2
25
58
-
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/1407/26685/LSimpsonHEW1806333v1.2.pdf
8d012194829ccc353bb3bea535993078
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
Simpson, Henry
Henry Evan Wade Simpson
H E W Simpson
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
2019-03-13
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
Simpson, HEW
Description
An account of the resource
42 items. Collection concerns Henry Evan Wade 'Harry' Simpson DFM (1806333 Royal Air Force) a flight engineer on Lancaster of 166 Squadron whose aircraft failed to return on 7/8 June 1944. Collection contains his flying logbook, correspondence, documents and photographs. <br /><br />Additional information on Harry Simpson is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/121329/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Jean Simpson 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
Henry Simpson’s RAF navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LSimpsonHEW1806333v1
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
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
Sergeant Henry Simpson’s RAF Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, from 31st August 1943 to 7th June 1944, detailing his training and operations as a flight engineer. He was stationed at RAF Blyton (1662 Conversion Unit) and RAF Kirmington (166 Squadron). Aircraft in which flown: Halifax II, V, Lancaster I and Lancaster III. After two early returns from Berlin which were not counted towards his tour he flew a total of 27 night operations and the final operation is recorded as “OPS - MISSING”. Targets in France and Germany were: Aubigne, Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Lyons, Magdeburg, Mailly, Mardyck, Nuremberg, Orleans and Stuttgart. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Powdrill and Flight Sergeant Ridley. Also includes a typed list of targets entitled “Dear Son’s Operational Trips”.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1943-11-22
1943-11-23
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-01-30
1944-01-31
1944-02-19
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
1944-03-26
1944-03-27
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
1944-04-28
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-06
1944-05-07
1944-05-09
1944-05-10
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-06-09
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
France--Deux-Sèvres
France--Dunkerque
France--Lyon
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Orléans
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Friedrichshafen
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
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
David Leitch
166 Squadron
1662 HCU
aircrew
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
flight engineer
Halifax
Halifax Mk 2
Halifax Mk 5
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
missing in action
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Blyton
RAF Kirmington
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/490/27459/LChineryDR1465877v1.1.pdf
9da2a560e832821bb136ce059c92f214
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
Chinery, Donald
Donald Robert Chinery
D R Chinery
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Chinery, DR
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. An oral history interview with Donald Chinery (1921 - 2017, 1465877 Royal Air Force) his log book, and the log book of J Millar. Donald Chinery flew operations as an air gunner with 61 Squadron.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Pam Winter 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
Donald Chinery’s flying log book for observers and air gunners
Description
An account of the resource
Flying log book for observers and air gunners for D R Chinery, air gunner, covering the period from 16 August 1943 to 19 October 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF Barrow, RAF Llandwrog, RAF Newmarket, RAF Waterbeach, RAF Witchford, RAF Coningsby, RAF Skellingthorpe, RAF Barford St John, AF Turweston, RAF Silverstone and RAF Finningley. He initially joined 196 Squadron but flew a total of 34 night operations with 61 Squadron. Targets were, Chateauroux, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Berlin, Essen, Nuremburg, Tours, Aachen, Paris, Brunswick, Munich, Schweinfurt, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Mailly le Camp, Eindhoven, Nantes, Saumer, Ferme Dur Ville, Pierre Du Mont, Argentan, Rennes, Orleans, Poitiers, Aunay, Watten, Gelsenkirchen, Limoges, Rouville and Vitry. His pilot on operations was Pilot Officer Auckland. This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Oxfordshire
England--Suffolk
France--Argentan
France--Châteauroux
France--Limoges
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Nantes
France--Orléans
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Poitiers
France--Paris
France--Rennes
France--Saint-Pierre-du-Mont (Landes)
France--Saumur
France--Toulouse
France--Tours
France--Vire (Calvados)
France--Vitry-sur-Seine
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Essen
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Netherlands--Eindhoven
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Bolbec
France--Watten
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
1944-02-24
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-10
1944-03-11
1944-03-16
1944-03-17
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-03-26
1944-03-27
1944-03-30
1944-03-31
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-12
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-24
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-03
1944-06-04
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-10
1944-06-11
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-19
1944-06-21
1944-06-22
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-06-27
1944-06-28
1945-06-22
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
LChineryDR1465877v1
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
16 OTU
1651 HCU
17 OTU
196 Squadron
61 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
bombing of the Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Le Bourget railways (18/19 April 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944)
bombing of the Watten V-2 site (19 June 1944)
Cook’s tour
Heavy Conversion Unit
Me 109
mid-air collision
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
RAF Barford St John
RAF Barrow in Furness
RAF Coningsby
RAF Finningley
RAF Llandwrog
RAF Newmarket
RAF Silverstone
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Turweston
RAF Waterbeach
RAF Witchford
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/490/27465/LMillarJ1893458v10001.2.pdf
e352f9e02b4c620fe44613b7e6486819
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
Chinery, Donald
Donald Robert Chinery
D R Chinery
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Chinery, DR
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. An oral history interview with Donald Chinery (1921 - 2017, 1465877 Royal Air Force) his log book, and the log book of J Millar. Donald Chinery flew operations as an air gunner with 61 Squadron.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Pam Winter 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
J Millar’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 J Millar, air gunner, covering the period from 29 July 1943 to 27 June 1944. Detailing his flying training and operations flown. He was stationed at RAF Pembrey, RAF Newmarket, RAF Stradishall, RAF Leicester East, RAF Coningsby and RAF Skellingthorpe. Aircraft flown in were Blenheim, Wellington, Stirling and Lancaster. Having initially joined 620 Squadron he flew a total of 35 night operations with 61 Squadron. Targets were Chateauroux, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Berlin, Essen, Nuremberg, Tours, Aachen, Paris, Brunswick, Munich, Schweinfurt, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Mailly-Le-Camp, Eindhoven, Nantes, Saumur, Ferme D’Urville, Pierre du Mont, Argentan, Rennes, Orleans, Poitiers, Aunay, Watten, Gelsenkirchen, Limoges, Rouville and Vitry. His pilot on operations was Pilot Officer Auckland. 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
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
LMillarJ1893458v10001
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
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Suffolk
France--Argentan
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
France--Caen Region
France--Châteauroux
France--Limoges
France--Nantes
France--Orléans
France--Paris
France--Poitiers
France--Rennes
France--Saumur
France--Saint-Pierre-du-Mont (Landes)
France--Toulouse
France--Tours
France--Troyes
France--Valognes Region
France--Vitry-sur-Seine
France--Watten
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Netherlands--Eindhoven
Wales--Carmarthenshire
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Bolbec
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1944-03-10
1944-03-11
1944-03-16
1944-03-17
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-03-26
1944-03-27
1944-03-30
1944-03-31
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-12
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-24
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-03
1944-06-04
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-10
1944-06-11
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-19
1944-06-21
1944-06-22
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-06-27
1944-06-28
1657 HCU
61 Squadron
620 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Blenheim
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
bombing of the Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Le Bourget railways (18/19 April 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944)
bombing of the Watten V-2 site (19 June 1944)
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Me 109
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Coningsby
RAF Leicester East
RAF Newmarket
RAF Pembrey
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Stradishall
Stirling
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1414/28283/MWareingR86325-161005-57.1.pdf
5bcd0d87ba83800dcfd887d036d2d75e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Wareing, Robert
R Wareing
Description
An account of the resource
258 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Robert Wareing DFC* (86325 Royal Air Force) and contains his flying logbooks, prisoner of war log book, memoirs, photographs, extensive personal and official correspondence, official documents, pilots/handling notes, decorations, mementos, uniform badges and buttons. He flew operations as a pilot with 106 Squadron. After a period of instructing he returned to operations on 582 Squadron but was shot down and became a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Andrew Wareing and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-10-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wareing, R
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
A F Hill’s flying log book extract
Description
An account of the resource
Flying log book extract for A F Hill, navigator, covering the period from 13 April 1944 to 7 August 1944 when he was missing on operations. He was stationed at RAF Warboys and RAF Little Staughton. Aircraft flown in was Lancaster. He flew a total of 25 operations with 582 squadron, 9 Daylight and 16 night. Targets were Essen, Somain, Montdidier, Nantes, Montcouple, Foret de Cerisy, Laval, Longues, Fougeres, Lens, Les Hayons, Blainville sur L’Eau, Villers Bocage, Oisemont Neuville, Nucourt, St Philibert Ferme, Colombelles, Mont Candon, Foret du Croc, Les Hauts-Boisson, Stuttgart, Coquereaux, L’Isle Adam and Mare de Magne. Evading capture he returned to the Great Britain by naval vessel on 14 September 1944. His pilots on operations were Squadron Leader Wareing, Wing Commander Dunnecliffe and Pilot Officer Sexton.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Sixteen photocopied pages
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
MWareingR86325-161005-57
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
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1944-06
1944-07
1944-08
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-09
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-24
1944-06-28
1944-06-29
1944-06-30
1944-07-02
1944-07-15
1944-07-16
1944-07-18
1944-07-19
1944-07-20
1944-07-23
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-07-28
1944-07-29
1944-07-31
1944-08-01
1944-08-03
1944-08-07
1944-09-14
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
Cara Walmsley
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
England--Cambridgeshire
France--Abbeville Region
France--Bayeux Region
France--Caen Region
France--Calais (Arrondissement)
France--Dieppe (Arrondissement)
France--Dreux
France--Fougères (Ille-et-Vilaine)
France--Laval (Mayenne)
France--Lens
France--Lille Region
France--L'Isle-Adam
France--Longues-sur-Mer
France--Montdidier (Hauts-de-France)
France--Nancy Region
France--Nantes
France--Normandy
France--Nucourt
France--Oisemont (Canton)
France--Somain
France--Villers-Bocage (Calvados)
Germany--Essen
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Saint-Philibert (Morbihan)
France--Forêt du Croc
France--Coquereaux
582 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
Lancaster
missing in action
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Little Staughton
RAF Warboys
tactical support for Normandy troops
V-1
V-weapon
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1544/28347/LScrimshawCC957856v1.1.pdf
2cbe223e618a9c2646dcc0d170a3e063
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
Scrimshaw, Christopher Charles
C C Scrimshaw
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-09-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Scrimshaw, CC
Description
An account of the resource
Eight items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Christopher Scrimshaw (1905 - 1944, 957856, 182431<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/120871/">I</a>Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs and documents. He flew operations as an air gunner with 61 Squadron. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Kathleen Garner and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br />More information on Charles Scrimshaw can be found via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/120871/">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
Chris Scrimshaw's RAF navigator’s, air bombers and air gunner’s flying log book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LScrimshawCC957856v1
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
C Scrimshaw’s air gunner’s flying log book covering the period from 11 August 1943 to 12 Aug 1944. Detailing his operations flown as air gunner. He was stationed at RAF Bishop’s Court (12 AGS), RAF Finningley, Bircotes and Worksop (18 OTU) and RAF Skellingthorpe (61 Squadron). Aircraft flown in were Anson, Wellington and Lancaster. He flew a total of twenty daylight and eight night-time operations with 61 Squadron. Targets were Aachen, Caen, St Cyr, St Leu D’Esserent, Bois d’Cassan, Trossy, Thiverny, Juvisy, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Mailly-de-Camp, Lille, Bourg-Leopald, Ferme-Durville, St Pierre-du-Mont, Argentan, Rennes, Poitiers, Aberville, Vitey, St Nazaire, Givors, Sequeville and Russelheim - from this operation noted ‘Missing from Ops’. His pilots on operations were Flight Lieutenant Berry, Pilot Officer Forrest, Pilot Officer Norton, Squadron Leader Beard DFC, Flying officer Gibberd, Pilot Officer North, Pilot Officer Cooper, Pilot Officer Taylor, Flying officer Heath and Wing Commander Doubleday.
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Belgium--Leopoldsburg
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Yorkshire
France--Argentan
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
France--Caen
France--Creil
France--Givors
France--Juvisy-sur-Orge
France--Lille
France--L'Isle-Adam
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Poitiers
France--Rennes
France--Saint-Nazaire
France--Toulouse
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Rüsselsheim
France--Saint-Pierre-du-Mont (Landes)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1944-04-11
1944-04-12
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-28
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
1944-06-02
1944-06-03
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-06-27
1944-06-29
1944-07-04
1944-07-05
1944-07-18
1944-07-19
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-07-26
1944-07-27
1944-08-02
1944-08-03
1944-08-05
1944-08-06
1944-08-07
1944-08-08
1944-08-12
18 OTU
61 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of the Creil/St Leu d’Esserent V-1 storage areas (4/5 July 1944)
bombing of the Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Le Bourget railways (18/19 April 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944)
Bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944)
Lancaster
missing in action
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
RAF Bishops Court
RAF Finningley
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Worksop
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1504/28845/LRoutledgeRS1520060v1.1.pdf
8559a31d713c7207633ae17d47ff79b7
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
Routledge, R
Routledge, Bob
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-25
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
Wainwright, M
Description
An account of the resource
One item. The collection concerns Sergeant R Routledge (1520060 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book. He flew a tour of operations as an air gunner with 44 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Janet Spencer 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
R S Routledge’s navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LRoutledgeRS1520060v1
Description
An account of the resource
Navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book for R S Routledge, air gunner, covering the period from 18 July 1943 to 14 July 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF Morpeth, RAF Ossington, RAF Bircotes, RAF Stradishall, RAF Syerston, RAF Dunholme Lodge, RAF Andreas and RAF Manby. Aircraft flown in were Botha, Wellington, Stirling and Lancaster. He flew a total of 34 operations with 44 Squadron, 7 Daylight and 27 Night. Targets were Nuremberg, Toulouse, Tours, Aachen, Paris, Mailly le Camp, Salbris, Bourg Leopold, Amiens, Kiel, Brunswick, Morsalines, Maisy, Wimereaux, Beauvoir, Wesserling, Pommereval, Marquise, Givors, Stuttgart, Normandy, Joigny, Siracourt, Trossy, L’Isle Adam, Bois de Cassan, Secquiville, Bordeaux and Brest. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Young, Flying officer Boswell and Flying Officer Davey. 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
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
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
Belgium--Leopoldsburg
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Suffolk
England--Tyne and Wear
England--Yorkshire
France--Abbeville Region
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
France--Brest
France--Cherbourg Region
France--Amiens
France--Beauvoir-sur-Mer
France--Caen Region
France--Givors
France--Joigny
France--L'Isle-Adam
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Marquise
France--Normandy
France--Paris
France--Pommeréval
France--Toulouse
France--Tours
France--Vierzon
France--Wimereux
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Wesseling
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
France--Creil
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Morsalines
France--Salbris
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
1944-03-30
1944-03-31
1944-04-05
1944-04-06
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-12
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-09
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-02
1944-06-03
1944-06-16
1944-06-17
1944-06-21
1944-06-22
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-06-27
1944-06-28
1944-07-05
1944-07-26
1944-07-27
1944-07-28
1944-07-29
1944-07-30
1944-07-31
1944-08-01
1944-08-02
1944-08-05
1944-08-06
1944-08-07
1944-08-08
1944-08-09
1944-08-10
1944-08-11
1944-08-12
1944-08-13
1944-08-14
1657 HCU
44 Squadron
82 OTU
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
bombing of the Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Le Bourget railways (18/19 April 1944)
bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944)
bombing of Toulouse (5/6 April 1944)
Bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944)
Botha
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
mine laying
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
RAF Andreas
RAF Dunholme Lodge
RAF Manby
RAF Morpeth
RAF Ossington
RAF Stradishall
RAF Syerston
Stirling
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/630/30882/MPotterPL1878961-150914-06.2.pdf
84b52218f1a5776654ee80a871e15669
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
Potter, Peter
P Potter
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Potter, P
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. Collection concerns Peter Potter, (1925 - 2019, 1876961 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a rear gunner with 626 Squadron. Collection contains an oral history interview, his logbook, memoirs and photographs
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Peter Potter and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-09-14
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[inserted][underlined] Bire etc [/underlined] For Boxted 24-2 [/inserted]
[inserted][missing letter][underlined] A [/underlined][/inserted]
FLYING LOG BOOK
The following are Photostats of pages from my flying log book. They are a record of the operations made by me over enemy-occupied territory in 1944.
Although the completed missions were obviously very dangerous, those we were unable to complete (abortive) nevertheless remain the clearest in my memory. There were two.
The first, on the 8th August, was an op to Aire, a short trip which meant we had a bomb load of 12,000 lbs. However, shortly after take off we were faced with a massive thunderstorm. We attempted to fly above it, but it built and rose as fast as we did. Eventually we entered the cloud, and almost immediately flew into the downdraft. We fell from our ceiling approximately 24,000ft like a stone. At approximately 12,000ft we began to pull out of the dive and the controls began to respond. Our impetus took us down to 4,000ft before we pulled out and climbed to 12,000ft. At this time we realised we were losing height again even with the [deleted] two [/deleted] engines at full power. We decided to return to base as it was obvious we could not complete the op. as we were above the North Sea it was decided to jettison the bombs. This proved to be impossible as we were unable to open the bomb bay doors. The maximum speed we could maintain was about 140 mph and we were gradually losing height. We found out later that both the outboard engines had torn away from their side mountings and they were pointing down about 15 degrees, pulling us down even though we were at full power.
We reached Wickenby with a few hundred feet to spare and made a perfect landing. We had to. We could not have gained height again for another attempt. As we touched down on the runway the photo flash, equivalent to a 500lb bomb, fell out and came bouncing down the runway behind us, sparks flying everywhere. Luckily it didn’t explode. We were directed to the most remote area of the airfield and evacuated the aircraft in record time.
