’ll do that. There’s no point in me going back.’ I said, ‘I’ll do that.’ And which he did and I was, from there I was then sent to Pwllheli, in North Wales. Llanbedrog was the village and there was a small airfield there and surprisingly enough they started you know with a round circular thing on the ground for air firing and so forth and then you had to go up in a Blenheim. You turned because they packed three or four of you but each one had different coloured bullets, well, and some Lysander was towing, towing a drogue so you had to fire at a drogue. And surprisingly enough for me one of the pilots, they were nearly all Polish but one pilot stood out and it was a friend of mine. He’d just come back from Rhodesia, and he’d got his wings and he was flying a Lysander. So he said, ‘What number are you going?’ I said, ‘Number three.’ He said, ‘Right.’ So when number three came up the drogue came sliding nearer and nearer with the Lysander. Of course [laughs] I got more shots at it than anybody else. Fortunately, of course, I passed and after six weeks there I was passed out. I was a sergeant gunner and from there I was trained. I went to Driffield to finish off and before I went to Conversion Unit and so forth to pick up a crew and I’ve got a photograph of myself somewhere when I first went and then I went from there to, I think it was Faldingworth. I think it was. No. It wasn’t Faldingworth. It was [pause] Seighford. Gunnery Flight at Seighford and picked up a crew. And then I got struck down with rheumatic again and I went in to hospital and when I came out I hadn’t got a crew because unfortunately the pilot, we were all in one room and you made up your own crews. The crew I’d picked, we’d picked, I picked and made up had crashed on take-off and were all killed. So they said to me, ‘Do you want to go back and pick a crew up? Or we can transfer you to ITW again because we have a crew there but their conversion from Wellingtons on to Lancasters and they’ve only got one gunner. They want a rear gunner. They’ve only got a mid-upper.’ So I said, ‘Yes, I’ll do that. So that’s how I got transferred then to pick up Flight Sergeant Teece and his Australian crew and that’s how I joined 460 Squadron. Of course, I stayed on 460 after that. But on the way back from Magdeburg one of the ops we did we we were coming around on the outer circle and we called up, ‘Lancaster M on circuit.’ And they said, ‘All aircraft down five hundred feet and —’ Your turn to land. And the skipper called up and they said, ‘Prepare to land.’ And he was on the outer circle coming around for the funnel and the four engines stopped and we were probably about a thousand feet up or something. They said, ‘No way of baling out or anything. Much too low.’ And he said, ‘Hang on chaps. We’re going in.’ And I just hung on and we hit the ground and he was a very good skipper. He must have pulled the stick back just before we hit the ground tail first and the tail broke off by the rear spar and the turret turned over, banged me in the chest. Unfortunately it hit me right where the parachute harness buckle is in the middle and it knocked me straight through the turret doors and I woke up looking at the sky. So [laughs] and stars. So I was very fortunate there but unfortunately one or two of the crew were injured but Teece said, ‘I’ll do anything but I will not take the responsibility of a crew.’ He said, ‘I’ll fly anything but it’s got to be solo because,’ he said, ‘I don’t want the responsibility of their lives.’ So the crew got split up but the wireless op and myself they said, ‘You can stay on the squadron as spares.’ So, I said, ‘Well, we might as well.’ Ron said, ‘Yeah. Ok. I’ll stay on as well.’ Which he did. Buddy Mansfield. But about four ops later he was with a crew and we heard the crew calling up and the man panicked. The skipper panicked. Well of course panic. If anybody panicked that was it. It was fatal. You had to remain calm and we heard him calling him up, ‘I cannot bring my port wing up,’ and he was going around in circles and crashed. But little did I know that it was the aircraft that Ronnie was in. So of course, Ron, old Ron got killed. When I came back the wireless op officer he sent a special car out to pick me up instead of the lorry or the van. So I said to the WAAF driver, ‘What’s the problem?’ She said, ‘Oh, Dusty Miller —' the signals officer, ‘He’ll tell you when he sees you.’ So I said, ‘Oh, fair enough.’ So when I got to interrogation Dusty Miller was there and he said, ‘I cannot describe how I feel.’ I said, ‘Well, you know I’ve taken Ron to my home two or three times.’ He was the only one I really palled up with because you didn’t make pals because you were all the same and there was, you were all comrades but you were all doing the same job. But you didn’t make fast friends because you’d never know whether they were, whether they were coming back or not so you didn’t really get really involved with them. Ron was the only one I really took to. But anyway, Dusty said, ‘Well — ’ he said, ‘It was an easy op wasn’t it?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ Because it was after D-Day and it was only a field battery or something. He said, ‘I have to get my flying hours in to keep my flying pay.’ You had to give so many hours to keep your flying pay even if you were in charge of a section. So I said, ‘I know you had to keep your flight time.’ He said, ‘Well I tried to talk Ronnie into standing down and let me take his place so I could get my flying in.’ And he said Ron said, ‘No. I’m going.’ He said, if he’d have changed,’ he said, ‘I wouldn’t be here.’ It was just fate you know. But anyway, after that of course I was with all different crews. I never made really good friends. I made just normal comrades and I flew then with quite a number of crews on their first op and one of the crews, that’s one that I’ve got here. When we, oh that’s one. One of the, this was the one I think. Yes. And I used to, oh yeah, this is it. I used to say to the skippers when they went out there you know when you were with the spare gunner or a spare wireless op but you always had to go with sprog crews on their first op [laughs] Always, always on their first operation and I used to say well, to the skipper, well, if you don’t mind me saying so the Australians were very good because no matter what their rank was and even if they were squadron leaders they would listen to you and do what you said. And I used to say, ‘The first thing you do no one talks unless they’ve got to because no one shouts or anything because you start panicking because if you panic that’s it. You’ve had it.’ So, I used to say to the skipper, ‘What you do, you should, you don’t need to call up your flight engineer because he’s sitting next to you. You don’t need to call up the bomb aimer because he’s lying down beside but call up the rest of your crew in turn about every half an hour to make sure they’re all awake.’ Because some of them were fatal. When the doctors came out before you took off, while you were waiting he used to feed you with wakey wakey pills to keep you awake and they used to, a lot of them used to take one. As soon as he was out spit them out and that was fatal if you didn’t take your wakey wakey pills because you could go to sleep and I said, ‘Make sure that all your crew are awake because it’s fatal if one of them’s not.’ And it was this particular crew that I said to [laughs] said to them, so they said, ‘Oh ok.’ They did but we were on the way to Frankfurt and all of a sudden the mid-upper started firing and I swang around the turret to have a look where he was firing and I said, I called up, I said, ‘Stop firing. It’s another Lancaster.’ It was another Lanc but because, you know I suppose he was on his first op but when we got back in to briefing after they were briefed we used to go and get your rum ration drink and a coffee and newspaper people were there. [laughs] And that was the newspaper people took photographs of those. So that was Flight Sergeant Daley’s crew and I did a couple of ops with them. And a little while after that I flew with Dan Cullen and his crew and I flew with Bourke and his crew then. One of the crews on the squadron that had done about fourteen ops their rear gunner was killed so they said to me, ‘Would you? Did you want to take his place?’ So I said, ‘Yeah. I might as well take his place.’ I said, ‘Of course. No, no problem.’ And that was Pilot Officer Mullins, that was his crew and I did sixteen ops with him to finish the tour. So, he, Ron Mullins, he married a girl from Grimsby and she’s written to me from Australia a couple of times and sent me different photographs but he died about five years ago. Ron. But no they, they, they were marvellous blokes. As I say I’ve been back to Australia twice now. Two I think. The last time we went to Australia was because we had one aircraft on the squadron which was always a spare aircraft because they used to load up one aircraft that had no crew with bombs and petrol load in case we got a mag drop or something somebody we used to transfer them to the spare aircraft and G-George was always the spare. And sure enough everybody [laughs] every, somebody had a fault because G-George was always shot up and would always come back. It did ninety two ops that aircraft. There wasn’t much of it left of the original aircraft of course but everybody flew with him. But when the war finished they took it to pieces. They shipped it to Australia and it was refurbished and rebuilt and it was presented to the Canberra War Museum and that’s when I went and that’s why, how I got there. I went to Canberra when they put G-George up. So then as I say since then I’ve got into different things like that and I was very surprised at the way that the Australian people and the government of Australia and New Zealand have treated their veterans and Bomber Command and this country has tried to hide the fifty five and a half thousand young men who were all volunteers that got killed, under the carpet. And Bomber Command. And this is why now I’ve done everything I could to help them to make sure that that they’re now not pushed under the carpet because I think, I mean in Australia you’d be surprised. They do everything they can. I mean, even now every month they send me a list of all the Association meetings and their Bomber Command meetings and everything. They really look after their veterans you know and the ones that got killed well you know they put Memorials up and everything and I was surprised when they put, they put the Lincoln up. I was surprised. But even then other people have had to do it. The government hasn’t done it. It’s been done by the public. So this is why I’ve done all these things as I say when Steve said to me will I go to London to sign these photographs I said yeah. And I went to Little Gransden Airport and signed photographs and books there two or three times. And quite a number of the public surprisingly enough that buy the books you know they all come up for a signature and they’re willing to donate so much money for every signature and that raises money to help the Memorial and this is why I do it. But unfortunately, about eighteen months ago I was struck with a, well a tumour I suppose you’d call it and I had an operation which was cut from there to there and I couldn’t walk for about six or seven weeks after. But fortunately, I have this specialist in Watford. He’s absolutely marvellous. Mr Arbuckle. He’s absolutely, he lives in Stanmore actually and he does a lot of work at Bupa Hospital as well but he gives certain days to the National Health Service and he was the one that operated on me because I said to the wife on the first night I felt bad I said to her, ‘Look. You’ll have to get an ambulance or ring up for an ambulance to get me to hospital because I don’t think, you know I think there’s something wrong.’ So they did. They took me in to Watford General and Mr Arbuckle came around and he was there and he said, ‘Well,’ he said, ‘We’ve had a scan on you.’ And he said, ‘You’ve got two options. You either give me permission to operate or you die tomorrow because that’s what it is.’ He said, ‘I either operate or you die.’ I said, ‘Well, you operate. That’s it.’ You know. Which he did do but he said, ‘It is a terrible operation.’ He said, ‘Because the colon has to be split and —' he said, ‘It won’t be joined and you will have two holes to take everything from your body.’ He said, ‘If you’re willing to do that and to have two bags.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got no option,’ I said, ‘Otherwise I die.’ And he said, ‘Well, fair enough. The next morning after the operation and they came around I was in the Intensive Care for about three days and he came in and he said, ‘You’re a very lucky man.’ So I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I could join your colon. So you don’t have — ’ I’ve still got the scars where they made the holes but there’s no, I’ve got no tubes there fortunately. And he said, ‘You’re a, you’re a lucky old bastard,’ he said and he really is genuine. He’s been on the telly a couple of times actually but he’s an absolutely brilliant surgeon. And now I go every six months. He makes me have a scan and then when he gets the results of the scan he calls me up and I have to go and he says, ‘Now, fortunately the last eighteen months nothing has grown,’ he said, ‘Because I took a tumour and sixteen other pieces from your body.’ And he said, ‘But nothing has, nothing has grown.’ So fortunately, I was lucky there so he said, ‘There’s another life you’ve got.’ So I said, ‘well,’ I said, ‘I’ve survived an aircraft crash.’ That what I did. So I said, ‘I’m really extremely lucky.’ I said, ‘I admit.’ I mean ninety four years of age I mean you know if you live that long you are lucky because I mean you look at people now some friends in the village here he’s a millionaire and two years ago his wife died. She was forty five years of age. Cancer. Terrible. You know. So when you think of these things like that you realise how lucky you are.
NM: Amazing.
GN: I think to myself, ‘Well, I must do all I can because you haven’t got all that long obviously.
NM: Can I —
GN: Yeah.
NM: Can I take —
GN: This is what, this is what —
NM: Can I take —
GN: This is what the Australians sent me about the —
NM: Oh, the —
GN: And this is what they sent me.
NM: Legion of Honour commemorative medal.
GN: Yeah.
NM: This is the French is this? So you’ve got the Legion of Honour.
GN: Yeah.
NM: From France.
GN: Yeah.
NM: For your work on D-Day.
GN: Yeah. And they, they even sent this. me, this is the D-Day operation and we’ll be on there somewhere with Mullins. One of them shown. Oh, this is the one that Steve Darlow sent. Even if I would sign the, go to London to sign the photographs so I said yeah. Will do. Which we did do and one of these people in the village here surprisingly enough he’d done all they can to help Bomber Command and they had this made up for me and that’s, that’s, that’s the photograph of flying back from Frankfurt. And this is when I first went home. That was when I first passed out of Flying School. Air Gunnery School. And they, I don’t know where they got the information. They must have got it from somewhere but [pause] they had this book made up. But they had all this information from records and what I’d done, it’s all done and we were attacked by a fighter and God knows what. Yeah. Very good.
NM: So, can I take —
GN: So if you want any photographs or anything.
NM: Yeah. Can I take you back to your first crew. Well not your first crew because they were killed after your rheumatic fever.
GN: Yeah.
NM: But the crew you then joined. Was it Teece did you say was the pilot?
GN: Yeah.
NM: Tell me, I mean how many operations did you fly with that crew and can you tell me —
GN: With Teece?