During the descent in the cloud we were entertained by a most brilliant display of St. Elmo’s Fire. The whole aircraft was covered with balls of fire running about. We took photographs but none showed the fire. However, parts of the plane showed as clear as if the photographs had been taken in sunlight.
[page break]
[eighteen pages of log book]
[page break]
27-2
The plane had been almost torn apart in the encounter. The rivets had been torn from the leading edge of the wings and tail-plane. The wings were twisted as was the body. The engineers from AVRO said they could not understand how the plane had remained airborne as long as it had. In their report after tests we received a letter from them stating that to sustain such damage the plane had to exceed 570 mph. if that was the case I believe we flew the fastest bomber in World War II. The tests on UMH2 were carried out under the supervision of Roy Chadwick and the letter to our Navigator was written in long hand, not typed and the original was kept by Jimmy. We all had copies unfortunately mine was lost when moving.
The second abortive was on 5th October 1944, Saarbrucken, when we hit icy conditions so bad that we lost two engines and all suffered some degree of frostbite.
We were routed over the edge of the mountains so were unable to lose height for some time. We were unable to climb and so aborted. We all suffered, also in later life. One engine re-started once we descended.
My most memorable successful operation was when dropping mines in the Kiel Canal from 500ft. We flew straight along the canal dropping one mine at a time in what was one of the most heavily defended targets of the war. There was so much firing along the canal that we could see almost as clearly as in daylight.
We all felt fear at times, but it affects people differently. For me it was a stimulant and when a civilian I was unable to settle until I became a fireman.
I flew on two other ops to cover for bods who could not get back to the station in time and their crews asked me to help out to save the absentees getting into trouble. On one op the C.O. knew what was going on as that morning he called me to his office to offer me a commission (which I had to refuse owing to putting my age up to join the RAF). He recognised me at briefing and knew I was with the wrong crew. However he did nothing except to say that he needed to know if I did it again.
After surviving a few trips we were given our own aircraft, UMF2, already a veteran of many ops. She proved to be a most dependable aircraft. Apart from the number of bombs painted on the side we also had the nude lady which I understand was repainted by the next crew after we completed our tour. The lady was no longer reclining but standing partly clothed. At a reunion a chap said it had been ordered to be removed, which it was, but repainted standing and captioned ‘Frigger of the fighting sixes’ instead of ‘Friga of -----. Whoever gave the order must have got the message as it survived. It was a special aircraft in that for some reason it had a much better performance than the vast majority of Lancs. She flew faster than others on
[page break]
28-2
the same revs and boost and it didn’t make any difference when engines were changed. Fuel consumption was better, a lovely plane. We never found her ceiling and she performed well in all weather conditions. Only once when on an op to Saarbrucken on 5th October 1944 did we have real problems with icing and engine failure with loss of all heating. We all suffered from frostbite and had to abort.
However, on 12th September 1944 target Frankfurt, when evading a fighter JU88 I smashed my lower jaw and was placed sick. The rest of the crew then had two abortives and became convinced I was their luck and pleaded with me to sign myself off which I did and flew with my jaw strapped up, hardly able to talk and still living on liquids. Wearing my oxygen mask I was in agony, but at least the pain kept me awake. Bone splinters from the jaw were still working their way out 40 years later. I was still unable to eat properly for many years and on occasions my jaw would lock solid for weeks at a time. Jaw and Larynx damage caused speech to be impaired and loss of voice if projected for more than a short period. Damage also caused a loss in inflexion ability.
Once the bombs had gone we either flew high or very low on our way home, preferably very high and as on the outward journey, weaving about all the time to allow us the greatest chance of seeing anyone underneath us, a method that stood us in good stead twice. On a moonlit night we flew high, on dark nights low, avoiding lit up areas. We used cloud cover at times, but not if our shadow was thrown.
UMF2 survived the war. I was told she completed over one hundred ops, but have not confirmed it. She was one of the only two aircraft to fly from beginning to and of Squadron Ops period and had been on C Flight 12 Squadron before C Flight became 626 Squadron.
Like many other crews we all learnt as much as possible about each others jobs and agreed amongst ourselves who was the best substitute for who. It was decided that Stu Tween W/OP was best gunner, Jim Jackson, N, was best B/A, Johnny Payne B/A, best F/E. Johnny Moore, MU/G best W/OP. I was best Pilot and also Nav, but every one of us practised at all other positions. I was the only one to land the aircraft which I only did 3 times with a very nervous skipper hovering and the rest on tenterhooks too. What would have happened if I had needed to do it with a dodgy aircraft I have no idea. Landing occasions were on August 1st, V2 on return from Rufforth, August 21st F2 and 29th F2, September 9th Navigated whole trip, September 27th, Navigated whole trip.
I had been taught to fly and navigate by a First World War[deleted]t[/deleted] pilot, my father also and tried to keep up-to-date as I grew older.
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/.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One photocopied 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
MPotterPL1878961-150914-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-08-04
1944-08-07
1944-08-08
1944-08-10
1944-08-14
1944-08-15
1944-08-18
1944-08-26
1944-08-27
1944-08-29
1944-08-30
1944-09-03
1944-09-05
1944-09-08
1944-09-10
1944-09-11
1944-09-12
1944-09-13
1944-09-26
1944-10-03
1944-10-05
1944-10-06
1944-10-07
1944-10-14
1944-10-15
1944-10-19
1944-10-20
1944-10-23
1944-10-24
1944-11-06
1944-11-11
1944-11-12
1944-11-16
1944-11-21
1944-11-22
1944-11-29
1944-12-06
1944-12-07
1944-12-12
1944-12-13
1944-12-15
1944-12-16
1944-12-17
1944-12-18
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
Poland
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Belgium--Ghent
England--Lincolnshire
England--Staffordshire
France--Caen Region
France--Calais
France--Falaise
France--Le Havre
France--Paris
France--Pauillac (Gironde)
Germany--Aschaffenburg
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düren (Cologne)
Germany--Emmerich
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Kiel Canal
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Merseburg
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Ulm
Netherlands--Eindhoven
Netherlands--Uden
Netherlands--Veere
Poland--Szczecin
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Fontenay
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
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
Mike Connock
Description
An account of the resource
Flying log book excerpts from P L Potter’s log book, covering the period from 3 May 1944 to 17 December 1944. Detailing his flying training and operations flown. He was stationed at RAF Hixon and RAF Wickenby. Aircraft flown in were Wellington and Lancaster. He flew a total of 33 operations, one night operation with 30 Operational Training Unit and 17 daylight and 15 night operations with 626 Squadron. His pilot on operations was Flying Officer Ford. Targets were Paris, Pauillac, Fontenay de Marmion, Ferme de Forestal, Falaise, Volkel, Ghent, Kiel, Stettin, Eindhoven, le Havre, Frankfurt, Calais, West kapelle, Saarbrucken, Emmerich, Duisburg, Stuttgart, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Kiel Canal, Duren, Aschaffenburg, Dortmund, Merseburg, Ludwigshafen and Ulm. The log book also contains type written details of two aborted operations and their causes.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Title
A name given to the resource
Copy of Peter Potter's flying log book
30 OTU
626 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
bombing of Luftwaffe night-fighter airfields (15 August 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
fear
Ju 88
Lancaster
Me 109
Me 262
military ethos
mine laying
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
nose art
Operational Training Unit
RAF Hixon
RAF Pembrey
RAF Wickenby
tactical support for Normandy troops
target indicator
training
V-1
V-weapon
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1768/31027/BCleggPVGibsonAv10002.2.pdf
461d84ae34aca7a38fdf91cc0e14dd9b
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
Clegg, Peter Vernon. Gibson, Alan - folder
Description
An account of the resource
Eight items. Contains operational record of Squadron Leader Alan Gibson AFC DFM RNZAF including extracts from his logbook, letter from his rear gunner, reports on operation to Mailly le Camp and document with quotations.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07-02
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Clegg, PV
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 log book of Squadron Leader Alan Gibson AFC DFM RNZAF
Description
An account of the resource
Extracts from the operational log book of Alan Gibson covering his tour of 31 operations on 166 Squadron.
His pilot on his first operation was Flight Sergeant Burnett. Pilot Officer Allen also flew on one operation with him.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
10 b/w photocopied sheets
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
BCleggPVGibsonAv10002
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 New Zealand Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
France
France--Paris
France--Rouen
Germany
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Essen
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Rennes
France--Dieppe
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Aachen
France--Le Havre
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Jura
France--Normandy
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-04-09
1944-04-10
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-24
1944-05-25
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-17
1944-06-22
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-06-28
1944-06-29
1944-06-30
1944-07-02
1944-07-12
1944-07-13
1944-07-14
1944-07-15
1944-07-18
1944-07-20
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
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
166 Squadron
aircrew
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
Distinguished Flying Medal
Lancaster
Me 110
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
pilot
RAF Kirmington
tactical support for Normandy troops
V-1
V-weapon
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1771/31058/BCleggPVMartinCv1.2.pdf
9941b9a45d01dfbd740dca6950a2750d
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
Clegg, Peter Vernon. Martin, Charles - folder
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. Includes newspaper cuttings, record of operations and extracts from his log book.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07-02
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Clegg, PV
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
Extracts from the log book of Flight Lieutenant Charles Martin
Description
An account of the resource
Navigator of 166 Squadron covering a total of 30 operations. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Gibson and Flying Officer Allen. From 9 April 1944 until 22 May 1944 and then some subsequent flying. Also flew a number of Operation Post Mortem and Operation Dodge sorties.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
21 b/w photocopied sheets
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
BCleggPVMartinCv1
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
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
France--Paris
France--Rouen
Germany--Cologne
Germany
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Essen
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Aachen
France--Doullens
France--Oisemont (Canton)
Germany--Friedrichshafen
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Rennes
France--Dieppe
France--Versailles
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
France--le Havre
France--Bordeaux Region (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
France--Somme
France--Jura
France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
France--Pas-de-Calais
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
1945
1946
1944-04-09
1944-04-10
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-24
1944-05-25
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-14
1944-06-16
1944-06-17
1944-06-22
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-06-28
1944-06-29
1944-06-30
1944-07-02
1944-07-12
1944-07-13
1944-07-14
1944-07-15
1944-07-18
1944-07-20
1945-06-16
1945-08-26
1945-08-29
1945-09-02
1945-09-04
1945-09-10
1945-09-13
1945-09-19
1945-09-21
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
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
Cara Walmsley
166 Squadron
1662 HCU
61 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944)
Cook’s tour
Halifax
Halifax Mk 3
Halifax Mk 5
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operation Dodge (1945)
RAF Blyton
RAF Kirmington
RAF Sturgate
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1187/31549/LWatsonJR1605406v1.2.pdf
501f3aa015650de589fa38da68a1c63d
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
Watson, John Robert
J R Watson
Description
An account of the resource
Seven items. An oral history interview with warrant Officer John 'Jack' Watson DFM (b. 1923 Royal Air Force) his log book and photographs. He flew three turs of operations as a flight engineer with 12 and 156 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by John Watson 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
2015-08-25
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
Watson, JR
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
John Robert Watson’s observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LWatsonJR1605406v1
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
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
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Description
An account of the resource
Observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book for J R Watson, flight engineer, covering the period from 2 November 1943 to 30 March 1945. Detailing his flying training and operations flown. He was stationed at RAF Faldingworth, RAF Wickenby, RAF Warboys, RAF Upwood and RAF Husbands Bosworth. Aircraft flown in were Halifax, Lancaster. Oxford and Wellington. He flew a total of 77 operations, 12 with 12 Squadron and 66 with 156 Squadron. Targets were Brunswick, Berlin, Magdeburg, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, Essen, Nuremburg, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Friedrichshafen, Somain, Montdidier, Nantes, Boulogne, Duisburg, Dortmund, Aachen, Calais, Longues, Foret-de-Cerisy, Fougeres. Lens, Middlestraete, Oisemont-Neuville, Donges, Hamburg, Cassan, Trossy, Abbeville, Caen, Lille, Russelsheim, Kiel, Connantre, Moerdijk, Saarbrucken, Wilhelmshaven, Heinbach, Opladen, Hannover, Mainz, Wiesbaden, Politz, Bohlen, Wesel, Worms, Chemnitz, Hanau, Hildesheim, Harpenerweg and Munster. His pilots on operations were Flight Lieutenant Cleland and Wing Commander Scott.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
Poland
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
France--Abbeville
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Caen
France--Calais
France--Donges
France--Fougères (Ille-et-Vilaine)
France--Lens
France--Lille
France--Longues-sur-Mer
France--Montdidier (Hauts-de-France)
France--Nantes
France--Neuville-aux-Bois
France--Normandy
France--Paris Region
France--Sézanne
France--Somain
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Dortmund Region
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Euskirchen Region
Germany--Friedrichshafen
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hanau
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Hildesheim
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Leipzig Region
Germany--Leverkusen
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia)
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Rüsselsheim
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Wiesbaden
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
Germany--Worms
Netherlands--Rotterdam Region
Poland--Police (Województwo Zachodniopomorskie)
France--Creil
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944-01-14
1944-01-20
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-01-29
1944-01-30
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-21
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-02-26
1944-03-01
1944-03-26
1944-03-27
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
1944-04-28
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-24
1944-05-25
1944-06-03
1944-06-05
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-17
1944-06-24
1944-06-27
1944-07-02
1944-07-23
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-07-26
1944-07-28
1944-07-29
1944-08-03
1944-08-04
1944-08-05
1944-08-07
1944-08-08
1944-08-09
1944-08-10
1944-08-12
1944-08-13
1944-08-16
1944-08-17
1944-08-18
1944-08-19
1944-08-25
1944-08-26
1944-08-27
1944-09-12
1944-09-13
1944-09-15
1944-09-16
1944-09-17
1944-09-20
1944-10-05
1944-10-06
1944-10-14
1944-10-15
1944-10-16
1944-12-03
1944-12-12
1944-12-17
1944-12-28
1944-12-29
1944-12-30
1945-01-02
1945-01-03
1945-01-05
1945-01-06
1945-01-14
1945-01-16
1945-01-17
1945-01-28
1945-01-29
1945-02-01
1945-02-02
1945-02-03
1945-02-08
1945-02-09
1945-02-13
1945-02-14
1945-02-17
1945-02-21
1945-02-22
1945-03-02
1945-03-05
1945-03-06
1945-03-18
1945-03-22
1945-03-24
1945-03-25
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
12 Squadron
156 Squadron
1667 HCU
85 OTU
aircrew
bombing
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
flight engineer
Halifax
Halifax Mk 5
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
Me 410
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
RAF Faldingworth
RAF Husbands Bosworth
RAF Upwood
RAF Warboys
RAF Wickenby
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
V-1
V-weapon
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1141/34160/LStapleyVA175092v1.2.pdf
c79c2ec01b14861649f08988e51e3d5f
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
Stapley, Victor
Victor Arthur Stapley
V A Stapley
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. An oral history interview with Wing Commander Victor Stapley OBE, DFC (b. 1922, 1801888, 175092 Royal Air Force), his log book and a portrait. He served in the RAF from 1941 to 1977. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 166 squadron. Post war he served in Singapore, Malta, and at Christmas Island.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Victor Stapley and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-08-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Stapley, VA
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
Victor Stapely's navigator's, air bomber's and air gunner'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
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
LStapleyVA175092v1
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
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 log book for navigator’s air bomber air gunner’s flight engineers for Victor Stapley, flight engineer. Covers two periods; training and operations 18 January 1944 to 2 July 1944 and post-war service in Flying Control from 19 September 1945 to 23 January 1950. He was stationed at RAF St Athan, RAF Lindholme, RAF Kirmington, RAF Watchfield and RAF Henlow. Aircraft flown in were Halifax, Lancaster, Anson, Dominie, Proctor, Beaufighter, Tiger Moth, Mosquito, York and C-47. He flew a total of 28 operations with 166 Squadron, 3 daylight and 25 night. Targets were Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Berlin, Essen, Nuremberg, Aachen, Cologne, Dusseldor, mine laying, Rouen, Lyons, Aubigne, Mardyk, Mailly le Camp, Hasselt, Calais, Boulogne, Crisbicq, Acheres, Gelsenkirchen, Chateau Bernapre, Domleger and Oisemont. His pilot on operations was Pilot Officer Wiggins.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-03-26
1944-03-27
1944-03-30
1944-03-31
1944-04-11
1944-04-12
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-06
1944-05-09
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
1944-05-13
1944-05-24
1944-05-25
1944-06-02
1944-06-03
1944-06-04
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-27
1944-06-28
1944-06-29
1944-07-02
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Singapore
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Belgium--Hasselt
England--Bedfordshire
England--Essex
England--Lincolnshire
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
France--Domléger-Longvillers
France--Amiens Region
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Calais
France--Dunkerque
France--Le Havre Region
France--Lyon
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Oisemont (Canton)
France--Paris Region
France--Rennes Region
France--Rouen
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Düsseldorf
Europe--Elbe River
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Stuttgart
Wales--Glamorgan
Singapore
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Bermesnil
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Terry Hancock
1656 HCU
166 Squadron
aircrew
Anson
Beaufighter
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
C-47
Dominie
flight engineer
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
mine laying
Mosquito
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Proctor
RAF Henlow
RAF Kirmington
RAF Lindholme
RAF St Athan
RAF Watchfield
Tiger Moth
training
York
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1874/34824/LCropperEW1655303v1.2.pdf
f88f6fb528ed66723be5e4de2ff41906
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1874/34824/LCropperEW1655303v2.2.pdf
d22e5a5b3765c935d430baf26790a835
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
Cropper, E W
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-06-18
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Cropper, EW
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. The collection concerns Group Captain EW Cropper (Royal Air Force) and contains his log books and documents. He flew operations as a navigator with 57 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by [name] 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
EW Cropper's Log Books
Description
An account of the resource
Two flying log books for navigators, air bombers, air gunners and flight engineers for E.W. Cropper. Between them they cover the period 17 May 1943 to 6 October 1950. There is much overlap between them and an original log book was destroyed by fire.