NM: How many? Can you tell me any stories? I mean, you obviously had the crash after the Magdeburg raid but —
GN: Yeah. Well —
NM: What was that, what was that crew like to fly with and where did you —
GN: Very good. They were all very good. I can honestly say, I mean people used to say and it’s been mentioned a few times. LMF. Lack of moral fibre if anybody [pause] I can honestly say with all the aircrew that I’d seen and flown with I had never seen one that was really afraid. They seemed to keep it within themselves. They didn’t spread it as it were you know to make everybody panic or anything. I never found anyone that was afraid. They were all just doing their job and that’s it but what, surprisingly enough after the crash from Magdeburg I was on the squadron and I went down to the local pub one night and went into there and I was on my own and having a drink and I got talking to one of the older members of the village. He was an ex-1918 soldier and he was a farm worker but he’d retired. But when the war broke out and the farm labourers were, he went back to work to keep the country moving. And he was very old and he said to me, ‘You’re very, you’re very despondent. You’re very, ‘ he said, ‘You don’t look as if —’ I said, ‘No..’ I said, ‘I’m wondering whether I’m doing the right thing with Bomber Command.’ I said, ‘Dropping bombs, you know.’ I said and I explained to him how I felt but his words to me changed me entirely because he said to me, ‘Son, don’t feel guilty.’ He said, ‘You’re giving to the enemy what the enemy has given to us and to others.’ And I thought well that’s it. So why should I feel guilty about doing this? And that’s how I was after that. I didn’t worry at all. I just, I just got on with what you were doing and that was it. And that was with Teece. That was Berlin, Teece. Yeah. I remember Teece to Stettin. Berlin. Magdeburg was the one we crashed. And then I flew with Flight Sergeant Daley, sprog crew to Stuttgart and then one I did with them to Frankfurt and after that I did with Pilot Officer Bourke to Berlin. Then with Pilot Officer Bourke to [unclear] and I did two ops with him. Then I did [[ Cullen, Dan Cullen, still alive actually Dan is. He’s ninety nine actually. Yeah. He’s still alive Dan is. And after that it was Lancaster Q-Queenie Mullins. And I did sixteen ops with Mullins ‘til he’d finished his tour.
NM: So did you ever fire your guns in anger? See any night fighters?
GN: No, because if you studied fighter affiliation to really, the guns there were put there to, to sort of
think you might think you have something to defend yourself with but if you really studied it they didn’t defend you because they were only 303s. They tried .5s but they burst their mountings because they were too powerful so they could only put 303 Brownings in the turret and the tracer bullets used to go about two hundred yards and then pfft all over the sky. I mean they just hadn’t have the power and the fighters had got cannon shells which were much more powerful and if you studied your fighter affiliation and you kept your eyes open and caught the thing, the fighter you used to call the skipper up, and say, ‘Stand by skipper. There’s a fighter on the port quarter down.’ So you watched him and he was flying like that. Now, if he suddenly dipped his wing, started to turn that was it because he’s got fixed guns. Her can’t move his guns because they’re fixed in the wings like a Spitfire. So the only way he could keep you in his sights was in a curve of pursuit and if you, as soon as he’s turned his wings, started to come in, ‘Dive port, skipper.’ Dive into his turn. He couldn’t get you. But you had to be awake and you had to know how to call up the skipper and if you did that you didn’t need to fire your guns because you wouldn’t have hit him anyway. This one pilot, the only time you fired your guns at him is if he did come close to you, within a few hundred yards and then give him a burst. But otherwise, it was just a waste of time. So if you got that fighter and they did take you up on fighter affiliation at the Gunnery Schools with the Spitfire but you didn’t have the guns. You had a camera. And if you, if he came in to attack and if you learned your fighter affiliation properly they had a job to shoot you down. The only thing that really [bothered] wasn’t the German night fighters it was the anti-aircraft because there’s no doubt about it we came back across the Thames Corridor past London on the way back if you went to France or somewhere and the anti-aircraft were firing at the Germans and the anti-aircraft shells were bursting miles below us but the German anti-aircraft was, we could be twenty five thousand and they still burst above us. They had marvellous defences and when you come to think of it the people don’t like to say it but when you have a thousand bomber raid then you’ve got four waves. That’s two hundred and fifty aircraft in one wave and you weren’t all at the same height. You were all stepped down. Up and down. Well, all those aircraft going through the bombs coming down a lot of our aircraft were lost with our own bombs. They must have been. Impossible to think every aircraft would get through and I used to say to the skipper, ‘When you get to the target area and the bomb aimer is giving you directions, ‘Left. Left. Right.’ I said, ‘All you’ve got to do is put your nose down and lose about two thousand feet and belt like hell as fast as you can through the target area because then you’ve got less seconds for any of those bombs to touch you.’ And that’s what they used to do. They all used to all take notice of it and surprisingly enough every one of those crews finished their tour. They all finished their tour. I couldn’t believe it. Mullins, Cullen, Daley all finished their tour. Some of them were posted to Pathfinder Force and from the squadron but they all finished a tour. They all did their thirty ops. So I thought well there must have been some good I told them you know because they all survived and that was it.
NM: So did you ever have to call evasive action on an operation?
GN: Call any —
NM: Did you have to call evasive operation if you were in —
GN: Oh yeah. Yeah. Many times.
NM: So you saw, you saw fighters.
GN: Yeah. I saw fighters. Oh yeah. Yeah. It’s mentioned in the, in there. One of the, I keep forgetting which one it was now. We were attacked by a fighter and things went [pause] No. If if you as I say if you know your fighter affiliation you could if you wanted any photographs I’ve got loads of these photographs to give anybody.
NM: So you had to call it several times on your —
GN: Pardon?
NM: You had to call evasive action several times on your —
GN: Yeah.
NM: Your, your tour. Tell me a bit more about what you did on D-Day then. The operation on D-Day.
GN: Yeah. Yeah. Because the operation on D-Day that was, that was the one that they sent to on the field battery. It was a field battery and that was the most marvellous sight that you could ever see but you could never describe it to anyone because well it was just really impossible to describe. It’s a pity that you couldn’t have photographed it a bit because we, we bombed at just inside the French coast and it was we’d taken, we took off late. We didn’t take off about five or six. It was late in the evening and we bombed this field battery and we turned around and came back across the Channel. And as we came back across the Channel I looked behind and the Channel, it was breaking dawn, you could just see it was absolutely full of craft going across it. And then you’d look up. There were the gliders going in being towed across there. And the battle ships laying off on the English coast firing across the tops. An absolutely wonderful sight. It’s really impossible to describe it. I mean you would never see it again obviously but it was, it was an absolutely marvellous sight. That was at St John Wood on the twenty fifth anniversary of the RAF. That was, that was St Johns Wood. Yeah.
NM: So, Magdeburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, Stettin, Hanover. Any other particular targets?
GN: Any one —?
NM: Any other particular targets that you recall?
GN: Well, that is the only particular targets that I recall was the one at Magdeburg when we crashed obviously. Frankfurt, when we, we got back and the reporters were there. And the other one was one where we got attacked by fighters. It’s in here somewhere.
[pause]
NM: Did they get close enough so that you could recognise the aircraft?
GN: Oh yeah. Brunswick was the 14th 15th of January 1944.
NM: Were they close enough so that you could recognise the fighter?
GN: Yeah. We were attacked by a twin engine fighter.
NM: A twin engine.
GN: Yeah. Yeah.
NM: That was —
GN: Junkers 88. Twin engine one. That’s at the top here. Yeah, I think [pause] Yeah, I don’t know where they got those records from. They must have gone somewhere. They must have got them from, well surprising enough every, every one that I’ve had to ring up or go to they’ve all done all they could to help. I mean I, I, after the war I suffered with deafness and it was only somebody that said to me, ‘Well, get in touch with the Air Force and see what they can do.’ And I got in touch with the people at Blackpool and I was surprised because the woman said, ‘Oh yes.’ She said, ‘I know exactly. Exactly what you’ve done,’ she said, ‘Because we have all your records. They’re all underground here. We have a mile underground with all the records of what everybody has done and we know what you did.’ So, they said, ‘Well, we’ll send you to Mount Vernon Hospital to give you a check-up here and they did do and they said, ‘Well, you’ll, you know, you’ll be deaf within a few months.’ So I had to have hearing aids but they gave me a pension because they said, ‘Well, it was a deafness of the four Stirling engines noise that lost your hearing because none of the family have suffered with hearing and I got a war pension from it. And then, you know they all seem as if they can’t do enough for you surprisingly enough. The only thing that annoys me is the politicians and really and truthfully even the British Legion because I marched in the annual Cenotaph march two or three times but the British Legion did everything they could to push Bomber Command out. They didn’t want it. Not much had been known because you’ll upset people because you’re Bomber Command. Even the British Legion. And that’s what annoyed me about it because I mean those fifty five thousand young man, I mean they were all average eighteen to twenty two but they were all young. I mean they fought, gave their lives to stop being ruled by a military politicians but no. They, now the politicians want to push them under the carpet. This is what annoyed me with it. Whichever you must think it’s bad and this is why as I say I think it’s wonderful the way they built this Memorial. The people in the, [unclear] the pop group bloke who did a lot towards it.
NM: Robin Gibbs.
GN: Yeah. Robin. Yeah. Marvellous really because people like that they recognised what they’d done and if those fifty five thousand are not forgotten and really it might stop it ever happening again because nobody wants it to happen. I mean, it’s just a terrible thing really. But I mean when one or two old people have said to me when I’ve asked them well what you’ve got to realise is that the war started because the Germans went in and bombed Poland, Warsaw without even declaring war. And they dropped bombs on the city killing the Polish people so why shouldn’t they have it back because really and truthfully even with the Middle East now with Israel they’re the only country that if anybody goes and does anything to them they go straight back and do it to them. And they‘re the only people with any guts to do it because it might, it might stop it. I mean it’s, it’s silly really that people would be being annoyed about Bomber Command I think but there you are. That’s just what they feel I suppose. Well, that’s it.
NM: So you finished your tour.
GN: Yeah.
NM: With 460.
GN: Yeah.
NM: What happened after that? What did you do?
GN: Well, I was surprised really at what the Air Force did because surprisingly enough I got annoyed about one thing because after we finished and I went into Wymeswold or somewhere I think. Yes. It was Wymeswold I went to on rest. It came through on Orders and everything the whole of Ken Mullins’ crew were decorated. I was the only one that was left out and I thought well if they don’t want to recognise me I don’t want to do any more. So when it was my turn to come up they said, ‘What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘I don’t know want to do anything but fly.’ I said, ‘If I can’t fly. Nothing.’ So they said, ‘Oh dear. Can you drive?’ I said, ‘No. Never had a car. Never had the money for a car,’ I said. They said, ‘Well, that’s fair enough.’ The next thing they‘ve posted me to Kirkham and Wesham just outside Blackpool to a driving school for six weeks starting on Austin 7s, finished off on Thornycroft and trailers and stripping engines down and things. Marvellous time. I passed out and I passed my test with the police on the big Thornycroft lorry and the next thing I know I was posted. So I said, ‘Where am I posted to?’ And they said, ‘Brackla, Scotland.’ On the Moray Firth. I said, ‘Oh.’ Well, we got up there. Nothing to do. So I was there, must have been two or three months just hanging about and doing nothing really. Just drinking and so forth. And then they said ‘You’re posted.’ And I said, ‘Where am I posted?’ They said, ‘Biggin Hill.’ I said, ’That’s Fighter Command.’ They said, ‘Well, you’ve been posted to Biggin Hill.’ So I went to Biggin Hill. When I got there they said, ‘Oh, well —’ by this time of course I’m a flight sergeant you see so he said, ‘Oh well, we’ve got a job for you.’ I said, ‘What’s that then?’ ‘They said, ‘Driving the padre.’ And he was a real gentleman, the padre so I said, ‘Oh well, that’s alright.’ But he lived outside the camp. About two mile up the road from Biggin Hill.’ But he used to get as drunk as a Lord and I'd be sitting in the sergeant’s mess, the phone would ring and the steward would say, ‘You’re wanted on the phone.’ I used to say, ‘Right.’ Well, they’d say, ‘Officer’s mess here. Bring the car for the Padre.’ I used to go up. They used to bring him out paralytic, put him in the car. I used to take him home, get him out the car and take him up to the door, ring the bell and then run like hell because his wife would come out creating [laughs] because he was drunk. But he was, he was, when he was sober he was marvellous because we used to go around visiting airmen who were home on leave and taken ill and so forth and he used to have to go and visit. Or anybody got killed or anything he used to have to go to the funerals and so forth. And then they called me up to the Orderly Room and they said, ‘You’re posted.’ I said, Where am I posted to?’ They said, ‘Number 5 Staging Post.’ I said, ‘Where’s 5 Staging Post?’ They said, ‘Norway.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to go Norway. What the hell do I want to go to Norway for?’ They said, ‘Well, you’re posted there.’ So when I was, when I told the Padre I said, ‘They posted me.’ He said, ‘Well, where? Where to?’ So I said, ‘Norway.’ He said, ‘Do you want to go?’ ‘I said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to go. I might as well stay here.’ So he said, ‘Leave it with me. I'll see what I can do.’ He said, ‘Well, where do you live?’ I said, ‘Watford.’ So he said, ‘Oh, well. I’ll see what I can do.’ So, a week later they said it’s cancelled. ‘You're not. You’re not posted.’ A few weeks after that they said, ‘You’re posted.’ I said, ‘Oh, not again. Where am I posted to?’ Where do you think they posted me to? Number One Group Headquarters, Transport Command. Where was it? Bushey Hall Hotel, Watford. By this time I'm a WO and he said, ‘There's no officer there because they had to have an officer or a Warrant Officer in the section, Transport Section to draw the money for drivers that were out on driving when the Pay Parade was on so they got their money when they came back. So, they said they must have [pause] So he said, ‘You can be a Warrant Officer and sit in the office and just run it.’ Keep track of petrol because the transport on the station like the fire engine and the ambulance had to be run up every day to make sure it started in case anything happened. So of course, it used fuel and you used to have to balance the fuel to make sure the tanks were okay. And that's why they sent me to Bushey Hall. And I was there for about eight months I suppose and Group Captain Butler and one or two of them surprisingly enough, well I suppose it was, it was his life but used to ring up and he used to say, ‘Group Captain Butler here.’ ‘Yes Sir.’ ‘I need a car tomorrow because I'm doing a run around the circuit on all the stations. I'll be away for three or four days and I want a car to take me around to all the stations. I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ He said, ‘Who’s the driver?’ I said, ‘Well, LAC —’so and so. ‘Is it possible to have LACW — ’so and so? His fancy woman. A WAAF driver and I used to say, ‘No. That's quite alright, sir. I think we can manage that.’ And then he [laughs] they used to ring up and say, ‘Butler here. Do you want a new uniform?’ And then when I was notified to go to Uxbridge to get demobbed Butler said, ‘Stay in. Don't get demobbed. Stay in.’ But I was, I was married by then and and I said, ‘No. I’m alright.’ But that’s where they sent me and I finished up right on my doorstep. I couldn’t have been any closer. And I thought to myself well I’ve moaned and groaned but I said, I thought well I’m lucky really because the way I’ve been treated. You know, I mean I couldn’t fault it really. It was, you know absolute, well, it was so easy there up at Bushey Hall and of course the Yanks had just moved out of Bushey Hall and the Air Force had taken it over again and it was with the golf course and everything there, you know. Bushey Hall. And, well of course you live right near it don’t you? But that was another thing was that when my father died my mother had to do local work and one of the big houses halfway up Mount Pleasant Lane was Mr, Mr Bristow and my mother was doing housework for them. And Mr Bristow offered my mother to take her two boys, that’s my elder brother, my real brother, the others were step brothers and myself to send us to the Royal Masonic Orphanage, Bushey. We could have gone there. My mother wouldn’t let us go. But we could have been educated absolutely spot on there but that was one of those things, you know. She said no. She wouldn’t part with us so we didn’t go. But well as I say I think I’ve been very lucky that someone up there, at leas Old Nick has to take me. So, you know.