<p>Log book One.<br /><br />E W Cropper’s RAF Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book from February 1944 to 6th October 1950, recording training, operations, instructional and staff duties as a navigator. Aircraft in which flown: Stirling, Lancaster III, Lancaster VII (FE), Halifax II and V, Wellington XIII, Oxford, Anson, Proctor, Mosquito B35, Lincoln 2B. Based at: RAF Jurby (No. 5 Air Observer School), RAF Wratting Common (1651 Conversion Unit), RAF Hemswell (1 Lancaster Finishing School), RAF Elsham Wolds (103 Squadron), RAF Blyton (1662 Heavy Conversion Unit), RAF Shawbury (Empire Central Navigation School/Empire Air Navigation School), RAF Lindholme (1656 Heavy Conversion Unit), RAF Oakington and RAF Mepal (7 Squadron), RAF High Wycombe and RAF Booker (Bomber Command Communications Flight), RAF Waddington (57 Squadron) and RAF Scampton (Bomber Command Instrument Rating and Examining Flight).</p>
Records a total of 29 completed operations (26 night, 3 day)) on the following targets in Belgium, France and Germany: Aulnoye, Caen, Calais, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Flers, Friedrichshaven, Gelsenkirchen, Hasselt, Karlsruhe, Kiel Bay, Le Havre, Mailly-Le-Camp, Maintenon, Mardyck, Marquise-Mimoyecques, Orleans, Rennes (St Jacques airfield), Revigny, Saintes, Sanneville, Scholven, St Martins-de-Varreville, Sterkrade, Vire and Wimereux.<span><span> He also flew 3 Cook's Tour flights and two Operation Dodge flights. Post-war he served with 7 and 57 Squadrons. His pilot on operations was Pilot Officer Moore.<br /><br />Log Book Two.<br /><br /></span></span>
<p>E W Cropper’s RAF Flying Log Book for Navigators, Air Bombers, Air Gunners and Flight Engineers from 17 May 1943 to 16th April 1945, recording training, operations, instructional and staff duties as a navigator. Entitled “PERSONAL LOGBOOK”, includes detailed personal notes about training courses, first operational tour (“29 sorties”), instructor and staff navigator training. Aircraft in which flown: Tiger Moth, Stirling, Lancaster III, Halifax II and V, Wellington XIII, Oxford, Anson. Based at: RAF Shellingford (No. 3 Elementary Flying Training School), RAF Jurby (No. 5 Air Observer School), RAF Wratting Common (1651 Conversion Unit), RAF Hemswell (1 Lancaster Finishing School), RAF Elsham Wolds (103 Squadron), RAF Blyton (1662 Heavy Conversion Unit) and RAF Shawbury (Empire Air Navigation School).</p>
<p>Records a total of 29 completed operations (26 night, 3 day) on the following targets in Belgium, France and Germany: Aulnoye, Caen, Calais, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Flers, Friedrichshaven, Gelsenkirchen, Hasselt, Karlsruhe, Kiel Bay, Le Havre, Mailly-Le-Camp, Maintenon, Mardyck, Marquise-Mimoyecques, Orleans, Rennes (St Jacques airfield), Revigny, Saintes, Sanneville, Scholven, St Martins-de-Varreville, Sterkrade, Vire and Wimereux. <span>His pilot on operations was Pilot Officer Moore.</span></p>
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
Two printed books with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LCropperEW1655303v1, LCropperEW1655303v2
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Atlantic Ocean--Kiel Bay
England--Buckinghamshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Shropshire
England--Yorkshire
Belgium--Hasselt
France--Caen
France--Charente-Maritime
France--Flers-de-l'Orne
France--Le Havre
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Maintenon
France--Mimoyecques
France--Nord (Department)
France--Orléans
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Rennes
France--Revigny-sur-Ornain
France--Vire (Calvados)
France--Wimereux
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Essen
Germany--Friedrichshafen
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Saint-Martin-de-Varreville
France--Manche
France--Calvados
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-09
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
1944-05-15
1944-05-16
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-06-02
1944-06-03
1944-06-04
1944-05-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-09
1944-06-10
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-14
1944-06-16
1944-06-17
1944-06-18
1944-06-19
1944-06-20
1944-06-22
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-07-04
1944-07-05
1944-07-07
1944-07-12
1944-07-13
1944-07-17
1944-07-18
1944-07-19
1945-07-03
1945-07-13
1945-11-28
1945-11-30
1946-01-14
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Leitch
103 Squadron
1651 HCU
1656 HCU
1662 HCU
57 Squadron
7 Squadron
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
Cook’s tour
Flying Training School
forced landing
Halifax
Halifax Mk 2
Halifax Mk 5
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Lancaster Mk 3
Lincoln
mid-air collision
mine laying
Mosquito
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operation Dodge (1945)
Oxford
Proctor
RAF Blyton
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Hemswell
RAF High Wycombe
RAF Jurby
RAF Lindholme
RAF Mepal
RAF Oakington
RAF Scampton
RAF Shawbury
RAF Upwood
RAF Waddington
RAF Wratting Common
Stirling
tactical support for Normandy troops
Tiger Moth
training
V-1
V-weapon
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1568/35501/LFreemanW1806695v1.1.pdf
b6299130f11ae1e15234a3edc3359332
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
Freeman, Bill
William Freeman
W Freeman
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
2016-12-07
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Freeman, W
Description
An account of the resource
11 items. The collection concerns Bill Freeman (1806695 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book memoir and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 550 and 300 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Monica Snowball 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
Bill Freeman's Log Book
Description
An account of the resource
W. Freeman’s RAF Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, from 1st August 1943 to 29th November 1944, detailing training, operations and instructional duties as an air gunner. He was stationed at RAF Stormy Down (No. 7 Air Gunnery School), RAF Hixon and RAF Seighford (30 OTU), RAF Binbrook (1481 (B) Gunnery Flight), RAF Blyton (1662 Conversion Unit), RAF Hemswell (No. 1 Lancaster Finishing School), RAF North Killingholme (550 Squadron), RAF Faldingworth (300 Squadron) and RAF Manby (No. 1 Empire Air Armament School). Aircraft in which flown: Anson, Wellington, Halifax and Lancaster. He completed a total of 31 operations (26 night, 5 day), on the following targets in France and Germany: Aachen, Acheres, Aulnoye, Caen, Caumont, Chateau L’Hortier, Cologne, Dieppe, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Emieville, Essen, Flers, Foret de Nieppe, Foret du Croc, Karlsruhe, Le Havre, Mailly-le-camp, Maintenon, Orleans, Rennes, Revigny, Rheims, Rouen, Scholven, Siracourt and Vierzon. His pilot on operations was Pilot Officer Jones.
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
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
England--Lincolnshire
England--Staffordshire
France--Aulnoye-Aymeries
France--Caen
France--Caumont-L'Eventé
France--Dieppe
France--Dieppe (Arrondissement)
France--Flers-de-l'Orne
France--Le Havre
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Maintenon
France--Orléans
France--Rennes
France--Revigny-sur-Ornain
France--Rouen
France--Siracourt
France--Neufchâtel-en-Bray
France--Vierzon
France--Yvelines
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Friedrichshafen
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Karlsruhe
Wales--Bridgend
France--Reims
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Forêt du Croc
France--Nieppe Forest
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
LFreemanW1806695v1
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-24
1944-05-25
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-06-06
1944-06-09
1944-06-10
1944-06-11
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-17
1944-06-18
1944-06-22
1944-06-23
1944-06-27
1944-06-28
1944-06-29
1944-06-30
1944-07-01
1944-07-04
1944-07-05
1944-07-06
1944-07-07
1944-07-12
1944-07-13
1944-07-18
1944-07-19
1944-07-30
1944-07-31
1944-08-01
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Leitch
1662 HCU
30 OTU
300 Squadron
550 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
RAF Binbrook
RAF Blyton
RAF Faldingworth
RAF Hemswell
RAF Hixon
RAF Manby
RAF North Killingholme
RAF Seighford
RAF Stormy Down
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
V-1
V-weapon
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1254/36056/LBakerWB1392752v1.2.pdf
876df17ecaacfd201aea50bf13964f69
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
W B Baker’s observers and air gunners 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
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
Description
An account of the resource
Observers and air gunners flying log book for W B Baker, air gunner, covering the period from 11 November 1942 to 9 June 1944. Detailing his flying training and operations flown. He was stationed at RAF Stormy Down and RAF Wickenby. Aircraft flown in were Whitley, Defiant and Lancaster. He flew a total of 20 night operations with 626 Squadron. Targets were, Berlin, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Rouen, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Essen, Fredrichshafen, Maille-Le-Camp, Bruz, Merville, Orleans, Duisburg, Dortmund, Aachen, Achewre and Fleurs. His pilot on operations was Flight Lieutenant Breckenridge. This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form: no better quality copies are available.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-23
1943-12-24
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-27
1944-01-28
1944-01-30
1944-01-31
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-09
1944-05-10
1944-05-18
1944-05-19
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-09
1944-06-10
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
France--Bruz
France--Flers-de-l'Orne
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Merville (Nord)
France--Orléans
France--Rouen
France--Yvelines
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Friedrichshafen
Germany--Magdeburg
Wales--Bridgend
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
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
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LBakerWB1392752v1
626 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
Defiant
Distinguished Flying Cross
forced landing
killed in action
Lancaster
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Stormy Down
RAF Wickenby
training
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1977/38299/LPalmerRAM115772v2.2.pdf
766f44ee456792c0f14f465ace4bfbca
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
Palmer, Robert Anthony Maurice
R A M Palmer
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-10-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Palmer, RAM
Description
An account of the resource
38 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Robert AM Palmer VC, DFC and Bar (115772, Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, photographs, fact sheets, newspaper cuttings, documents, correspondence and a substancial history of his last operation. <br /><br />He flew one hundred and eleven operations as a pilot with 75, 149 and 109 Squadrons and was killed 23 December 1944 when leading a daylight operation as an Oboe marker.<br /><br />The collection also contains 51 items in a <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2178">Photograph album</a>.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Penny Palmer and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. <br /><br />Additional information on Robert AM Palmer is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/221528/">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
Robert Palmer's pilot's flying log book. Two
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
LPalmerRAM115772v2
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Robert Palmer’s RAF Pilot’s Flying Log Book from 12 May 1942 to 23 December 1944, detailing training and operations as a pilot and instructor. He was stationed at RAF Lossiemouth (No. 20 OTU), RAF Hullavington (No. 3 Flying Instructors School), RAF Abingdon (1501 BAT Flight), RAF Marham (1655 Mosquito Training Unit and 109 Squadron (PFF)). Aircraft flown: Tiger Moth, Wellington, Lysander, Anson, Oxford, Lancaster, Martinet, Mosquito. Records 80 operations (55 night, 25 day) on the following targets in Belgium, France, Germany and Netherlands: Aachen, Argentan, Aulnoye, Bientques, Bois de la Haie, Bois des Jardins, Bottrop, Bourg-Leopold, Calais, Cap Griz Nez, Chamblys, Chapelle Notre Dame, Chateaudon, Cologne/Gremburg, Contville, Courtrai, Donges, Dortmund, Duisberg, Dusseldorf, Eisenach, Falaise, Foret de Nieppe, Ghent, Hagen, Hamborn, Heimbach Dam, Homberg, Houlgate, Krefeld, Laon, Le Clipon, Le Havre, Leeuwarden, Lemars-Cappel, Les Hautes Boissons, Les Landes Vielle et Neuve, Leverkusen, Louvain, Mardyck, Marquise Mimoyecques, Mont Candon, Morsalines, Nucourt, Oberhausen, <span>Œuf-en-Ternois</span>, Osnabruk, Oisement-Neuville, Paris, Rennes, Ruhrort, Scholven, Soest, Sterkrade, Venlo, Volkel, Watten. Entry for 30/9/44 reads “Engine failure on take-off. Both injured”. Final entry for 23/12/44 reads “Failed to return”. Also includes various technical notes and the coat of arms for 109 Squadron (College of Arms January 1944).
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
England--Norfolk
England--Oxfordshire
England--Wiltshire
France--Nord-Pas-de-Calais
France--Normandy
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Somme
Belgium--Ghent
Belgium--Leopoldsburg
Belgium--Louvain
France--Argentan
France--Aulnoye-Aymeries
France--Calais
France--Châteaudun
France--Dieppe
France--Donges
France--Dunkerque
France--Falaise
France--Houlgate
France--Laon
France--Le Havre
France--Morsalines
France--Nieppe Forest
France--Nucourt
France--Oise
France--Oisemont (Canton)
France--Paris
France--Rennes
France--Watten
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Bottrop
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Eisenach
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg)
Germany--Homberg (Kassel)
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Leverkusen
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Soest
Germany--Urft Dam
Netherlands--Leeuwarden
Netherlands--Uden
Netherlands--Venlo
Scotland--Moray
Belgium--Kortrijk
France--Œuf-en-Ternois
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944-02-03
1944-02-05
1944-02-07
1944-02-08
1944-02-10
1944-02-15
1944-02-18
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-21
1944-02-22
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-03-02
1944-03-12
1944-03-15
1944-03-18
1944-03-21
1944-03-23
1944-03-25
1944-03-26
1944-03-29
1944-03-30
1944-04-01
1944-04-09
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-12
1944-04-13
1944-05-14
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-05-07
1944-05-08
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
1944-05-13
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-24
1944-05-25
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-05-29
1944-05-30
1944-06-02
1944-06-03
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-17
1944-06-18
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-06-30
1944-07-01
1944-07-05
1944-07-06
1944-07-10
1944-07-12
1944-07-13
1944-07-15
1944-07-16
1944-07-17
1944-07-20
1944-07-23
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-07-28
1944-08-09
1944-08-10
1944-08-11
1944-08-14
1944-08-18
1944-08-19
1944-08-25
1944-08-27
1944-08-28
1944-08-29
1944-08-30
1944-08-31
1944-09-01
1944-09-03
1944-09-06
1944-09-08
1944-09-09
1944-09-10
1944-09-24
1944-09-26
1944-09-27
1944-09-28
1944-11-23
1944-11-25
1944-11-26
1944-11-28
1944-12-03
1944-12-05
1944-12-06
1944-12-23
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Leitch
109 Squadron
15 OTU
20 OTU
aircrew
Anson
bombing
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
Lancaster
Lysander
Magister
Martinet
Mosquito
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
pilot
RAF Abingdon
RAF Hullavington
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Marham
tactical support for Normandy troops
Tiger Moth
training
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1515/28675/SDryhurstHG1332214v10007.1.jpg
8e0658f6bd089f8f660b73896c974bc9
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
Dryhurst, Harold Gainsford
H G Dryhurst
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-06-08
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
Dryhurst, HG
Description
An account of the resource
42 items. The collection concerns Harold Dryhurst (1923 - 1967, 1332214 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, letters, memoirs, documents, newspaper cuttings and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 103 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Glen Dryhurst and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
H G Dryhurst
26,826.
Stalag 344.
[ink stamp]
[underlined] 4.5.1944 [/underlined]
My dear Kaye,
[indecipherable word] delighted to receive your three letters. [date stamp] Really Kaye dear don’t think that any of your letters would bore me, I most readily look forward to all your mail.
Exactly who married June, afraid the letter must have imparted to [sic] much information. It would be great to be back with you swimming, dancing shows etc. Do you realise I have not seen a young woman for at [missing words] year and [missing word] behind wire [missing words] give how [missing words] feminine [missing words] don’t be mislead as to our mis-fortune. I would be highly elated to receive some super-snapshots of yourself Kaye to make you [underlined] my [/underlined] “pin-up girl”. My occupations here are P.T. fencing, general study but our thoughts always remain with those at home, it’s our one and only [underlined] Utopia. [/underlined] How did you find I was missing in ’42. My address is 13, North Ave, Chelmsford. We had a carnival fair here last week-end, we put on a mass parade with a model of a 4-engine Lanc. Also saw a good play by civilian internee visitors “Ghost Train”. How do you fare with our allied friends I’m still 200 per cent English. Can’t write too much censorship and what not, my compliments to your people, Cheerio, Loads of Love
Harold, xxxxxx.
[ink stamp]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Dryhurst to Kaye Wagstaff
Description
An account of the resource
Writes that he looks forward to her letters. Continues with friendly banter and talks a little of his activities.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
H G Dryhurst
Format
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Handwritten prisoner of war letter card
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SDryhurstHG1332214v10007
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland
Poland--Łambinowice
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-05-04
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-04
entertainment
prisoner of war
Stalag 8B
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/39/283/EIrvinLLWilliamsonGR441216.1.jpg
bb03afb3c401c557c9d5866d95647873
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
Williamson, George Reid
George Reid Williamson
G R Williamson
Description
An account of the resource
Seven items. The collection consists of documents and photographs related to Sergeant George Reid Williamson being shot down over occupied France on 3/4 May 1944, during an operation to Mailly-le-Camp. Items include a memoir of his escape as well as photographs and names of helpers in the French resistance. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Don Hillier and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Bombing, Aerial
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
2016-07-01
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Williamson, GR
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Caterpillar club letter to George Reid Williamson
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Description
An account of the resource
The letter apologises for the delay in sending out the caterpillar club badge to Sergeant George Reid Williamson. The sender encloses the badge with good wishes. Signed on behalf of Leslie Irvin.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Irving Air Chute Company
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-12-16
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Correspondence
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EIrvinLLWilliamsonGR441216
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page typewritten letter
bale out
Caterpillar Club
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2252/40882/YPittwoodJ1291454v1.2.pdf
3f170efcd52f96845cc8a03fba6f7559
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
Pittwood, John
Pittwood, Jack
Pitwood, J
Description
An account of the resource
Ten items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant John Pittwood (b. 1923, 1291454 Royal Air Force) and contains his diary, documents and correspondence. He flew operations as a navigator with 207 Squadron. He was shot down during the operation to Mailly-le-Camp on 3/4 May 1944 and managed to evade and return to the UK.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by John Pittwood and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-08-27
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
Pittwood, J
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] THE DIARY OF AN AIRMAN [/underlined].
This is the diary of an airman who was reported missing after a raid on Mailly-le-camp, France on May 3 & 4th. 1944.
His name is Flight Sgt. John Pittwood who was the Navigator of a Lancaster Bomber.
The pilot Leslie Lizetts (Liz) who was a New Zealander and the rear gunner, Ron Ellis were still in the aircraft when it crashed and both were killed.
The mid gunner Ron Emeny (Curly) was burned very badly about the face attempting to rescue the rear gunner who was trapped in his gun turret.
He dropped in the same field as Jack and he arrived back in England a few weeks after him.
The wirless [sic] operator and the Engineer got back to England after the liberation of France but unfortunately the Engineer has since died.
It has since been learned that the bomb aimer was taken P.O.W. but he is now back in England. (8th May 1945).
[inserted] Warrant Officer J. Pittwood [/inserted]
[page break]
[missing word] 3rd 1944.
Left base at 10-30pm. For attack on Camp Mailly, crossed English coast at Beechy Head at 11-05pm. expecting to cross back home two hours later. Crossed enemy coast at 11-15pm. arrived over base at exactly midnight. An aircraft goes up in front of us on bombing range, flack starts to come close just as Wes closes the bomb doors and Liz puts aircraft into weave. At 12-10am. the port outer engine is set on fire by flack, the order to feather is given but at first the fire refused to douse so Liz gave orders to put on chutes. Later Nick managed to put out fire and we set off for home. Just as we turned onto course fighters came in on us so we abandoned plane at 12-40am.
May 4th.
I landed lightly in a ploughed field surrounded on three sides by woods and by a road on the fourth. I had not seen any other chutes on the way down and was surprized to see Curly come over to me, he asked me what his face looked like and what I intended to do. I told him to get rid of his chute harness and may west as we were going to make a run for it. We made for the woods and someone called to us, wether [sic] he was French or German we dont know and we didnt stop to ask. Gerry must have known that we were arround [sic] as serchlights [sic] were being played across the ground. Once in the woods we decided to move south and get as far away from the aircraft as possible, so guided by the stars we started our first trek towards freedom. The woods were thick and we got covered with scratches but they gave us a first class cover and they lasted for several miles. We eventually came to a clearing and found ourselves along side a railway, it was as light as day and I kept praying that clouds would cover the moon but no such luck. A train was in sight heading north so we lay low at the edge of the forest, our hearts beating like thunder, and every snap of a twig sounded like an explosion. As soon as the train had passed we crossed the rails, we
[page break]
[missing words] Cont.
were on a swamp plain and our only way for the next few miles was along the main road so we disguised our uniform as much as possible, burying Curlys outer suit in a well and once again started walking. It was now three o’clock and we were begining [sic] to feel a little more settled and away from the first hue and cry and jerry wouldnt start a proper serch [sic] until morning, so we decided to get as far as possible before five and then find a hiding place for the day. We walked on through a small village, every dog was barking and scaring us to death. Then we approached a town and from the notices on the toll we found out that it was Ferriers. We skirted the town, later to find out that it was a German garrison town, so it was lucky for us that we did not go through. Five o’clock us by a river on the S.E. of the town, so we purified some water and ate a little chocolate and some horlicks tablets, we then lay under the edge to sleep remaining there all day. We were going to carry on walking the following evening but as Curly was in pain we didnt get very far.
May 5th.
I decided to try a farm to get help for Curly, at first the farmer did not like the idea but after a short while he decided to let us stay in the barn as long as we didnt stay more than one day. He gave us some wine and some bread and what was most welcome something to bath Curlys face. we stayed in the barn that night and the following day but I got little sleep as one of us had to be on watch and Curly was to [sic] ill and was best asleep.
May 6th.
We decided to move just after midnight as it was obvius [sic] that Curlys face wanted treating by a doctor. We went back to the main road towards Ferriers and called at a big house on the outskirts of the town. They gave us more wine and bread and jam, by this time we were begining [sic] to feel hungry as our last
[page break]
[missing words] Cont.
meal had been supper on the on the [sic] 3rd. exept [sic] for a few odds and ends. The old lady informed us that Ferriers was a garrison town and that the doctor would probably hand us over, but 17 Kilometers [sic] down the road was La Selle de Bain where the doctor would help us, so off we set for La Selle. We had to travel along the road and it was begining to get light and were still in uniform, we passed several French men going to work but no one stopped us. On approaching La Selle we met a wood man who gave us a drink of cognac and told us to go on a little further and call at another house. After being passed through several houses at each of which we had either wine or cognac. We were eventually taken into the village and by this time all the inhabitants knew we were here and we became the object of a crowd of sightseers. The doctor told us to wait in the cemetry [sic] where a school teacher, the first English speaking person we had met asked us a few questions and then took us to a barn. The doctor dressed Curlys face and after our identity discs told us that we should be taken to the Marquis that evening. The villagers brought us plenty of food and drink and we really ended our hunger. At about 10pm. that night the school teacher and another French man returned and gave us a revolver and a cloak and then took us to the school house where we had our first French coffee (our first warm drink). They explained to us that we had about 12 Kilometers [sic] to go and were taken to a farm. They took us into a back room where there was already a French boy who was on the run from the Gestapo, we were given a good meal and for the first time in four days we were able to get proper sleep.
May 7th.
After a French breakfast of coffee and rolls we were given civilian clothes and our uniforms etc. were buried and another farmer who was presumably the local boss came to see us and
[page break]
[missing words] cont.
Dr. Salmon came to see Curly.
[missing number]th. & 9th.
The doctor decided that his daily visits to see Curly would arouse suspicion so they decided to take him to the doctors house. Sebastion who later became my guide and Georges two students both able to speak English came to interrogate me and told me I should be leaving in two days time for Paris and that I should have to be ready to leave on the Friday.
May 10th.
Uneventful.
May 11th. Thurs.
Georges came for me on a motor bike and told me that we were not going direct to Paris as the train was controlled, i.e. passengers checked, but were going by bus to Sens from Montargy and going to Paris the following day. We went by motor bike to a house in Montargy where I was given an identity card and ration cards. After dinner we went to the bus station and it was here that I came into contact with German troops for the first time and I can not say that I felt happy because they were waiting for the same bus as we were. You can imagine how relieved I was to get off that bus at Sens, of all my experiences I think that ride was the worst. As we walked through Sens I seemed to think that every German soldier must recognize me and it was not for quite a few days that I began to cease being afraid. We stayed the night in Sens at a school teachers house.
May 12th. (Ritas Birthday)
We went by train to Paris Garde L’Est by tube to Garre de Lion, the tube is always full of German soldiers and here I made my first boob, I knocked down a German rifle and picking it up I said “Sorry” but luckily he didnt catch on. We then went by train to Lagny, where I was to stay untill [sic] May 26th. Sebastion took me to a house where I met the local resistance chief another school teacher and was then taken
[page break]
[missing word] 12th. cont.
to the next village where I met Sgt. John Pearce a rear gunner also shot down at Mailly. It was grand to talk to an Englishman. Later I was taken to 13 Rue de la Paix, Lagny, Seine et Marne, where I met Marguerite and Bert Cane, Mdme [sic] Rheti and the two girls M and Mdme Boutte were also there. We had a good talk with Bert doing all the translating. I was given some new clothes and was able to have a bath, I was shown my bedroom which was next to the nursery and had a big French window looking onto the woods and my instructions were that in any emergency I was to go into the woods.
May 13th.
Had my first visit to Paris where I met Georges, saw Notre Dame, Les Invalides and saw for the first time German horse drawn traffic which reminded me of the films of the Civil War. The Americans bombed Orly. Sebastion told me that Curlys face was healing quickly and he was returning to the farm at La Choppilles.
May 14th.
Went to Bamper to see Sgt. Pearce spent the morning on the Marne and chopping wood for the bakery, this exercise was very welcome. We went for a drink with John and the Captain, the bar was full of Luftwaffe personel [sic] but captain didnt seem to worry.
May 15th.
Went to the Cinema with Marguerite and Mdme Rheti.
May 16th.
S/Ldr. Sparks controller at Mailly came to Dampar. We went for a drink together. Hank shot down from Thunderbolt, stays in Lagny. Cafe Yoche is becoming quite allied. John, Sparks and Mdme Boutte came to No. 13. Later a French man who had been in prison with came to stop with us. Chief came to see me and he introduced me to the Gardener who was a member of the
[page break]
[missing words]th cont.
underground, this was the first time that he knew we were in the house, neither did he know what Cane was.
May 17th.
Attended a conference of the local F.F.I. at the school house. I was informed that at a minutes notice an army of 10,000 men all armed could be raised in the Paris, Leine et Marne area. This little party was a credit to any country The Chief, his wife, Bert, Sebastion, two more boy students and two girl students discussed supply, dropping what arms and ammo were needed, distribution of weapons and technical points of new weapons. The girls spoke like experienced armourers. These were the first indications that final preparations were being made for the invasion.
May 18th-22nd.
Remained at No. 13, and saw John each night.
May 23rd.
Rosie came to see us and gave us the Gen about the second front. She also told us that they were trying to arrange for an A/C or boat to pick us up.
May 24th.
Agent disappears after landing by air from London so plans are altered and we are to go into Spain.
May 25th.
John Sparks and I go to Paris and wait for Rosie in the park near to Garre de L’Est. We were then taken to Georges where we did another sight seeing tour, we were introduced to an officer of the Paris Gendarmerie, the men who led the barricades battles.
May 26th.
We met at Petaine school where 7 Yanks and 6 English men were given new identity cards and Railway travel permits. We were to catch the 9-30 train from Paris to Toulouse and from there by local train to Pau where we are to wait on some open ground near the station untill [sic] we are picked up. (this was to be the worst journey I have ever had) We split up into twos
[page break]
[missing words]th. cont.
and made our way to the station. Luckily by this time we had begun to disregard the Germans. When we arrived at the station we found that our train was in and it was fairly crowded and once again we began to feel uncomfortable. We were expecting to be on the train anything from twenty four to fourty [sic] eight hours and on the train were thirteen people who couldnt talk French so we would just have to hope that no one would try to make conversation with us. We stayed in the corridors and although we kept in twos and threes I felt that it must be obvious that we were a party and the way we whispered to one another must have seemed suspicious. There were many German Soldiers, Sailors and Luftwaffe on the platform. The rear of our train was a troop train and the train opposite was going to the west coast and was mainly loaded with troops. They would walk up and down the platform yelling at porters and pushing aside any Frenchman who happened to be in the way and the Frenchmen after looking around would spit at them after they had passed. Eventually at about 8p.m. we left Paris and about an hour later we reached Juvessy which a month ago had been attacked by the R.A.F. and boy you would have to see it to believe it, I had seen Villeneuve St. George, La Chappelle, where twenty out of twenty three bridges had been knocked down and also Neusy La Lec which had been badly knocked about, but Juvessy beat the lot, it wasn’t crators or broken tracks and smashed trains, it was one great tumult just like a garden after it had been dug over. It was four hours later before we left Juvessy. We were moved part way by electric train part way by steam and in the middle they borrowed the engine to shunt some goods waggons across. The French people seemed used to this they just got out of the train and strolled around untill the controller told them that we were moving. We took the opportunity of eating something. Evenually [sic] we started to move again so John and I lay in the corridor to get some sleep. It was just after we woke up that I had one of my greatest
[page break]
[missing words]hcon.
heartbeats, a Gendarme came over to me and asked me something in French all I caught was the end bit “La on La” and luckily I knew this meant there or there so I just pointed and said La and luckily I was right. We arrived at Toulouse at 7pm. on Saturday night and we had to change trains to reach our final destination which was Pau. On Toulouse station we had what I think was our last greatest real scare, we followed our Guide on to the electric trains and just as it was about to go out he found that it was the wrong train so we all got out and tore up the platform and for about a quater [sic] of an hour we ran about trying to find our train. When we did get on the right train we found out that it was only going as far as Yarbes and at Yarbes a porter asked us for our tickets and started talking to us but luckily he was a friendly and he locked us in a room untill our right train did come in. In the morning from Yarbes we could see the Pyrennies [ sic] clearly and they looked rather high to climb. We arrived at Pau and waited for our contacts as instructed and for the first time the whole thirteen, lucky thirteen for us, were together. We must have looked a sight we had eaten a boiled egg and two sandwiches in the last fourty [sic] eight hours, we were unshaven and hadnt had a wash, we were in old clothes and we were all very tired. After waiting for over two hours no contact had turned up so the Guides went out to see what had happened and it was another three hours before they came back so we all split up and I went into a nearby hotel with a fellow called Rosie.
May 27th.
We all met again and went to a farm about four miles out of town and stayed in a disused house. It was here that we got to know about each other, Sparks Johny Ginger and myself were all from the Mailly raid, Rhodesia a Typhoon pilot who had crash landed only a few days ago, Junior, Canack and Bill had bailed out about the same time as I had, this was all the R.A.F. boys. Hank Dillingger had been in France about 15 months and twice
[page break]
[missing words] cont.
ran out by the Gestapo, he was called Dillinger because of his hunted look, Rebel a southener [sic] who was knocked down in his first flight from a Mustang, Lucky and Harry were from Fortresses and Slim was from a Liberator. Although it had been planned that there should be no waiting in Pau I think that these few days together did us a lot of good, it gave us some much needed rest and enabled us to get to know each other. We were here four days and spent the time telling experiences playing cards and preparing as well as possible for our climb, we washed our clothes and several changed shoes to get the best fit. Our food was brought up from the farm and although it was very rough we ate well. We cleared the house out and lay on straw and apart from complaints of mice running around we all slept very well. There were plenty of cherries to be picked and we also drank our first mountain water. Rosie and a Frenchman came to see us and brought us some Lucky Strike cigarettes, Cognac and some cube sugar.
May 31st.
We left the Farm in small parties for Pau where we were to catch a bus to Lasserex where taxis would take us to the point where we were to start our climb, when they said taxis we thought they had gone mad even in Paris a taxis was a museum piece, but somehow they had one waiting for us. We boarded the bus at Pau, I have never seen a bus so crowded, in this country conductors complain when there are five or six people standing, but this was a thirty two seater single decker bus inside there were about fourty five people and there were in between twenty and thirty people on top and behind there was a pig cart which some passengers had hitched on, there were even people riding on that. The bus was driven by coke and every time it hit a bump we left red hot coke lying on the road. The conductor knew who we were and he was to open the rear door when we arrived at a given place, by the time we were to leave I think everyone knew who we were
[page break]
[missing words]. Cont.
and they were saying “bonne Chane” and “bonne Voyage” as we left the bus. Six of us got into the taxis and we went about fifteen miles to the foot of the Pyrenees and then it went back for the others. We had food for two days two boiled eggs each about a pound of bread each and a pound of chocolate between us, we also had a little meat and cheese. We ate a boiled egg between two and a little bread and we all had a drink of Cognac. It was now ten o’clock and we were to move as soon as it got dark at about midnight and the first night should take us past the German first frontier posts and our danger would then be patrols of dogs and men. Our party consisted of one guide one Frenchman, Charles who had been told to go over with us as his time was up in Paris, seven English men and six Yanks. We left at midnight and for about six miles followed the road and then we took to the the [sic] fields, we had to cover twenty miles the first night but it wasnt bad going and we reached our shelter at about five o’clock in the morning, it was an old cowshed. We were just past the frontier posts but the shed was in full view of them and we were not allowed outside at all. If everything had gone well we should have had ten hours the followin [sic] night and then there would be four hours the evening after, but the mountains which had for weeks been clear became cloud covered and it started to pour with rain. When darkness came we all cut ourselves sticks and started again, and to make things worse we had our first range before us, the tracks had become marl and instead of doing five or six miles an hour we were doing from 200 to 400 yards. We were soon covered in mud and we were drenched to the skin. The top of the ridge brought us no respite as the desent [sic] was even worse, we slipped time and time again but by keeping together we prevented anyone one [sic] from slipping down the hill. At three o’clock we came to a hut and as we had no chance of reaching the next shelter we decided to pack in and and [sic] stay there form the day. I doubt if we could have gone much
[page break]
farther anyhow and I was glad of the rest, and Dille who in his fifteen monthe [sic] of captivity had had very little exercize [sic] was in a very weak state. We had very little food and the guide went to see if he could get any. He was unsuccessful at first but later he managed to get a can of soup which was warm and was very welcome, we ate a little bread with it and this left us with two eggs and some sugar and cognac and luckily we decided to keep this as long as we could. We were very uncomfortable here so as soon as it began to get dusk we started to move on again. Charles who had done a lot of mountaineering helped Dille along, the rain had stopped but we were still in the misty wet bottam [sic] of the clouds and the climbing got stiffer but we knew that once we were over this lot we should not be long before getting back to Blighty. We came to an almost vertical bank of clay which seemed impossible to climb but the guide got up and tied a rope to a tree and we were soon moving ahead again. We found a few cherries and there was plenty of water to drink. We rested the next day at a goatsmans hut and the following night we reached what should have been our shelter the second night. Several times we heard dogs barking but never saw anything of a patrol. The fifth night was fairly level going but owing to the mist we were very slow and we moved in crocodile fashion. We stumbled quite a few times and each time I managed to put my hand on nettles, we also crossed several streams but now we were so wet that we just waded through them, then we came to a river with two or three farm houses alongside and from the bushes the guide swung a kind of bridge across it was rather flimsy but it got us across. Later we reached a hut and stayed there, we now had one more ridge to cross. We chopped up the last egg and had this to eat with some meat paste.