NM: So you were demobbed. So, what, what did you do then?
GN: And then I got demobbed and well with the money that I had with the gratuity coming out the Service and so forth I was married and we moved to Bexley Heath in Kent and I spent all my money buying a house, furniture and so forth and I went to work with my wife’s father in his engineering factory. And he had an engineering factory just outside Woolwich and I was working with him and we were doing work for the British American Optical Cigarette Companies, John Players and [Donegan] and Wills of Bedminster, Bristol. And I used to have to go down to these places and unfortunately for me I didn’t realise it at the time but a friend of theirs, a family, their son was carrying on with my wife. And it was only through luck one morning I got up to go to work and I thought, and I smoked so I stopped about twenty years ago but I used to smoke a lot then and I thought where’s the cigarette lighter? And her handbag was up there. I thought, oh well, the wife’s got a lighter, and I found a letter and there was no, you couldn’t say that there was nothing going on because it was absolutely written there. I thought well I must, must go because I might lose, do something that I shouldn’t and I went down, I went to work and her father came in and I said, ‘Look.’ He said, ‘Oh. Leave it with me.’ And he said, ‘I’ll come back.’ And he went and she just ran out of the house and that’s it. I never saw her again. And he said, we found that she had arranged for a furniture van to come the next day to take, even take the ruddy furniture out of the house and leave me with nothing. And they, they just, and I said, ‘That’s it. I’m packing up and I was out of work. I had no home. I got in debt with the Building Society. So I had to [unclear] and as it stood with the furniture and everything and of course I lost everything and I’d no money and I managed to get lodgings and fortunately the chap who I lodged with he was the manager of a shop and he said, ‘I’ll see if I could get you a job with me.’ He said, and we did. I got a job with him and it was Crown Wallpaper shops and he said, ‘Right. We’ll train.’ And I was with them for about six months and they said, ‘Right. Now we are opening a new shop at Dorking and you’ll be the manager.’ And I opened the shop at Dorking and after about nine months or so they moved me to a bigger shop at Epsom and then by this time I’d already got divorced because while I was at Dorking a local solicitor got in touch with me and said, ‘Mr Roberts from Bexley Heath, his solicitor has been in touch with us and wants you to divorce your wife.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ll think about it but what I should have done is said to him, ‘Yes, if I get back all the money I wasted on her. I want the ring and everything.’ But I didn’t. I said, he said, ‘You know if she comes knocking on your door,’ he said, ‘You’re bound by law to take her in.’ I said, ‘I don’t care if she does because,’ I said, ‘There’s no way that I’m taking her back and the point is my firm will move me and you’ll have to try and trace me,’ I said. So he said, ‘Well, I’ll explain it to them.’ And he came back to me and he said. ‘Well, they’re willing to pay all costs.’ So I said. ‘Well, if they’re willing to pay for everything. The divorce.’ He said, ‘Yes.’ Right. So he said, ‘Well I’ll get in touch with them and say you’ll do it.’ And he did do. He got in touch with me and said we’ll come up in the law courts. In those days it was a KC was Kings Council because the King was still alive then and we went in to, in to the court and the KC said to me, ‘When I put you in the witness box,’ he said, ‘Don’t look at me. Look up. You’ll see a round hole above where the judge is sitting.’ He said, ‘Look straight at that and all you say is yes, my lord. No, my lord. Don’t go into any conversation. Just say yes or no.’ He said, ‘I’ll ask you in a way that there’s only one question. One answer.’ So, I said, ‘Right.’ Went in. Bang. Bang. Bang. It was all over in about ten minutes. We just came out, he said, ‘Quick, wasn’t it?’ So, I said, ‘Yeah.’ But it cost him four hundred and fifty quid in those days. They paid it but I was still, I didn’t get anything back but I got divorced and then I eventually met the wife who is now and she lived at Chipperfield because I came to Watford from Epsom one day to see my brother. He lived in Watford and we went out and we met her, you see. And we palled up and gradually I thought well this is a long way apart you know. So I said to the area manager of the shop, I said, you know, ‘Any chance of getting a move somewhere?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘I think we could arrange it.’ So they moved me to Ruislip and I got this job in Ruislip so I was a manager of the shop in Ruislip then for a few years and we got married and it was only after I suppose a year or so at Ruislip after we got married and I saw in the paper, “Reps wanted.” So I applied and I got a job at the Eveready Company, the battery people, as a representative and I was with them for quite a few years as a rep and then my brother said to me, he said, ‘I’ve bought a cab. A taxi.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you come in?’ So I thought well I’ll have a look at it to see. So I decided to sit the, sit the test so I did do but unfortunately for me somebody got in touch with Eveready and said that I was doing part time taxi work and they said, ‘You’ll give up the taxi or we’ll sack you.’ So I said, ‘Well, fair enough.’ I said, ‘You can do what you like.’ I said, ‘I’m not going to give it up.’ And then I was with, I was a taxi driver then for my own taxi for twenty five years until I retired. That’s right. There you are. But, no, I had a marvellous time even taxi driving really because I picked up so many people, you know. Hughie Green, I couldn’t stand him on the television. “Opportunity Knocks.” But I used to drive him about quite a lot when he lived at Baker Street and he was a marvellous bloke. And he used to fly his plane in to Leavesden Airport, and I used to pick him up there at Leavesden Airport and take him up to Baker Street. But the first thing he used to say, ‘You know the first drop?’ I said, ‘Yeah, [Cornice] Drive.’ ‘No. The pub.’ [laughs] He wanted a drink. So then Sir John Mills from, he lived at Denham. I picked him up quite a few times. Diana Dors. I mean there was so many different people and so many actors and that that you picked up. It was surprising. I had a marvellous time really. I couldn’t complain about that but the wife didn’t like it because she didn’t like the job and the hours, you know. It was the thing but there you are it was one of those things I suppose. So —
NM: So the RAF taught you to drive and —
GN: Pardon?
NM: The RAF taught you to drive.
GN: Oh yeah. Yeah.
NM: And you became a taxi driver.
GN: Of course. That was another thing.
NM: That was the rest of your life.