6th June.
We started out just after midnight but the going wasnt rough it was grass, fairly steep and slippery and perhaps because it
[page break]
[missing words]. cont.
was the last lap it seemed to go on for ever. We crossed the first boundry [sic] at 4-15am. we were now in no mans land and at 6-10am. we crossed into Spain. We were now decending [sic] but the mist was freezing on our clothes and although it was June snow was falling. We found a little hut, lit a fire and dried our clothes a little and then pushed off towards the nearest village. Hank Junior Lucky and I went on ahead and were going fine even the sun was begining [sic] to shine. From behind the hedges there came two soldiers with guns we thought they were jerries but they turned out to be Spaniards, they lit us a fire and we waited for the rest. We were then taken to ISABA where we were taken to jail and they promised us a meal and about two hours later they came in with a great bowl of potatoes and a spoon each, but it was very welcome.
June 7th.
We were taken by bus to Pamplona where we were handed over to the consul and then to the Spanish Air Force. Afterwards we were sent to the British Embassy in Madrid, I shall never forget that journey on account of the beggars asking for food or money. I have never seen so many poor people, that is fascism for you, everything for the few. We were given some money and we stayed at an hotel. The food was awful everything was floating in olive oil, we showed the cheff [sic] how to make cherry pie. Later we went to a Bull fight and nearly caused a riot because we would not give the Fascist salute. The Spaniards were not very friendly to us. After a time we were sent to Gibralter [sic] and eventually we got a plane home.
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
The Diary of an Airman
Description
An account of the resource
Jack's record of events after his aircraft was shot down over France.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jack Pittwood
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France--Mailly-le-Camp
England--Beachy Head
France--Paris
France--Sens-sur-Yonne
France--Montargis
France--Lagny
France--Toulouse
France--Pau
France--Tarbes
Spain--Pamplona
Spain--Madrid
Gibraltar
France
Great Britain
Spain
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. Memoir
Format
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13 typewritten sheets
Identifier
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YPittwoodJ1291454v1
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
B-17
B-24
bale out
bomb aimer
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
crash
evading
flight engineer
killed in action
Lancaster
missing in action
navigator
P-47
P-51
pilot
prisoner of war
Resistance
shot down
Typhoon
wireless operator
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Payne, Malcolm
Malcolm H Payne
M H Payne
Description
An account of the resource
54 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant Malcolm L Payne (417512 Royal Australian Air Force). He flew operations from RAF Bardney as an air gunner with 9 Squadron and was killed in action along with other members of his crew on 13 July 1944. The collection consists of his letters to Miss Doris Weeks, letters from Doris Weeks to Malcolm Payne's mother after his death and official letters to Doris Weeks from the Royal Australian Air Force concerning his death, grave and bequeaths. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Debbie Brown and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br />Additional information on Malcolm L Payne is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/118239/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-05-18
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Payne, MH
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[postmark]
[postage stamp]
Miss Doris Weeks,
37. Hawthorne Rd.,
Bunker’s Hill,
[underlined] Lincoln. [\underlined]
[page break]
[Royal Air Force crest]
A417512
F/Sgt. Payne. M.H.
R.A.F. Stn,
Syerston,
NR. Newark,
Notts.
[underlined] Wednesday [/underlined]
[inserted] Haven’t the energy to correct any [underlined] mistakes [/underlined] [/inserted]
Hello Darling,
This was as far as I got when I decided to ‘phone you. Now I feel heaps and heaps better.
What do you think of this wind Pet? I’ve been running around with my hair down over my eyes today. Gee! but does it annoy me. Both the wind and the hair.
The wind was like this yesterday morning when we were riding back from Lincoln – Newark I mean – and it wasn’t
[page break]
xx
behind us either.
Don has retained his [underlined] bloody [/underlined] “Mo” but only because we forgot about it until it was almost time to go on parade.
I can imagine how much you would [deleted] have [/deleted] liked to [inserted] have [/inserted] been with us whilst sunbathing. Yes, Bud is skinny – bleedin’ ‘ell yes.
Oh darling, say that again. I mean about the chaps picking on someone their own size and not an old cripple next time they want to wrestle. I was tickled “pink” with that Pet.
[page break]
xxx
I’m awfully glad to hear you went back to bed, yesterday darling. I’m almost on my knees now.
It was about 11-30 when I went to bed last night and was up this morning at 6. I think I’ll be late again tonight too. Oh hell but who cares. I love you just the same darling one.
Our silly old Engineer is singing bloody swing sweet and dancing with himself in the middle of the room.
[page break]
xxxx
I recd. [sic] a huge (well 6) letters from home yesterday and boy! – are they always welcome.
But darling so are yours.
You say you don’t know this [indecipherable word] dance. Remember me telling you about her once. You know, the school-girl – or don’t you.
Dearest, there isn’t any news now and I’m in a bad mood so will say cheers.
All my best love darling Angel.
[underlined] Malcolm [/underlined]
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[circled x] !!!?
[circled x] for you
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Malcolm Payne to Doris Weeks
Description
An account of the resource
Feeling better after phoning her. Talks about wind and catches up with news about long days. Mentions six letters from home. Ends with endearments
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-05-04
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter and envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EPayneMHWeeksD440503
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Lincoln
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-04
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Malcolm Payne
love and romance
RAF Syerston
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Warmington, Ivon
I Warmington
Description
An account of the resource
Four items. One oral history interview with Ivon Warmington (b. 1922, 150280 Royal Air Force) and his flying log books.
The collection was catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-10-29
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
Warmington, I
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
MS: This is Miriam Sharland and I’m interviewing Ivon Warmington today for the International Bomber Command Centre’s Digital Archive. We’re at, at Ivon’s home in Wanganui and it is Saturday the 29th of October 2016. Thank you, Ivon for agreeing to talk to me today. Also present at the interview are Glenn Turner of 75 Squadron Association, Wayne Wolfspar and Ivan’s granddaughter, Sandra. So, Ivon can you please tell me about your early life, growing up, before you joined the air force.
IW: I was a cadet in the Post Office. You know, the village Post Office. Doing everything. The counter work, the mail, the telephone, listening to telephone conversations [laughs] and all that sort of stuff and would have aspired to the part of the Post Office career that I enjoyed was the mail department. It was a time if you mentioned any village in England I could tell you what county it was in because of sorting letters. And the epic career of that would have been on the railways where the mail trains would have used to have an arm suspended to collect the mailbags as they went through stations and another arm at another level that delivered mailbags as they went through stations. But the war interfered with that of course. So where are we? [pause] In those days we didn’t have girlfriend boyfriend but if you had someone special we were called sweethearts. I rather liked that. So my teenage sweetheart was sixteen when I went off to war with the Royal Air Force at age eighteen. And I was about a year on ground crew duties before I could re-muster to pilot training. And then I got my wings on Flying Boats. Came back to England. The Flying Boats were having a long salty war and did not need replacements but Bomber Command was both expanding and suffering heavy losses because it was real front line stuff. So we all got retrained and that was to my advantage because I was double trained in a way and the average pilot captain arriving at a Lancaster squadron about two hundred hours but I had four hundred hours by then. Maybe that’s why I’m still here [laughs] Another thing that I count as a survival tactic was the, there was a manoeuvre called a corkscrew. Have you heard about the corkscrew? The idea was not to go straight and level but to always be changing your heading and changing your height so that whatever detection devices the enemy had they couldn’t sort of latch on to you. But I was not only a good captain, a good pilot, I was a good captain and I said to the crew, ‘What do you think about this corkscrew thing?’ The navigator wasn’t very impressed with his pencil and other material rolling off the table onto the floor all the time. But the gunners had the last word. Theirs was punch line stuff. They said, ‘We’re told to scan the sky from left to right and top to bottom and if the aeroplane is on the move all the time we’ve no idea which bit of sky we’ve been looking at. So that was it. I said, ‘Right. I’ll fly straight and level on the auto pilot. Save myself up for emergencies,’ because I flew with my hand on the autopilot. And if they said, Corkscrew,’ if the gunners shouted, ‘Corkscrew left,’ or, ‘Corkscrew right,’ I was disconnected and gone already you see. It was that quick to take over manual control. So there we are. But the authorities thought so much of this corkscrew business they had it as an auto pilot function. If you set a height for the autopilot it would hunt up and down a thousand feet. Up and down from that. And the heading on the autopilot it would hunt thirty degrees left and right of that. And as a captain I thought well that’s going to take us longer to get there and get back. So I flew on the autopilot with my hand on the knock out lever so I could take over in a moment’s notice if the gunner’s shouted so. Because theirs was the punch line you know. When they said, we scan the sky left to right, top to bottom and if an aeroplane’s on the move all the time they’d no idea which bit of sky they’d looked at. So there you are.
MS: What made you decide to join the air force?
IW: Well, aeroplanes were up and coming thing. And, and I can remember the recruiting officer now. When I went and said I wanted to be a pilot. He said well you haven’t got what they, you know a peacetime pilot for the Royal Air Force was a university degree which I didn’t have. I left school at fourteen like all other village boys did. And the recruiting officer said, ‘Before this war is over they’ll want all the pilots they can get. So join the air force now and re-muster to pilot training when you can.’ That’s what I did. It took me about a year of ground crew service before I got on to pilot training. And then I was sent to, we had all our training grounds overseas. Whereas the Nazis had to train in the battle sky. But we were privileged in that our authorities considered it wasn’t fair to be shot down before you’d learned how to fly. So we had training schemes all over the world. And the training scheme in America had been through commercial pilot schools until Pearl Harbour and then when the Yanks were suddenly hijacked into the war whether they liked it or not the American US Army Air Force, they didn’t have an air force, it was an United States Army Air Force so they were subject to general’s attitude of how you should use aeroplanes. The United States Naval Air Squadrons. So they were subject to battleship admirals which is worse still [laughs]. The United States Air Force as an independent force wasn’t until about the 1950s when they finally caught up with the Royal Air Force [laughs] Sorry, I’m being critical [laughs] Where are we now?
MS: So can you tell me a bit about what squadrons you were in and what rank you held and the different roles that you did?
IW: Oh yes. Well, at the time I was, I got a commission with my wings which was the top four. Four of us got commissioned. All the rest were sergeant pilots. So that was a good start. And the first tour of operations was on the Lancaster which was the, to quote Butch Harris, Bomber Harris was the commander of Bomber Command, he said, ‘The Lancaster is useless for anything else but as a bomber it’s supreme.’ In other words there was nothing else like it. See, many of the early war bombers and some of them all the war were designed for little pre-war a hundred pound bangers. And when it became a real war and the bombs were a thousand pounds they wouldn’t fit anybody’s bomb racks except the Lancaster which could carry ten tons of smaller bombs or a ten ton bomb if that’s what you wanted. Your turn.
MS: So, can you tell us where you were located and what life was like on the base?
IW: Well, our life was organised twenty four hours a day. You know. Wake up time, sleep time, feeding time, briefing time, operational time. So that every minute of our day was, was planned like that. Where else? Where are we now?
MS: Where were you based?
IW: Where was I based? Lincolnshire. Half of Lincolnshire was 1 Group of Bomber Command. The other half was 5 Group of Bomber Command. So I was in North Lincolnshire at a place called Kirmington. That was the local village but it is still functioning as Humberside Airport in UK.
MS: Which squadron were you with?
IW: That was 166 Squadron and 1 Group. There were ten, ten bomber groups. 1 was North Lincolnshire. 2 was operating light bombers so they became the Second Tactical Air Force as a separate entity. Closely allied with the army and working in the field with the army. 3 Group was Stirlings down in East Anglia. 4 Group was started as Canadian squadrons and eventually became the Canadian Group because they contributed enough pilots and squadrons to run a whole Group. So where are we now?
MS: Can you tell me what it was like in Kirmington? Coming to a new country. Did you get to know local people? Did you spend much time in the village? Did you go out and about and see much of what life was like?
IW: No. Not really. But out and about there was one time when we were stood down and my navigator and I said, ‘Shall we go to the local town?’ And we went to Grimsby in, which was the nearest, sort of city and we had an afternoon off. And there was strawberry ice cream on the, on the — we had, we had tea and toast as an afternoon tea thing. And I sprinkled salt on the buttered toast to show him how we do it at Cornwall [laughs] You know, good old salty farmhouse butter. And there was strawberry ice cream on the menu so we thought well we might as well have a treat while we’re out having a treat. But when it turned up it was pink ice crystals. All ice and no cream. And we thought well fancy us thinking we were going to get real ice cream. But the lady who served us came out. She went back into the kitchen. Then she came out and looked left and right to make sure nobody could see what she was doing. She had a paper, a brown paper bag and she took out two big strawberries and put them on our dish [laughs] Doing her bit for the boys in blue.
MS: What other kinds of things did you get up to in the mess and during your leave time?
IW: Well, there’s lots of stories about that sort of stuff but we didn’t have much mess time really. Our life was programmed twenty four hours a day like I said already. And when we’d done our thirty, tour of thirty operations we were then removed from the scene to secondary flying duties. I did an instructors course and been a flying instructor for the rest of my life. Including here in New Zealand.
MS: So can you tell me about your crew? How did you get together with your crew and —
IW: Oh right. Well, that’s an interesting story because we arrived at the crew training place with ten pilots, ten navigators, ten everything. And all the trades were assembled in a big crew room and the pilots were taken off to the wing commander’s office and said, ‘You’re no longer just pilots, you’re captains of the crew. So you’ve got to see that they’re on parade at the right place at the right time and the right uniform. And all their discipline and all their personal problems. You sort them out. If you need help go see the chaplain. Don’t see me,’ the wing commander, ‘I’m going to busy enough doing operational things.’ So eventually we ten pilots, now labelled captains went into a room full of all the other aircrew trades you see. And the bright lights. We stood there like a row of stunned rabbits I suppose. And two men, a navigator and a bomb aimer came up to me and said, ‘We’re crewing together can we crew, be your bomb aimer and navigator?’ ‘Oh hello Jack. Hello John. Hello.’ One was Jack Gissing from Australia. The other was John Clark from RAF. And while we were chatting two others at a polite distance were hovering around and they said, ‘We’re going to fly together. Can we fly with you?’ So that was me selecting my crew [laughs] I was selected again. Well, where are we by now?
MS: Did you have any personal mascots or did your crew have any personal mascots? Did they play any kind of role?
IW: No. I’ll say this for the Royal Air Force. If they wanted you to do a job they put you through a course of training and said this is how we do it and we didn’t rely on a fetish of mascots or that sort of thing. We did, we did go in for nose art. And probably got my nose art here somewhere but I don’t know where it is. These [pause] Perhaps it’s not there. No. It’s not there is it?
Other: I’ll go and get some.
IW: In here perhaps.
[pause]
IW: Yeah. That’s the one. There it is. Thank you, Sandra. Yes, they, our aeroplanes weren’t numbered. They were alphabetical. And ours was I for Item so that was our nose art. There was a bit of thumbing your nose at the inevitable I for — the aeroplanes weren’t numbered, they were alphabetic and I for Imp was the current alphabetic phonetics. I learned the Post Office phonetics when I was in the Post Office and I learned the RAF phonetics when I was in the RAF. Then I went to the US Navy for training and learned the US Navy phonetic alphabet. But I for Imp. We’ve got her dressed up like a saucy girl and that’s the record of operations done. Including the one where my gunner shot a night fighter off our back. That’s the nose art. That’s that on there look. See.
MS: So can you tell me what kind of planes you flew in and how they compared to each other?
IW: Well, first tour on Lancaster. Air Chief Marshall Harris said that it was the only real bomber because it could carry ten tons of little bombs or a ten ton big bomb if that’s what you wanted. Whereas most bombers of the day were designed for little pre-war hundred pound bangers and when a real fighting war came on and the standard bomb was a thousand pounder it wouldn’t fit anybody’s bomb rack. Well, correction, the only bomb rack it would fit was the Lancaster.
Other: You also trained on Flying Boats.
IW: Well, I trained on, we were all sent overseas for flight training. I went to the US Navy. Came back as a Flying Boat captain which was to my advantage because no landmarks at sea. Flying Boat captains did a full navigator’s course as well. So an average bomber pilot turning up at a bomber squadron had two hundred hours but I had four hundred by then having done a full navigator’s course as well.
Other: And much later on you flew Mosquitoes.
IW: Second tour on Mosquitoes which was the fastest thing we had in our armoury at that time. Four hundred miles an hour. Like when the war was over we were put on as a courier service between the Nuremberg war trials and London. Carrying daily, you know there was two of us, one at each end and we used to fly, fly one day and have the next day off. Carrying official mail, newsreels for the cinemas and soldier’s military mail, private mail. Occasionally a passenger that had to go one way or the other. And they would just sit in the nose of the aeroplane where the navigator went down to aim bombs through the bombsight. But we didn’t have a passenger seat so he just had to sit down there and make the best of it.
Other: Shall we start with your paintings now Grandad?
IW: Yes. Alright.
Other: As a sort of —
IW: Some people write books. I did oil paintings. And that was the first.
Other: Describe the painting first. The name.
IW: Oh yeah. Just lay it on the floor perhaps.
MS: For the recorder this is Mailly le Camp. Is that? See properly.
IW: Fine. Yes. Yes. Mailly le Camp was a big army base at Paris but now taken over by Nazi Germany of course. And 5 Group had their own little Pathfinder force and they said it was, they got permission from the boss to have their own little Pathfinder squadron. The idea being that if they put a yellow marker on the ground it was only twenty miles from there to the target. So with a small target if everybody went into the target over the one yellow marker on the ground it was only twenty miles to go. The bomb spread couldn’t spread very far then. But as happens in these things 5 Group, who had their own private little yellow marker approach to a target said this is a bit bigger target then usual. Can we have support from 1 Group as well? So 5 Group went in first and the smoke and dust from their bombing raid was, was target blinding. We, they couldn’t see it. They had — so they called a delay to re-mark the target and we were supposed to circle the one yellow marker on the ground which was our approach point. When I got there, this was my first flight, when I got there there were yellow markers all over the place. Enough to light up the sky like daylight. And here were the Lancasters circling around the yellow marker on the ground like taxi cabs going around Piccadilly Circus in the middle of London. So I thought there’s no good staying there where it’s lit up like daylight. I circled the yellow marker as I was told but about twenty miles out in outer darkness. And later on I found out these yellow markers on the ground, only one of them was the target, was the assembly marker. All the rest were Lancasters burning on the ground. And on that flight I saw fourteen battles in the sky. That’s tracer bullets going both ways, you know. We lost forty two. So fourteen into forty three goes three. And I had a magic number that saw me through my tour. If I saw ten battles we’d lost thirty aeroplanes that night. So I had a measure of three that was the magic number as far as I was concerned.
Other: And when you got back to base that day?
IW: Well, we, we put up, during my tour I was the eleventh crew to survive thirty tour. They called it a tour of operations. That’s your duty span. Thirty operational trips. Then you went on secondary flying duties somewhere. And being the eleventh one at my squadron to retire we’d lost thirty three in that time. Which is what? A seventy five percent loss rate. That was front line battle for you. And I had a picture somewhere. Or logbooks. A thick logbook. Yeah. I prepared a little bit for this because if I can find it that one there there’s a crew, a picture of ten pilots and up ‘til then we were just pilot trained you know. Pilots among pilots. And then when we arrived at a crew training place we crewed up with the navigator, bomb aimer, radio operator and a gunner. And they, they were all in a crew room waiting for us and we pilots were ushered into the wing commander’s office where he said, ‘You’re no longer just pilots. You’re captains of aircrew and the crew members are waiting for you in the crew room. You’ve got a half an hour to select a crew and if you haven’t done so by then I’ll come and tell you who you’re going to fly with.’ So, alright we pilots went off to this big crew assembly room brilliantly lit and full of all the other trades and we must have stood there like a row of stunned rabbits I suppose. And two people came up to me and said, ‘We’ve crewed up. Can we fly with you?’ So I’d been selected already. And as long as it was polite there were two others who hovered around and they said the same. ‘We’ve crewed. Can we fly with you?’ So that was me selecting my crew. They’d selected me [laughs]
Other: Grandad, I’ll take you back to the Mailly le Camp painting. Can you tell them about the debriefing afterwards?
IW: What’s the suggestion Sandra? The debriefing?
Other: The debriefing afterwards. I know when you came in the group captain spoke to you.
IW: Oh yes. Yes. It was my first operation and when we came back the station commander, a group captain that’s, what’s that? Colonel in army language? But anyway, he was at the door greeting us all as we came back into the briefing room which was now the debriefing room and asking everybody the same question I suppose. But he said to me, ‘What did you think of it tonight, Warmington?’ And I said, ‘It was my first operation, sir.’ I, you know, had no real conception of what it was like except that everything that could go wrong did go wrong with that first flight and we lost forty two out of six hundred. Which was as heavy a loss as the RAF had except some of the totals in torpedo bombing was a bit fatal.
Other: But prior to this operation grandad you said that the French and German targets were treated differently.
IW: Oh yes. From the 1st of May 1944, after the Battle of Berlin they called it, you know the long trips to Berlin had been done and finished and Berlin was feeding its population out of army soup kitchens in the main streets. So it then was edicted that from the 1st of May 1944 on you had to do three targets to France to equal one to Germany. This was a danger assessment that somebody made and the very first one, on the 3rd of May, wasn’t it, that this one that anything that could go wrong did go wrong and we had the heaviest losses on that one as the RAF suffered anywhere. So they soon abandoned that three for one idea. And while we were at that, from the 1st of May 1944 on General Eisenhower was given first option to any military service with a view to what was required to launch the final invasion of Germany. Good choice of general apart from the fact that when the Americans take part in anything they want to be the boss. Any Americans present? [laughs] Anyway, pretty good choice Eisenhower wasn’t it? In German that means Iron Heart. So that was our, our commander from the 1st of May 1944 on and my first bomber operation was on the 3rd of May.
Other: Nineteen forty —
IW: ‘44.
Other: 1944. Is this the next painting?
IW: Yes. Well, that, that’s a classical big city bombing picture. You might sit there either in cloud all the way or certainly in the dark all the way and see nothing but an instrument panel for three hours. And then fifteen or thirty minutes of hell fire and then three hours of instrument panel on the way back again. So, that, that’s a target in full roar you might say. And the Pathfinders used to drop green flares or red flares and the master bomber flitting around the bottom in his high speed Mosquito would be looking at where the targets went down. If the greens weren’t in the right place he’d get the Pathfinders to drop reds. Direct them where, where the reds needed to go and had to have it all sorted out by the time the main force got there and then he’d put out an order, ‘Ignore the greens and bomb the reds.’ Or something like that. But that’s, that’s a city, a Nazi city in full roar. And this is what you call a box barrage and they soon sort out what height you’re at. The top level. Bottom level. And one like that, one of the first ones I did we were supposed to bomb from anywhere, you know. Go in at twenty thousand feet. Way above the wet weather in Europe. And that was also above the gunfire of the day too which was more advantageous and then descend to a lower target, a lower level to, especially in French targets. To be more accurate. Because it’s all an angular thing of course, and the higher you are the wider the angle on the ground. So this one we were told to bomb between twelve thousand and ten thousand. And when I got there as a beginner the experienced crews were always up the front and the beginners were at the back. When I got there this was twelve to ten thousand feet. Just like the briefing. So I thought, gosh it didn’t take them long to figure out what height we were going to be at. So I went from twelve down to ten and then underneath clear of all the gunfire. And when I came out the other side I thought gosh I was down here where all the RAF bombs were going down, all the flak going up and all the flak shrapnel coming back down again which was about the worst place you could be. Never mind. It was all over by now wasn’t it? What, while we’re at it my rear gunner used to praise me up. Well, for about three of these sort of operations he praised me up. He said, ‘Oh we got through just in time. Oh,’ he said, ‘The flak and the searchlights coming up back there now.’ And about three doses of that and he suddenly realised that what was he seeing as we went out of the target was what I’d been seeing on the way in. Right. Well, that’s, that’s a big target at full roar. They had rocket fuel.
Other: Which painting is this grandad? Does it have a name? Here’s one, “The oil refinery of the Ruhr Valley.”
IW: Yes. Well the Ruhr Valley was, was their armaments centre. The cities there were all sort of arsenals and they had rocket fuel for the rockets that were being launched to Britain. And they had rocket fuel for a little delta wing fighter aeroplane as well. But we didn’t know where it was and at different briefings they said well maybe it’s this target. This was an oil refinery but one of their oil refineries was probably where they were producing the rocket fuel. Now, I’m going into the target now at H + 4. H hours the first time that the first bombs go down and usually the experienced crews are at H H+1 H+2 and that. And the beginner crews are towards the end. So I’m a beginner crew. By the time I get there at twenty thousand feet the target has been hit and the heat bubble is, is above me at twenty thousand feet. That’s what? What’s that? Five miles up in the sky. Four miles up in the sky. So I reckon that must have been the rocket fuel that we were after. For a heat bubble to get that high that quick it had to be a hot one didn’t it? And the searchlights were, were in batteries. And there was always one that the gunners used to, if you got coned in a searchlight like that one over there the gunners would just fire down the searchlight beam. And some of them got lucky and they’d get one. One gun that’s, one searchlight that’s out of action. Looks broken and lame duck.
Other: “Oil painting.”
IW: Yeah. Yes. Some people write books. I did paintings. That’s me on the way in to a target. The Pathfinder target markers are going. The first Pathfinders put parachute flares. Tremendous candle power. Light the ground up. And then the lower level markers go in and pinpoint the target. And about twenty miles to go. That must have been a Pathfinder exploding with all the, they had all the colour bombs on board and all of a sudden all the colours that they carried — the yellows, the greens, the reds, one great big explosion. Probably a collision because I nearly had two collisions. So yeah. Junkers 88 night fighter in the bomber stream and twice one went over the top of my cabin so close if I’d reached up I could have touched it. Which was damn near a head on collision wasn’t it? But it’s always so reassuring if somebody is in the night fighter in the bomber stream going the wrong way.
Other: This one shall we do next?
IW: This one.
Other: Yeah. Fifth painting.
IW: Yes. See, here’s me heading into the target minding my own business and then the night sky suddenly lights up. A Lancaster right beside me has had his fuel tanks shot out of his wing. They used to, the night fighter gunnery was aimed at our wings. They wouldn’t aim at the aeroplane, the fuselage because they were afraid they might explode the bomb load. And you know that would have been such an explosion it would have involved the fighter itself as well.
Other: [unclear]
IW: That’s one of ours going down. Here’s one of theirs going down.
Other: Sixth painting.
IW: My [pause] I think I’ve said already didn’t I that the corkscrew method the navigator wasn’t keen on it but the gunners had the punch line. They said, ‘If the aeroplane’s on the move all the time we’ve no idea which bit of sky we’d looked at.’ The rear gunner had seen that aeroplane pacing us, you know. But another aeroplane keeping pace with the bomber stream might be another Lancaster until it dived down and came up underneath. And by the time it dived down he’d focused his four machine guns down like that and the first tracer bullets to come this way he sent his guns the, fired his guns the other way. The first thing I saw of the night fighter he’d nearly collided with my wing tip but he was already on fire and just rolled over on his back and went down with a bumph on the ground.
Other: Seventh painting. This is for the benefit of the machine.
IW: Well, that was the breakout from Normandy. We, we missed the Normandy invasion by half an hour because there were twelve gun batteries along the fifty miles of invasion, intended invasion coast. A gun battery is the command battery right out on the coast. Clear of the guns because the gunners who fired the guns don’t see the target they’re firing at and they can’t see whether they hit or not because they’re surrounded in the gunsmoke from the blast they’ve just fired off. So part of the invasion of Normandy, you see here all the ships off shore and the landing barges going to and fro. We had, there were twelve gun batteries along that fifty miles of coast and we had a hundred Lancasters on each gun battery. Twelve hundred aeroplanes to open the Normandy invasion. And the briefing said, ‘There’s a lot of cloud over France. You might be called upon to go in below the cloud.’ Because we were up at twenty thousand feet which is clear of the European weather and also above the gun fire of the day. But the master bomber was very late in, in saying the obvious. That we had to go below the cloud. So all of a sudden all the aeroplanes just closed all four motors, stuck out the drag machinery like the undercarriage down full flap and circling down in great circles to go from our twenty thousand feet height down to two thousand feet and under the cloud. So Lancasters all over the place with all the drag machinery out. Thank you, Sandra.
Other: Eighth painting.
IW: Well, that’s St Elmo’s Fire. Static electricity in cloud. Motorcyclists will tell you they get it in the front spokes of their motorbike on suitable occasions. Have you done motorbikes?
Other 2: Yeah.
IW: Well, that, that’s going straight into static electric cloud. The whole lot lights up. See the wing tip vortex off the, any of the disturbed air from propellers and wing tip vortex or just the passage of the aeroplane stirs up the static electric in the raindrops. Fine, fine cloud raindrops. If they’re big raindrops they get a high enough charge to discharge flashes of lightning. But the static electricity is fine rain drops which are mini electric batteries and they show up if you disturb them by any motion like that and an aeroplane is classic isn’t it?
Other: Ninth painting.
IW: Well, that’s a training flight. But July in England is thunderstorm time and when we, this is my second tour training on the Mosquito, De Havilland Mosquito. When we flew out, took off from England and flew half way to Normandy err to Norway and turned around and come back to simulate a bomber operation. By the time we came back July, thunderstorm month in England was in full roar. And it was a grand flight really because we all came down like a slalom through the gaps between the clouds except one idiot who, who he said he’d got mixed up in the cloud but we think that he deliberately just came down through all that lot. But you don’t fly through thunderstorms of that intensity and by the time he, he did have enough sense in the end after a hammering from hailstones as big as your fist. He determined that his stalling speed was much higher than usual. Not surprising was it? So when he landed on the runway he landed long and went off the end and crashed the aeroplane in to the radio aerials that were on the end of the runway. So that wasn’t very clever. That’s my interpretation of —
Other: Tenth painting.
IW: Where there is a black thunderstorm brewing it’s going up with no activity. There’s one that’s energised enough electricity to discharge in lightning flashes in to the sea of the Bay of Bengal on this occasion. That is what people call fork lightning. It’s lesser voltage than that. And the voltage there can only discharge by running down its own rainstorm. And there’s one brewing. Here’s one where the lightning is flashing from cell to cell within the cloud and you don’t actually see the flashes you just see the illumination. And at this stage of the game it was Cold War stuff and I was based in Singapore. And what we used to do on a night like that was the captain would lower his seat and just look at the instrument panel and the co-pilot would wear day sunglasses because instead of lightning being a blinding flash, you know a blinding light and then when it’s dark its blinding dark. Wearing daylight sunglasses they could see the differences and say you’d better alter course by about thirty degrees and go between the gaps. That’s the story of that painting. Thank you Sandra.
MS: Can you tell me how you ended up in the Pathfinder force and what that meant to you?
IW: Well, I didn’t operate as Pathfinders really because by the time I got there on my second tour it was the end of the war in Europe. And the De Havilland Mosquito was one of the fastest aeroplanes we had at the time so we got seconded to the Nuremberg war trials between Nuremberg and London. And with a day off at each end. When we were in Nuremberg we got to get into the war trials and see the Nazis all lined up. Or what was left of them. The prisoner of war camp in Treblinka, Poland was the Polish, was the Russian war camp. But there were no Russian soldiers to go home at the end of the war because it was just another death camp. Another of the Nazi death camps. So with the Russians the first to get to Berlin because Berlin was far east in Germany so the Russians got there first and that’s why Hitler in his, in his command bunker in Berlin bit the suicide canal err suicide capsule. You know they all had their cyanide capsules. And Joseph Goebbels, his propaganda man was with him so Joseph and his wife killed their two children and then bit their cyanide capsules. And the two chiefs of the Luftwaffe bit their cyanide capsule, capsules. So it was a fine collapse towards the end of everybody suiciding. Old Göring was lined up at the Nuremberg war trials and he said that, ‘In twenty years’ time there will be statues of me all over Germany.’ There never was. In fact since I’ve been here watching Sky Television History there was a woman, a German woman. She said she was a little girl she knew her grandad, Herman Göring was an important man because he was number two to Hitler. And then when she grew up as a full blown lady and realised the full inhumanity of the Nazi dealings she had herself sterilised so that she wouldn’t propagate the Göring monster genes as she called them. Which was terrible really wasn’t it?
MS: You, you were awarded a DFC I believe.
IW: Yes.
MS: Can you tell us about that please?
IW: Well, that, that was a normal award when you’d finished thirty operations in a Lancaster. They sent us home on leave after the first three operations which was [laughs] tell you how long they expected you to last. So if you lasted all thirty you got the Distinguished Flying Cross. Have you ever seen one? Oh you have. Good. I had a young squadron leader from Ohakea who was over here for Anzac Day one year and he squinted at my medals and he said, ‘That, that one at the end looks important.’ I said, ‘It’s a decoration. The others are medals.’ And ‘decoration’ didn’t seem to mean anything to him so I said, ‘It’s a Distinguished Flying Cross.’ That meant nothing to him. He’d obviously never seen one before. It appeared that he’d probably never even heard of one before. And I thought, goodness me, a modern day chaplain doesn’t know air force history. Later on in the Cold War I was on Transport Command and we dropped paratroops into the Suez Canal Zone when [pause] well that’s a long story but anyway what I was getting around to was when we dropped the paratroops we dropped the chaplain in [laughs] and the chaplain went down with the troops.
MS: Were you asked to do Operation Manna flights or prisoner evacuation?
IW: No. At that stage I was on the De Havilland Mosquito which was the fastest aeroplane we had, and doing the Nuremberg communication courier service to and from. Like eight hundred miles. Two hour trips each way. That was pretty fast in those days. Two big Merlins in a balsa wood aeroplane.
MS: What did you do after the war?
IW: I did market gardening for four years. That achieved two things. My brother had been a prisoner of war for the last year of the war and he, when he came back his boss had kept his office job for him and he went to, went back to his office job. But the confines of an office didn’t free him from his confined complex of a year in a prisoner of war camp. So by the time I came out he was, he was quite fretful really and I said, ‘Well, let’s borrow money and run a flower farm,’ which is one of Cornwall’s industries. Because like Northland pokes up into the north end of New Zealand Cornwall is down in the warm end of UK and we can grow flowers and early vegetables there in the outdoors when the rest of England has got to use glass houses. So the four years grovelling in the mother earth achieved two things. One, it freed my brother from his prisoner of war confined attitude and he went back to an office job because he was an office boy really. Or an office manager later. Like when he was in charge of a fleet of trucks, the company fleet of trucks he equipped them all with a radio telephone which was a pretty substantial device before you get to cell phones these days. Mini everything. And he turned a ninety percent of the return loads and he made the truck drivers phone in before they came back. So he turned ninety percent of the return loads in to payloads. Pick. Go to somewhere and pick up a load on the way back. Which must have been good for the coffers of the company.