GN: And oh, that, that [laughs] you just, you’ve now surprised me when you were just you’re now surprised me with something I’d completely forgotten because when I first come out the first time I’d spent all that and I couldn’t afford a car so I let the licence lapse and of course when I come to meet the wife that is now and I thought about a car I found my driving licence but I’d have to pass the test again. So I bought an old Singer car and I applied to pass the test and they said Slough. Safety town in those days when they first brought out the safety crossings and so forth. So I said, ‘Yeah. Right.’ They said, ‘Well, we’ll have to send you down.’ And I said, they sent me down. I put the, put the application in and I got a letter back saying yes, you know, a week’s time. Come so and so, something else. So I reported there. The instructor came out. He said, ‘Right. Lets go.’ And we started off and he said, ‘Now when we’re going along along I will suddenly put my hand on the windscreen.’ He said, ‘I want you to do an emergency stop.’ So I said, ‘Yes. Right. Fair enough.’ Boom. Bang. The ruddy seat broke and he went back [laughs] in the back of the car and he said, ‘God, where did you learn to drive?’ I said, ‘Kirkham on Wesham.’ I said, ‘At Blackpool. British School of Motoring.’ He said, ‘Well, I can’t fail you.’ He said, ‘Because I was one of the instructors.’ [laughs] And he passed me. That’s it. So I got a driving licence again. There you are. But I forgot all about that. Well, it was so funny at the time because it was a little old car, you know. It wasn’t worth much but still and as I say he finished up in the back of the car. But no, I suppose when looking back on life I have been extremely lucky because things have happened that you know you wouldn’t think you would get over but I’ve never really survived, thought that I would go. I mean even during the war I was surprised. Surprisingly enough the night we went to Magdeburg we were standing outside the aircraft waiting to take off and the doctor came around, I took, took the pills and so forth and there was an atmosphere and I thought something is going to happen. But I wasn’t afraid because although I knew that something was going to go wrong that I would survive. That I would still be there so what it was I don’t know but it was and after that every time anything has happened I’ve always known that I was going to survive it. I don’t know why but it’s just one of those things, you know. You feel, like when I went in for the operation it didn’t frighten me because I knew I was going to survive. But the wife and my daughters came in the hospital and they said that I was still unconscious and the tubes are out here and up your nose, down your throat and everywhere and of course they thought well that’s it. He’s going to go. You know. They didn’t think I would survive. I said, but surprisingly I knew that I would survive. I don’t know why but there you are. It’s one of those things. I suppose you know you think yourself extremely lucky if you’ve got those premonitions that you will survive whatever happens. I’ve even, I’ve even did that with a car. With a, with a car because I was doing a lot of driving and I was, I did a silly thing. I drove all day Friday, Friday night I drove somebody down to Cornwall. Saturday morning I drove back to Margate to pick somebody up to bring back to Watford and it was in the wintertime and there was a bit of snow on the ground and I came, I dropped them in Watford and I came up Watford High Street and I got to where the Town Hall roundabout is and there was, there is another roundabout where the Technical College is. And when it happened I don’t even remember driving around those roundabouts but I must have fallen asleep at the wheel because I woke up in a crash. I went straight into a lamppost. The whole front of the car collapsed, the steering wheel collapsed and the door came off and I managed to drive the car because it was automatic. I didn’t have to change gear. I still drove the car off the main road around to the little road that runs off the roundabout by the Technical College. Parked up. Absolute write off but I hadn’t got a scratch. Afterwards I thought amazing. When they looked at the car they said, ‘How did you survive it?’ Because the steering wheel was all collapsed and gone. Everything. And the whole front of the car had gone. So there again. I survived it. I don’t know. My wife, my daughter said to me once, ‘You’re very lucky. You’ve got nine lives like a cat I suppose.’ But there you are. One of those things. But anyway, is there anything more we can help you with?
NM: Just looking back at your time in Bomber Command I mean you’ve touched on it a few times already but what are your main reflections as you look back?
GN: My main what?
NM: What are your main thoughts and reflections as you look back on your time in Bomber Command?
GN: Well, I I think it was a terrible thing to have to do but I think it was something that had to be done because I think personally that Bomber Command dropping the bombs shortened the war because I think it would have gone on longer. So I don’t think to myself that I don’t feel guilty about dropping bombs because I think it did do something to help stop the war because I know, I know that when I first got demobbed that they went, I went back to the firm when I got demobbed out the Service. I was in Watford. Although I was married we’d got digs in Watford and everything and I went back, they said, ‘Oh, you’ll get your job back that you volunteered from.’ So I went in and I reported there and I was just clocking in and a chap came up. He said, ‘Who are you.’ I said, ‘Sorry, sir. I’m just starting work.’ Where’s your card?’ I said, ‘What card?’ He said, ‘Your Union card.’ I said, ‘I haven’t got a Union card.’ ‘You can’t start here.’ I said, ‘Well, fair enough. I can’t start then.’ So I waited until the managers come in and when the managers come in they went in to the office to see this shop steward or whatever he was then, he came in. ‘He can’t start here. He’s got to have a Union card.’ I said, ‘I’ve just fought a dictator.’ I said, ‘You’re dictating.’ I said, ‘If you’d have come to me and said, ‘Look, it’s now a fully-fledged Union shop. Will you join the Union?’ I said, ‘I would have said yes but,’ I said, ‘The way you’ve told me I’ve got to join the Union. Do this. Do that,’ I said, ‘There’s no way I’m going to do it.’ And they couldn’t sack me. They had to keep me for six months. But six months to the day the manager called me in to the office. He said, ‘Look, take a week off and find yourself another job.’ He said, ‘Because,’ he said, ‘We’ll have to let you go next week.’ I said, ‘Fair enough.’ They gave me a week’s holiday and I found another job. But that’s what turned me against Unions because it was the attitude. They were, I said, ‘We’ve just fought a war against a dictator.’ I said, ‘You don’t dictate to people. You ask them.’ But there you are. That’s the way it is I suppose. That’s one of the things that put me off of Unions and going in to a factory again. But there you are. Never mind.
[recording paused]
And it lasted a long while but that’s the only thing as I say I hope it’s done some good to stop any more wars if we can because no war, every, any war is a terrible thing. I don’t know why people have to fight. We know most wars are caused by either politics or religion and why they have to fight and kill people because they don’t believe what you believe in. You haven’t got to turn around and kill them. But they do. Why? That is one thing I can never understand. Why they can do that because it doesn’t matter what they believe in really. Everybody is the same. You are free to do and believe what you want. But there you are. They don’t. I suppose they think it’s the right thing to do. I don’t know. Anyway, do you want a cup of coffee or anything?
NM: No. I’m fine. Thank you very much.
GN: Are you sure?
NM: Yeah. I really appreciate it. Yeah. No, I’m fine. Thank you.
[recording paused]
GN: He was a prisoner of war, Reg was. For the rest of the war. And it was Reg who said, that’s Reg White. That’s another one of 460s ones. And these and Reg said to me, ‘Would you be willing to go to Dunstable once a month? To the ATC at Dunstable?’ I said, ‘Yeah. Why? What for? What for Reg?’ He said, ‘Well,’ he said, ‘The officer in charge of 460, of ATC at Dunstable has got in touch with 460 Squadron in Australia and they have given him my name and he’s asked me would we go to visit them. So I said, ‘What for?’ He said, ‘Well the thing is,’ he said, ‘They are 460 Squadron ATC.’