MS: What happened at the end of that four years?
IW: Well, the Cold War was hotting up and the RAF was calling for veterans to return. And I went back in to the air force for another fourteen years. So in total I did twenty years for the Royal Air Force.
MS: How did you feel about the way Bomber Command was treated after the war?
IW: Oh, badly. Yes. Our commander Air Chief Marshall Harris was the only one that didn’t get an earldom which is the top civil rank in UK. So Bomber Command was always a bit sore about that. And Bomber Harris went back to his home country of Rhodesia and was a farmer there of some sorts I think. But the air force did him right. There’s a statue at St Clement Danes. It was a burned out wreck at the end of the war and it was the closest Anglican church to the RAF headquarters in London so the RAF said, ‘Give us St Clement Danes. We’ll refurbish it in air force style,’ and you probably know it’s the main RAF chaplain’s church. Although originally St Clement Danes was when the Danish were rampaging. You know, with their two horns and all the rest of it. They finished up they they went through Iceland didn’t they? And Greenland and they had a go at England and came a bit short there but a lot of them stayed in England. And the London, London authorities said that the Danish soldiers who stayed in England, married English girls could live outside the city limits. So hence the St Clements Danes Church. You probably know all about that. No. You can look it up and find out when you get back.
MS: Do you think that the bomber boys should have had a campaign medal?
IW: Well, they did in a way. If we’re going to talk medals. Where are my medals? Thank you. You spied them already. [pause] Yeah. Well, my brother had the Aircrew Europe medal which was a long term medal up to the 1st of May 1944. And the 1st of May 1944 all the UK forces and the American forces and the Polish and everybody else that was in, ganged up in Britain at that time were put under, you know if the Americans if they joined anything where they wanted to be the boss. But never mind it was a pretty good selection with a name like Eisenhower which in German means Iron Heart as the, the boss man for the invasion of Europe and the final demise of the Nazi government. So that one there is called the France Germany Star which was a campaign medal after the 1st of May 1944. And prior to that it was an all blue, pale blue, sky blue sort of ribbon which was called Aircrew Europe which was the long term bombing. And Bomber Command was the only force that took the war to the German homeland all the war. The navy could only attack ships at sea or coastal targets. The army couldn’t do anything until we put them ashore in Normandy. Sorry about that. Where were we? That’s the Defence Medal which is twelve months ground service in UK. That’s a war medal if you were in, if you were in the war, one day in it and the war stopped the next day you would have got that. One day in any, any uniform. You know, Home Guards and everybody got that one. That one was twelve months in UK. That one was after the 1st of May 1944. That one was any battle, front line battle unit. Army, navy, air force. See the three colours. That’s a decoration which went with completing thirty bomber operations with a Lancaster. And, oh no that’s just the brooch that holds the medal on.
MS: Now, you told me on the phone what it was like the first time you went in a Lancaster. Can you remember what it felt like flying a Lancaster compared to planes you’d been on before?
IW: Oh yes. Well, it was like learning to fly on a three ton truck and then they gave you a Jaguar to drive [laughs] because it was a beautiful aeroplane. And one of the stunts, I don’t think it was in the training syllabus but one of the stunts you know we did the training on lesser aeroplanes. Including thirty hours on four-engined bombers that was downgraded by then. The Halifax. And only ten hours on the Lancaster which was little more than a type rating really but it was like, I said that didn’t I, like learning to fly on a three ton truck and then being given a Jaguar to go to war with.
MS: And can you tell us a bit about the Meteor 6? Did you fly?
IW: Meteor. The jet. You’re talking the jet.
MS: Yes. Yes. There’s a photo of it in your book.
IW: Yes. The Gloster Meteor was a twin jet. When I went back in the war, well during the war I did a one months’ instructor rating course. When I went back into the war, back into the air force during the Cold War I did the full instructor’s course which by then was a six months course. And at the end of it there was what they called a type rating course. There was a Lancaster, a Wellington, the twin jet Meteor. All these sort of things that as a bonus at the end of the instructor rating you got to fly all these different types. The only thing we didn’t get was a Flying Boat. You can’t fly that off an aerodrome but I’d been trained on Flying Boats anyway. So I had a pretty wide of experience of flying which was the aim of the object until the accountants get hold of it and say Why are we spending all this money on that. So then they cancelled that type rating down to the twin-engined Gloster Meteor because the future of air forces was all going to be all jets. So the one aeroplane that I hadn’t flown was the one that was left over. So I got four, four hours in a Gloster Meteor. Then that that made flying very easy. Instead of like four engines working real hard it was two jet engines that just greased you through the sky. The speed was fantastic really. And on the solo flight from it I went up through the clouds and got up there and did all the aerobatics I could think of and then I thought, we were supposed to land with forty forty. That’s forty gallons in each wing tank. Supposed to be in the circuit by then because you had enough for a landing and enough for a second landing if the first one was failed. So high up, all the aerobatics I could think of, I looked at my tanks. Forty forty. I thought oh gosh it’s time I went down. I was above a sheet of cloud you see but there was a gap over there. So I just stuffed the nose down and at jet speed I went to that gap and came down. When I broke cloud down below I thought gosh I’m miles from where I should be. But with jet speed sort of free for nothing I went all the rest of the way back to the aerodrome I was supposed to be landing at and my tanks were still at forty forty [laughs] That was jet speed for you. It made ordinary propeller flying like hard work.
MS: And you carried on flying after you left the RAF didn’t you?
IW: Well, I did four hours of market gardening with my brother.
MS: Four years.
IW: Four years. Yeah. And that freed him of his prisoner of war complex and the Cold War had hotted up and they were calling for veterans so I went back into the air force for another fourteen years.
MS: What postings did you have?
IW: Well, mostly instructor. The RAF used to say once an instructor always an instructor. So that was about it. Including when I came to New Zealand. That’s what I did here. Flying instructing.
MS: Can you tell us about your posting to Singapore?
IW: Yes. Well [pause] first of all there was a posting required in Singapore for a Hastings pilot and three of us were put up for the job. The other two didn’t want it so I got it. How about that? And it was flying a VIP aeroplane. In, in England the commanders had all their stations within the aircraft carrier of Britain and it was like an aircraft carrier by the end of the war. Aerodromes everywhere. So all the commanders had just a small twin engine aeroplane as their runabout. But the commander in the Far East had an aerodrome two thousand miles west and another one two thousand miles north and liaising with Japan and America where ever they were stationed. The Philippines and all the rest of it. So the commander’s runabout was the four engine trans, long range transport aeroplane and we had, it was my aeroplane for four years and my crew. And nobody else flew it. We had full catering kitchen on board. And the, the middle section was two tables for four. Four each. So there was an eight seat diner and when they went to the lounge at the rear for after dinner drinks we could convert to four engine, the eight seat diner into eight bunk room. You know, pull a few levers and draw a few curtains and it was converted from a dining room into an overnight sleeper so that we could, we could take the commander on board from a days’ parades in Hong Kong say and sleep them overnight and deliver them bright and cheery next morning back in Singapore.
MS: Can you tell us about your most important VIP?
IW: Oh, well, as the official title was Personal Pilot to the Commander in Chief of the Far East Air Force but that meant we got to fly any top level visitors that were there. Members of parliament on overseas perks you know and foreign dignitaries. Going to visit the Americans one time I had fourteen stars on board. That’s one star brigadiers and two stars and three and four. There were fourteen stars on board. Delivered them to Okinawa. And they went on board an aircraft carrier and saw the Yanks doing all their naval stuff and then I picked them up again at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. That’s what we were doing for four years when I was based in Singapore.
MS: Which princess did you take to Vietnam?
IW: Cambodia.
MS: Cambodia.
IW: Yes. Princess Alexandra of Kent came out from England. Came out by BOAC VIP transport. But when she came there and we had to take her up to Cambodia which was a potential war zone we, the military VIP transport took her up there. Handed her over to the British ambassador and the Cambodian government. Got her back into England just in time before Pol Pot did his thing. You know about Pol Pot? It was use of British royalty at it [laughs] at its best you know. Trying to pretend that if it was alright for British royalty to go to Cambodia that it was alright to — a tourists attraction for everybody else to go. But it all collapsed into the Khmer Rouge disaster wasn’t it? About four million people and he killed a million of them. Speak French language. Foreign. Foreign language. Christians. Foreign religion. Clean hands. Never done a job of work. You know. All the city workers were put out in to the rice paddies. Wading around in the wet muddy rice paddies because they never, in his terms they’d never done a job of work in their lives. But that all ended in disaster as you know.
MS: Now, another important visitor, VIP, was your wife. The captain’s wife. Can you tell us about your trips with the captain’s wife?
IW: Yes. Well, occasionally I got her on board. And when I’d come back from one trip I’d have to go to the briefing room for a debriefing report on the flight we’d just done and get a briefing for the next one we were supposed to be doing which was a three weeks tour of Australia and New Zealand. So I said, ‘Any empty seats?’ ‘What have you got in mind?’ I said, ‘My wife’s got two brothers in New Zealand. It would be nice if she could be a passenger on that one.’ So I got Mrs Captain on board as a passenger. And we had a, for a favour of the Royal Air Force we had a look at New Zealand before we finally came out here. And the end of military service a lot of people usually stay in the town where they finished their service. And we were back at a nice little Wiltshire town. An aerodrome, one each side of it. And I’d been at this one for a tour and now I was at that one and we had the same little Wiltshire country town. We could have stayed there quite well but we had two nasty rebuffs which, you know twenty years in the Royal Air Force I didn’t expect any special treatment but I did expect, expect to get treated like anybody else. And one rebuff was the, I didn’t belong to the AA I belonged to the Royal, the RAC, the Royal Automobile Club and they wrote to all their members and said, we’re doing life insurance. Mates rates for members. So I enquired as to what that was like and they said, ‘Oh, we don’t cover military people.’ So that was the first rebuff. The other one was like the end of military service people usually think well this is a nice place. We’ll, we’ll buy a house here, find a job here and the land agent wouldn’t even show me you know. We said we were interested in a certain house and he wouldn’t even show it to me because I was in the air force. And I thought goodness me. You know. What gives? And my wife and I had a chuckle about this because homosexuality was a hot topic at the time and we had a giggle over it and said perhaps we’d better go to New Zealand before England makes it compulsory [laughs] Oh well. Here we are.
MS: Ivon did you fly any bombing ops to France on D-Day or leading up to D-Day?
IW: We did indeed. The, the fifty miles of intended invasion frontage had twelve gun batteries on it and a gun battery was a command post out on the post, out on the coast and the guns were further inland because the gunners can’t see what they’re aiming at. They do what the command post tells them. And they can’t see where their shells hit because they’re surrounded in smoke from the big blast that, that launched a thousand foot, a thousand pound shell from here to there. So the invasion of Normandy started with twelve hundred Lancasters. A hundred on each of the twelve gun batteries along the fifty miles of intended Normandy invasion. So a thousand bomber raid was only one for a sample really. The city of Cologne. And Bomber Harris was demonstrating that saturation bombing, that is putting as many aeroplanes as possible on the target depending on the size of the target and they chose Cologne as a big city. It was an ideal target really because it was hard up against the River Rhine and it had a semi-circle which was the city business area. And all the target stuff was in there. Then it had a green belt which was city gardens and car parks and sport grounds and all that and then the outer circle was the residential. So the city of Cologne was an ideal target for Bomber Harris to put on his thousand bomber demo that, he said that, ‘Wars had not been won by bomber aircraft yet but it’s never been tried.’ So he said look out for this. The Nazis bombed us small time. We’re going to bomb them big time. And you know all about that. You’re sure.
MS: Have you been inside a Lancaster since the war? Maybe at, at MOTAT?
IW: Yes.
MS: Yeah. How did that feel?
IW: Yes. Aye. Pretty good. And I had a lady friend here in Wanganui that, her father had flown Lancasters and when she visited MOTAT they let her climb up in the aeroplane and sit in the pilot’s seat.
MS: Are you a member of any Squadron Associations or the Bomber Command Association?
IW: Not now. No. I was Bomber Command UK. Or UK Bomber Command Association for a long time but by the time you’re ninety four you’ve given up most things.
MS: Ok. The New Zealand Bomber Command Association.
IW: Oh yes. Well, they, they wrote to me and said you don’t belong. Well, I said I’m a member of the Bomber Command, the UK Bomber Command Association. But they made me an honorary member anyway so I get their newsletters.
MS: Oh, so you were in some squadron associations in the past were you?
IW: Yes.
MS: So which ones were you in?
IW: Well, Bomber Command. UK Bomber Command Association.
MS: Yeah.
IW: And the 166 Squadron.
MS: Yes.
IW: That’s a Lancaster squadron. They had an annual reunion. Well they had an organiser who organised a reunion and at the end of it all they said, ‘Are we going to do this again next year?’ And he was saddled with it for the next fifty years [laughs] But it became interesting. For instance boys in, in Holland, well Holland is you know the Zieder Zee is lower than the North Sea and they’re, forever windmills are pumping the water out. And when they pump it down, they call them polders don’t they? They’ll build a dam around, pump all the water out and they’ve got another few hundred acres to add to the country’s surface. And they found a Lancaster there with all the crew in it so they reported to the RAF and the RAF said, ‘We’ll come and recover the bodies if there are any bodies in it. After that you can do what you like with the wreckage.’ And a lot of them will take the propellers and stick it up as a memorial in their town or something. But out of that we, we had a Belgian boy that found a Lancaster and he came every, he came over one year to our squadron reunion so we made him an honorary member and he came back every year. For the next several years anyway.
MS: So, I’ve asked all the questions that Glen and I have. Is there anything else you can think of that you want to tell us about your time in Bomber Command?
IW: Well, I’ve got a painting there of a Pathfinder that exploded with all its colours. Bombs are lethal things but they’re totally safe until they leave the aeroplane. The safety pin is attached to the aeroplane so when the bomb leaves the bomb rack it’s primed. But prior to that you could hit it with a hammer and it wouldn’t, wouldn’t explode. And yet a Pathfinder exploded in front of me. About twenty miles from me to the explosion and then the target so that could only have been a collision. And I nearly had two head on collisions. A Junkers 88 night fighter passed over my cabin going in the bomber stream but going the wrong way. Which is alright because he’s, he’s left you alone. Somebody else, it’s their problem. But twice, in fact I had three head ons but a Messerschmitt 110 was off to one side but the, twice a Junkers 88 if I’d reached up I could have touched it as it went over the top of my cabin. In the bomber stream but going the wrong way.
MS: Ok. Well that concludes our interview, Ivon. Thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today. Thank you very much. That’s the end of our interview.
Dublin Core
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Identifier
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AWarmingtonI161029, PWarmingtonI1603
Title
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Interview with Ivon Warmington
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.
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IBCC Digital Archive
Type
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Sound
Language
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eng
Format
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01:23:50 audio recording
Creator
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Miriam Sharland
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-10-29
Description
An account of the resource
Ivon Warmington was working for the Post Office in his native Cornwall before he volunteered for the RAF. After pilot training he flew a tour of operations with 166 Squadron from RAF Kirmington. His first operation was to Mailly le Camp where the yellow ‘flares’ on the ground turned out to be burning Lancasters. He discusses the corkscrew manoeuvre. He had several near misses on operations when he felt he could just reach up and touch the other aircraft. After his first tour he went on to flying Mosquitos and ferrying passengers to and from the Nuremberg War Trials. He then became Personal Pilot to the Commander in Chief of the Far East Air Force. He emigrated to New Zealand where he continued to train other pilots.
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 New Zealand Air Force
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
New Zealand
England--Lincolnshire
Germany--Nuremberg
France--Mailly-le-Camp
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Contributor
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Julie Williams
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-01
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1945
1946
128 Squadron
166 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
Ju 88
Lancaster
Master Bomber
Meteor
Mosquito
Pathfinders
pilot
RAF Kirmington
searchlight
target indicator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2252/40874/EOCRAFSpilPittwoodA440504-0001.2.jpg
46504cc5bb82757d2beb102ad6a8f3af
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2252/40874/EOCRAFSpilPittwoodA440504-0002.2.jpg
a6d237a2eee136c21658b1c81cffbda9
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Pittwood, John
Pittwood, Jack
Pitwood, J
Description
An account of the resource
Ten items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant John Pittwood (b. 1923, 1291454 Royal Air Force) and contains his diary, documents and correspondence. He flew operations as a navigator with 207 Squadron. He was shot down during the operation to Mailly-le-Camp on 3/4 May 1944 and managed to evade and return to the UK.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by John Pittwood and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
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2022-08-27
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Pittwood, J
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Post Office crest]
POST OFFICE TELEGRAM
[postmark]
125 2/55 SKE/T OHMS 68
-PRIORITY- CC MR A PITTWOOD 54 COLES LANE HILLTOP
WESTBROMWICH STAFFS-
DEEPLY REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR SON F/SGT JOHN PITTWOOD WAS REPORTED MISSING AS A RESULT OF AIR OPERATION ON THE NIGHT OF 3 RD/4 TH STOP
LETTER FOLLOWS ANY FURTHER INFORMATION RECEIVED
[page break]
[Post Office crest]
POST OFFICE TELEGRAM
[postmark]
WILL BE IMMEDIATELY COMMUNICATED TO YOU STOP
PENDING RECEIPT OF WRITTEN NOTIFICATION FROM AIR MINISTRY NO INFORMATION SHOULD BE GIVEN TO THE PRESS
= OC RAF SPILSBY
[deleted] 54 3 RD/ 4 TH SKET/T [/deleted]
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
Telegram to Jack Pittwood's Father
Description
An account of the resource
The telegram advises that Jack is missing.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
OC RAF Spilsby
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-05-04
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
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. Correspondence
Format
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One double sided typewritten sheet
Identifier
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EOCRAFSpilPittwoodA440504-0001, EOCRAFSpilPittwoodA440504-0002
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
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IBCC Digital Archive
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Cara Walmsley
missing in action
RAF Spilsby
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/707/19133/BBennettTBennettTv1.1.pdf
e4ad097b0ecbfce57244070e8a04acb9
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
Bennett, Tom
T Bennett
Description
An account of the resource
One item. A memoir by Tom Bennett. He flew operations as a navigator with 617 Squadron.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Don Hiller 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
2016-07-01
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
Bennett, T
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[inserted] 1 [/inserted] I cannot recall the operation mounted by No's 1 and 5 Groups, Bomber Command, on the night of 3/4th May 1944, against the French target of Mailly-le-Camp without a feeling of tremendous sadness, even after the passage of [deleted] fifty-eight years [/deleted] [inserted] [deleted] some sixty two [/deleted] almost seven decades [/inserted]. That night I witnessed the early stages of a slaughter of aircraft which contemporary aircrew could NEVER have previously associated with a "French target" at that period of the war. That sadness is more than a little tinged with bitterness, but, nevertheless, there IS a thread of personal thankfulness running through the weave.