NM: Oh right.
GN: But they want to change it because they don’t like the number and he said, but the Air Force got in touch with him and said you don’t change. You don’t want to change it because 460 Squadron was the top squadron of number 1 Group, Bomber Command. And Peg Leg Ray was the, Air Commodore Ray was the, was the CO then and they said, ‘Would you be willing to go and visit the ATC? So we did do and we got invited to their do’s and meet the Mayor of Dunstable and so forth and we were given the Freedom of Dunstable and everything. And we, and then it, unfortunately he’s now left. He’s been promoted. He’s gone to another ATC and the one that’s there now is not interested in doing a veteran’s do, so we had to leave it. And this one is [pause] and this was the order of a wreath laying and so forth. We went to that one. That’s the Australian War Museum in London. We went to that one.
NM: So what was it like serving on a mainly Australian squadron as opposed to being an Englishman on an English squadron?
GN: Oh they were marvellous blokes. I couldn’t fault it. People say about them but alright they were a bit rough and tumble but once you got to know them they were absolutely marvellous blokes. Yeah. There’s the original paper.
NM: Did you get any ribbing for being an Englishman?
GN: Any what?
NM: Did you get any ribbing for being a Pommie?
GN: Oh yeah, they called, oh yes. They did everything they could, you know. Only in fun. They did it all in fun. They were marvellous blokes because on the ground you were all the same. But when you were flying you did what they say. The officer takes over but when you were on the ground you could never be broke because if they ever said, one bloke said to you, ‘Go on. Let’s go down the pub.’ Say, ‘Oh no. I’m a bit skint.’ ‘Come on. I’ve got two pound. Come on. Off we go.’ But you were the same as them. You had to be the same as them and you got on well with them and as I say I’ve, to me they were absolutely marvellous. I think it was probably better than going on a British squadron because I think they were all marvellous blokes and of course with all the, even the, a lot of the ground crew were Aussies as well, you see. Not only were the aircrew Aussies but I mean in charge of our aircraft, Teece’s aircraft was Flight Sergeant Tickle. He was an Australian. An absolutely marvellous bloke. Australia. Hoping that 460 Squadron Association —
NM: So this was, this was your —
GN: Veterans will try and trace anybody, relatives of Ron.
NM: So this was your pal, Ron on 460. This is, I just, I have to catch up on the recording here. You, at the Spire you found his name.
GN: Yeah. Ronny Mansfield. Yeah.
NM: And you took a photograph.
GN: Well, hoping that they can find somebody and I could send them a photograph and, a couple of photographs that I’ve got and so forth I could send out to them but I don’t suppose I’ll go to Australia again. I’m a bit too old now because the trouble is with going abroad now at my age is the insurance. They charge you a fortune.
[recording paused]
GN: I always had a job to get into the turret because you’d got the rear bulkhead doors and you had a gangplank down in to the turret but when I’d got my electrically heated suit on and everything and I got in to the turret I couldn’t get my hand, or arm around to open the rear turret doors once I’d centralised the turret to get out if anything happened. So Ronnie’s job was to come down if anything happened, open the bulkhead doors, come down, open the turret doors to let me out. So that’s how I got so friendly with him because that that was agree that if anything did happen to us he would help me out because our parachute was in the fuselage you see. It wasn’t in the turret with me was it? So I’ve got to get out to get the parachute to jump out you see. But I don’t know whether you know the story of Alkemade do you? Sergeant Alkemade [pause] Well Sergeant Alkemade was given a certificate by the Germans because Alkemade was in a damaged aircraft and it was crashing and Alkemade couldn’t get out to get his parachute. So he turned the turret on the beam because the aircraft was on fire and he opened the doors and fell out backwards as they were at eighteen thousand feet. And he lived because it was near the Black Forest and it was in the middle of winter and the thing that saved him was the pine trees that go like that. He hit the pine trees and they broke his fall but he fell in to a twelve foot snow drift and when the Germans found him he had a broken leg and broken arm and one or two things. They wouldn’t believe him that he had jumped without a parachute but they had to because he’d still got his parachute harness on with the buckle and the clips. So when you put your parachute on the front and pulled the rip cord they come out and swing you over but his was still intact. It had no burst, it proved that he had jumped without a parachute and lived. That was Sergeant Alkemade. Whether he’s still alive or not I don’t know but it’s in one of the gunnery books I’ve got. It’s called, “The Tail Gunner.” The book. And Alkemade was one of them.
NM: So as a rear gunner do you —
GN: I was a rear gunner. Yeah.
NM: Did you feel a long way from the rest of the crew? Did you feel very isolated?
GN: Well you did feel a little bit a long way but as I say you felt satisfied that they all would all do what they could to get you out and as I say Ron was, his first job was to come down and open the bulkhead doors and go down and open the turret doors for me because there’s no way I would have got out I don’t think if I had to have got out quick. But fortunately it never happened that I had to get out quick and the only time as I say that I did get out the turret was when I was knocked through by the guns. They put me in hospital for about a fortnight because, oh they rushed me in to hospital because I’d bit my tongue. Holding on in some way I’d bitten my tongue. I had blood coming out my mouth and they thought it had hit the ribs and broken, it broke three of them off the ends and turned the end to the lung and pierced the lung. And they sent a telegram to my mother saying I was dying. To go and visit me in hospital in Louth. Yeah. The old County Infirmary. They sent her a, you know, that I wouldn’t live because they thought my lung was punctured but it wasn’t. Fortunately, it missed. It didn’t quite touch the lung. They’d knotted up. The only thing is now that if I walk very far I get a terrible pain there and they thought worse. Heart trouble. But the doctors say no. It’s not heart trouble. It’s the muscle of the lung because the rib is too near the lung.
NM: That’s from following that crash.
GN: Yeah.
NM: After the Magdeburg crash.
GN: Yeah.
NM: Wow.
GN: Yeah. I was fortunate there that that didn’t puncture the lung but there you are. It’s just, I suppose it’s fate really. As I say I’m not a religious person. I don’t believe in religion but I believe in fate. I think it’s just fate. What’s going to happen is going to happen. That’s it and there’s no way you can stop it, you know. So one of these things. But anybody that’s religious well good luck to them if they want to believe it, you know but the damned fools all fight over it. It’s just, it’s to me it’s utterly useless and a waste of a life because there’s no reason for it. But there you are. I suppose it’s one of those things. Religious fanatics and there you are.
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 Gerard Norwood
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Nigel Moore
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-02-01
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
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ANorwoodG160201
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:39:03 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
Gerard’s father died when he was very young and was so raised by his mother and his stepfather, who he and his brother disliked. He was working at an engineering factory when the war broke out and continued until 1942, at which point most of his friends had gone to war, so he decided to volunteer for the air force after failing to join the army and navy. He joined the air defence cadet ward, and then volunteered for aircrew. Six weeks later he got a letter calling him to Oxford University for an examination and a medical – Gerard passed everything except mathematics. After 3-4 months he was called up. As a sergeant he went to Sifford to pick up a crew and so was transferred to another operational training unit as a rear gunner. While there he caught rheumatic fever and was in hospital when his crew were killed as their plane crashed on take-off on a training flight.
He flew with Flight Sergeant Dalish to Stuttgart, and then Frankfurt and Berlin. He describes how he had to call evasive action several times during his tours. He flew on D-Day to bomb just inside the French coast.
On a flight all four engines stopped and although they did manage to land the skipper refused to fly as a skipper again saying he would not take on the responsibility of the lives of a crew and would only fly solo. Gerard says they did not often make friends outside of their crew because too often they did not come home.
After finishing his tour with 460 Squadron he was posted into Blackpool to a driving school, passing his test and then being posted to Scotland and then to RAF Biggin Hill. Gerard later got married and moved to Kent and went to work with his father-in-law at an engineering factory
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Staffordshire
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Berlin
France
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
William Evans
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending revision of OH transcription
460 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
crash
Ju 88
Lancaster
military service conditions
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Binbrook
RAF Seighford
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2531/45191/LKerevanJ1450867v1.2.pdf
b4664ef90efdd969b3483600818ab3d5
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
Kerevan, James
J Kerevan
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. The collection concerns James Kerevan (b. 1909, 1450867 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and a photograph. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 90 Squadron.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Austin Kerevan and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-09-21
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
Kerevan, J
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
James Kerevan’s navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
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
Mike Connock
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LKerevanJ1450867v1
Description
An account of the resource
Navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book for J Kerevan, wireless operator, covering the period from 16 April 1943 to 12 October 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at 2 Radio School RAF Yatesbury, 5 Air Gunners School RAF Stormy Down, 2 (Observers) Advanced Flying School RAF Millom, 26 Operational Training Unit RAF Little Horwood, 26 Operational Training Unit RAF Wing, 1665 Conversion Unit RAF Woolfox Lodge and 90 Squadron RAF Wratting Common. Aircraft flown in were Dominie, Proctor, Anson, Wellington, Stirling, Oxford, and Warwick. He flew a total of 26 night operations with 90 squadron plus one air sea rescue and 3 early returns. Targets were Frisians, Gironde, Ailly-le-Haut, Abbeville, Cherbourg, Heligoland, Kiel, Kattegat, Amiens, Laon and Courtrai, other were described as mine laying or special operations. His pilot on operations was Warrant Officer Poynton.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea)
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Belgium--Kortrijk
England--Buckinghamshire
England--Cumbria
England--Rutland
England--Suffolk
England--Wiltshire
France--Abbeville
France--Abbeville Region
France--Amiens
France--Cherbourg
France--Gironde
France--Laon
Germany--Helgoland
Germany--Kiel
Netherlands--West Frisian Islands
Wales--Bridgend
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12-20
1943-12-20
1944-01-03
1944-01-04
1944-01-05
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-25
1944-01-26
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-01-30
1944-01-31
1944-02-11
1944-02-12
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-21
1944-02-22
1944-02-23
1944-02-25
1944-03-04
1944-03-05
1944-03-16
1944-03-17
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-20
1944-03-23
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-03-26
1944-03-31
1944-04-01
1944-04-05
1944-04-06
1944-04-09
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-12
1944-04-13
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-09
1945
1665 HCU
26 OTU
90 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
bombing
Dominie
Heavy Conversion Unit
mine laying
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Proctor
RAF Little Horwood
RAF Millom
RAF Stormy Down
RAF Wing
RAF Woolfox Lodge
RAF Wratting Common
RAF Yatesbury
Stirling
training
Wellington
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/781/9438/LWrigleyJ1029740v1.2.pdf
44ee862707f671b4ce71a0b2c0ccf4c6
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
Wrigley, James
J Wrigley
Description
An account of the resource
27 items. The collection concerns James Wrigley (1920 - 2010, 1029740 Royal Air Force) and contains an interview with his widow, Alice Wrigley, photographs, his log book, decorations, and a photograph album of his service in the UK and and Far East. The collection also contains a log book made out to Rascal, his mascot or lucky charm. James Wrigley completed 47 operations as a wireless operator with 97 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Susan Higgins and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Wrigley, J
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
James Wrigley's flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
Flying log book for Warrant Officer James Wrigley, wireless operator, covering the period from 17 November 1942 to 30 June 1954. Detailing training, operations and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF Yatesbury, RAF Pembrey, RAF Whitchurch Heath (Tilstock), RAF Lindholme, RAF Bourn, RAF Downham Market, RAF Kinloss, RAF Forres, RAF St. Athan, RAF Abingdon, RAF Hemswell, RAF Binbrook, RAF Marham, RAF Scampton, RAF Negombo, RAF Tengah and RAF Shallufa. Aircraft flown in were, Dominie, Proctor, Blenheim, Anson, Whitley, Halifax, Lancaster, Wellington, Lincoln and B-29. He flew a total of 47 night operations, one with 81 OTU, 39 with 97 Squadron and 7 with 635 Squadron. Targets were, Rouen, Hamburg, Milan, Mannheim, Nuremberg, Peenemunde, Munchen-Gladbach, Berlin, Hannover, Leipzig, Munich, Kassel, Cologne, Ludwigshaven, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Brunswick, Ottignies, Le Havre, Lens and Coubronne. His pilots on operations were <span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276}">Pilot Officer Munro DFM and Squadron Leader Riches DFC. </span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LWrigleyJ1029740v1
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
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Egypt
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Belgium--Ottignies
Egypt--Suez Canal
England--Berkshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Shropshire
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
France--Le Havre
France--Lens
France--Rouen
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Mönchengladbach
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Stuttgart
Italy--Milan
Scotland--Grampian
Sri Lanka--Western Province
Wales--Carmarthenshire
Wales--Glamorgan
North Africa
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1943-05-23
1943-05-24
1943-08-02
1943-08-03
1943-08-08
1943-08-09
1943-08-10
1943-08-11
1943-08-12
1943-08-13
1943-08-17
1943-08-18
1943-08-27
1943-08-28
1943-08-31
1943-09-03
1943-09-04
1943-09-22
1943-09-23
1943-09-24
1943-09-27
1943-09-28
1943-10-02
1943-10-03
1943-10-18
1943-10-20
1943-10-21
1943-10-22
1943-11-03
1943-11-17
1943-11-18
1943-11-19
1943-11-22
1943-11-23
1943-11-25
1943-11-26
1943-11-27
1943-12-02
1943-12-03
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-20
1943-12-29
1944-01-14
1944-01-30
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-02-26
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
1944-03-30
1944-03-31
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
10 OTU
1656 HCU
19 OTU
199 Squadron
35 Squadron
617 Squadron
635 Squadron
81 OTU
83 Squadron
97 Squadron
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
B-29
Blenheim
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
Bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
Dominie
final resting place
Halifax
Halifax Mk 1
Halifax Mk 2
Heavy Conversion Unit
killed in action
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
Lincoln
missing in action
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
Proctor
RAF Abingdon
RAF Binbrook
RAF Bourn
RAF Downham Market
RAF Hemswell
RAF Kinloss
RAF Lindholme
RAF Marham
RAF Pembrey
RAF Scampton
RAF Shallufa
RAF St Athan
RAF Tilstock
RAF Yatesbury
training
Wellington
Whitley
wireless operator