The four Mosquito marker crews of 617 Squadron were very surprised to be summoned to the Briefing Room at RAF Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire during the afternoon of the 3rd May 1944. Together with the remainder of the whole aircrew strength of the Squadron, they had been briefed for OPERATION TAXABLE (the "D-DAY SPOOF") and had come under the ban from operations until TAXABLE had been fulfilled. At the briefing, they discovered that a German Panzer Division was temporarily bivouaced [sic] in the French Tank Training Camp at Mailly-le-Camp, some 150 km ESE of Paris. This Division was apparently en route to position behind the "Atlantic Wall" and the Allied Command was anxious that this prime target be hit before it could move out again. 627 Squadron, the Mosquito squadron undertaking target-marking duties for 5 Group, had but recently assumed this role, on transfer from No 8 (P.F.F.) Group, and it was felt by Bomber Command Headquarters that this "one-off" target really needed the expertise that the 617 marker crews had regularly demonstrated in the finding of small
[inserted] 1 [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] 2 [/inserted] targets, difficult to locate by purely radar aids.
Since the Lancaster element of 617 Squadron was not taking part in this operation, it was not considered necessary to give these marker crews the usual full "MAIN FORCE" briefing, but just the elements that applied to the actual target area...time of first flare-fall..timing of the first wave of aircraft (which was to be the 5 Group effort)..lull time for the marking of the area allocated to the second wave of aircraft (1 Group)...Wing Commander Cheshire to be "MARKER LEADER" ...indeed, I remember that the main emphasis for the Mossie crews was on security, so unusually disturbed was the Intelligence side with the prospect of four crews operating, each member of which knew that D-DAY could not be far away. In effect, the bottom line was "MARK YOUR TARGET AND THEN GET THE HELL BACK TO U.K.!!". Operational aircrew were exhorted to keep themselves up-to-date with all that was going on in relation to the Intelligence side of the war. Without exception, the Intelligence section of an operational RAF station was most comfortably furnished and staffed with very pleasant WAAF personnel. An intriguing amount of wide-ranging literature was always available and, at strategic times, a nice mug of tea! In a browse through some of the literature a week or so before the Mailly-le-Camp operation, I had come across an item which said that a German prisoner of war had stated that an operation order rested in the safes of all Luftwaffe day-fighter squadrons in France, code named "WILDE SAU" ...the order to be invoked when moonlight conditions were such that day fighters could readily be scrambled to operate in a "freelance" role during the passage of a bomber stream over France. However, not a vestige of this came into
[inserted] 2 [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] 3 [/inserted] my mind during the preparation period.
Wg Cdr Cheshire and Sqn Ldr Dave Shannon were detailed as markers for the 5 Group wave and thus they took off some time before the Mosquitos of Flt Lt Terry Kearns and Flt Lt Gerry Fawke. I was Gerry Fawke's navigator and my log book shows that we were airborne from Woodhall Spa at 2230 hrs. The trip down England was uneventful ...the "GEE" radar aid working well and wind velocities soon well checked and logged...a lovely moonlight night with no sign of cloud at any altitude. We were at 6000 feet, a height reckoned to be reasonably safe from light "flak" and below the minimum height of the heavier stuff ...also it enabled one to work without the oxygen mask clamped across the face. We crossed the English coast on time at Beachy Head and sped towards the enemy coast, to cross just to the east of Dieppe.
It was during this Channel crossing that I began to appreciate fully just how bright the moonlight was. The invisible enemy "jamming" of the Gee radar had begun to invade the main time base but at that stage, it could be "read through" without much difficulty. I found it was eminently possible to map-read accurately in the brightest moonlight I could ever recall, except perhaps when crossing the Alps en route for Italy, back in mid-October 1942. I used Gee very sparingly, mainly across areas devoid of the more definable pin-points.
One of the advantages of being in the second wave was that one could see the "party" starting well ahead and the final run-in could be made merely by steering visually towards the action. We arrived in the immediate area of the Camp and it appeared that the raid was progressing very favourably. We had picked up no messages on the VHF
[inserted] 3 [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] 4 [/inserted] frequency, neither did we experience any invasion of the VHF channel by any outside brodcasting [sic] unit.
Gerry positioned the Mossie for the marking dive we would need to make and we watched as sticks of bombs hammered home around the well-placed markers. We could see that these had been laid very accurately. I kept Gerry informed as the minutes ticked away and at the beginning of the "lull time", our Mossie was perfectly poised for the marking dive. We had just about commenced the dive without actually being committed to it when a stick of bombs exploded across the target. Gerry wheeled out of the dive and climbed to regain the altitude lost and re-position for the dive. Further sticks of bombs fell during this period and yet again as we commenced the second attempt to mark. I was shocked and appalled at this! In the self-contained 617 Squadron operations to which we had grown accustomed, timings were STRICTLY adhered to, and I took a very shady view of the lack of discipline that the Main Force crews were showing, not appreciating the chaotic situation developing above us.
As we sought to re-position, Gerry "buttoned" the VHF. "PLEASE STOP BOMBING! We are trying to mark for the second wave!". For the first and only time, we heard another voice across the ether. "Well, get a move on, mate!" came a calm but firm Australian voice "Things are getting a bit hot up here!" ...and this was the first indication we had as a crew that perhaps things were not going quite as expected. However, no further fall of bombs interrupted the marking process and both Mossie crews managed to lay their markers very close to the new aiming point. We were to discover later that Terry Kearns and his navigator Home Barclay had also had the same
[page break]
[inserted] 5 [/inserted] disconcerting marking experience as we had endured. How ironic if a blast of "friendly" bombs (if there are such things!) had delivered us to German interrogation!
Satisfied that the marking duty had been performed accurately, we now readily obeyed the urgent order to "cut and run" and we set course on the return route. We had seen no aircraft shot down on the way in but scarcely had we embraced the first leg away from the target when the first ghastly sight of a heavy bomber exploding in flames on the ground struck our eyes, the obscene fireball illuminating momentarily the pall of oily smoke that was always a part of such macabre scenes. To our mounting horror and concern, this was not an isolated incident! Again and yet again the tragedy was repeated. I tried to persuade myself that it could be night-fighters being destroyed, but each funeral pyre was too large for that. When a fifth bomber cremated itself around us, Gerry said "Not a healthy area for a twin-engined aircraft, Ben! Let's find another way home!". I gave him a rough course for the nearest safe part of the coast and then buried myself in the niceties of "tidying up" this rough alteration to ensure that we crossed the French coast at a reasonably quiet spot. I could not exorcise from my mind the glimpse of hell we had had inflicted on us. My mind grappled with this unbelievable torment until, quite suddenly, I recalled the Intelligence item of the "WILDE SAU" operation order. Had this order been invoked? Certainly all the weather conditions were as required ... I pushed the matter to the back of my mind. There was an aircraft to get back to base and that was my primary and paramount duty at that moment! We landed at Woodhall Spa at 0230 hrs on 4th May 1944, still very
[inserted] 5 [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] 6 [/inserted] silent and appalled at the carnage we had seen, all the more unbelievable for being associated with a FRENCH target. All four Mosquitos had landed safely, much to everyone's relief ...most of the aircrew staff had waited up, so concerned were they for our safe return. The news was flashed through to Headquarters, Bomber Command as soon as the fourth Mossie had landed!
It was in the debriefing room that we first heard talk of interference on the VHF channel and a developing communications difficulty ...of "Chesh's" despair trying to sort out the fraught situation that had developed and his unsuccessful attempts to abort the operation. The two earlier Mosquito crews had not seen the carnage the latter pair had observed. Dave Shannon's navigator, Len Sumpter, said that as soon as they were satisfied they had nothing more to contribute to the proceedings, they had hared for home. Pat Kelly, "Chesh's" navigator, said they had seen a couple of bombers shot down, but nothing like the scenes we had described. Pat was somewhat mollified by our eye-witness description of the effectiveness of the first wave bombing, but most concerned at the communications mayhem.
At our personal debriefing, I said to the Intelligence officer "I feel we have seen the activation of the German operation order "WILDE SAU"". He looked at me, absolutely perplexed. I said "Add it as a footnote, Arthur. I'm sure someone at Group or Command will fathom it!" ...but there was never any later reference to the observation.
Our worst fears were confirmed later that day ....42 Lancasters missing, 14 from the 5 Group first wave and 28 from the 1 Group second wave. My initial personal reaction was that 5 Group had stirred the hornets' nest and 1 Group had taken the stings. One
[inserted] 6 [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] A [/inserted] Many years later, I was stirred into deeply researching this operation through reading a magazine article which, to me, did not truly reflect the situation, certainly not during the development of the actual operation. Also, Leonard Cheshire had returned from a visit to his "Homes" in Australia. During his stay, he had been challenged on three separate occasions by ex-Bomber Command aircrew who had laid the losses of Mailly-le-Camp firmly at his door! He had endeavoured to put the correct circumstances to his accusers but felt he had made little impression. He was most concerned that the whole truth should be put into the public domain.
I carried out a lot of personal research, both in the archives available at the Public Record Office, Kew, and also with the two surviving Mossie navigators, Pat Kelly having been killed on a later Dortmund-Ems Canal operation with 49 Squadron whilst filling the post of Station Navigation Officer at RAF East Kirkby. None of us were aware of any VHF interference by an outside broadcasting source. Leonard Cheshire made some reference to such interference but the post-operational report of the Controller, Wing Commander Deane, 83 Squadron, was quite adamant that this was present and had prevented him from instructing the first wave to commence bombing, once he was satisfied that the specific target area had been correctly marked. He had instructed his Wireless Operator to pass the "Commence Bombing" message through to the force on the allocated W/T frequency, but this too failed to get through. Investigation after the operation showed that the Master Bomber's W/T transmitter was at least 30 k/cs off tune, but whether this was a set fault or human error was not stated.
I did discover something that truly shocked me... a Yellow Target Indicator was
[inserted] A [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] B [/inserted] dropped away from the target so that the bombers had a datum around which to orbit should there be any delay in the marking procedure. This propensity in the realms of Higher Authority to assume that Main Force squadron crews needed this sort of cosseting was a constant source of irritation to me. These crews had had EXACTLY the same training as all the so-called "specialist" crews and the navigators, in the main, could reasonably be expected to keep station in a waiting area without aids that were also visible to a very active enemy, especially when two well-known powerful night-fighter bases, Chalons-sur-Marne and St Dizier, were both within 45 kms of the target, with five other similar bases within comparatively short fighter flying time!
The two Pathfinder squadrons who had been returned to 5 Group in April 1944 were not at all enamoured that visual marking by Mosquitos might reduce them to "flare carrying" forces although this role carried a very great responsibility. When 617 Squadron were experimenting and perfecting this low-level marking technique in the winter of 1943-44, it was a duty that was laid upon some of the Squadron's most experienced crews, who accepted it willingly. Air Vice Marshal D.C.T. Bennett, the Air Officer Commanding No 8 Group (PFF) was violently opposed to this new concept of target marking and there can be no doubt that his views continued to influence many of the officers who had served under him in 8 Group [deleted] , [/deleted] after the return of 83 and 97 Squadrons to 5 Group. 627 Squadron had inevitably had some marking "hiccups" during their short run in the role but I always hold that Leonard Cheshire was at his shrewdest when he chose very experienced Lancaster aircrew to man the Mosquito Marker aircraft of 617 Squadron. These aircrew came to the role knowing from their own personal experience what confusion could ensue from "delayed marking" of a target and their
[inserted] B [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] C [/inserted] whole emphasis was to ensure that targets were "prepared" on time. It was quite another matter if individual crews, dissatisfied with their initial bombing run, decided to abort and "go round again" ...the prime duty of the marker crews was to have the target readily available for a "straight through, no messing" initial run. Also, [deleted] Bomber Command [/deleted] [inserted] 5 Group [/inserted] crews were required to adjust their speed along the route to bring them to each turning-point at a specified time. The provision of an "orbitting [sic] datum" was a temptation for the less experienced crews to "press on regardless", arrive early in the target area and while away the surplus time orbitting [sic] the datum. It is to the great credit of the Deputy Leader of the first wave, Sqn Ldr Sparkes, 83 Squadron, that he perceived the danger accruing from the very visible Yellow datum marker and ordered it NOT to be renewed.
According to the post-operational report of Wg Cdr Deane, the Green Target Indicator dropped by the OBOE-controlled Mosquito was timed at 2359 hrs and fell about 800 mts north of the target centre. Wg Cdr Cheshire was the first Marker in, diving from 3000 feet to 1500 feet before releasing his red "spot fires" at 0001 hrs. These were judged to be slightly North-east of the aiming point, which was the south-east area of the Camp. Dave Shannon was apprised of this and he dived from 3000 to 400 feet to lay his red spots accurately on the aiming point at 0006 hours. Thus, the target WAS "prepared" on time. It was then, through the communication difficulties, that things began to go seriously awry. Post-operation reports of the returning crews indicate just how confused the situation became. 106 SQUADRON: "No W/T messages received before bombing. R/T messages were contradictory". 44 SQUADRON: "No instructions received on R/T or W/T. Aircraft bombed because they saw other aircraft bombing". 630 SQUADRON: "Marking precise and
[inserted] C [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] D [/inserted] accurate. R/T bad". 49 SQUADRON, 9 SQUADRON, 50 SQUADRON and 207 SQUADRON all commended the accuracy of the red spot fires and Sqn Ldr Blore-Jones of 207 Squadron added this rider: "Yellow T.I. on datum. No orders from Controller. Complete chaos in target area. Controller inefficient and crew discipline bad". A further comment from 49 Squadron: "Congestion over target to a degree of suicide. 18 to 25 minutes wait for order to bomb". Sqn Ldr Sparkes' aircraft was shot down, but he parachuted safely, evaded capture and was sheltered by French families in the district until the American Army came through the area.
Thus the crews of 1 Group flew unwittingly into a maelstrom not of their own making, but which was to extract a high price for the failure of others.
It is not generally appreciated that Wg Cdr Deane (83 Sqdn) was Controller ONLY for the 5 Group element of the operation, i.e. the first wave. On 6th April 1944, a Special Duties Flight had been formed in 1 Group, under Sqn Ldr Breakspear, at RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire. 6 Lancaster aircraft were allocated to this new Flight and the aircrew, together with a ground-crew complement of 80 personnel, were drawn from the squadrons within 1 Group. This Flight undertook an intensive training programme, designed to allow 1 Group to operate independently at some future date. On the night of 24/25th April 1944, ten aircraft of No 101 Squadron were detailed to attack Munich in company with 239 Lancasters of 5 Group. The main purpose of this was to give these 1 Group crews some first-hand experience of the new marking technique being employed by 5 Group for the day when
[inserted] D [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] E [/inserted] similar independent operations would be undertaken by 1 Group. All ten crews returned safely, and the pilots' reports on the technique and results were very favourable. The operation against Mailly-le-Camp was chosen for the operational debut of 1 Group's Special Duties Flight.
Blissfully unaware of the instinctive cancellation by the 5 Group Deputy Controller of the datum Yellow marker for 5 Group crews, the crews responsible for laying and renewing the datum point for the 1 Group crews kept it marked throughout the period of 1 Group's prime involvement.
Some of the 1 Group crews were given a special target within the north-west area of the Camp ...the tank park. The two 617 Mosquitos were to mark the MAIN area for the majority of the 1 Group crews, and aircraft of the 1 Group Special Duties Flight would INDEPENDENTLY mark the tank park. The post operational report in the 1 Group Operational Record Book for this operation makes interesting reading: "It would appear that the Master of Ceremonies was unable to determine the accuracy of the first markers (?R/T trouble). Delay of 10-12 minutes before Main Force ordered to bomb red spots. Orbitting and R/T interference caused confusion. Red spots confirmed by 1 Group aircraft to be well placed. Fires from first attack on south-east caused a huge pall of rising smoke. Confirmed south-east attack highly successful. Opposition from night-fighters on a large scale- numerous sightings and combats. SPECIAL AIMING POINT (Tank Park)..Green Target Indicator undershot by 1000 yards: next one 500 yards. Deputy Master of Ceremonies claimed a marker much nearer the aiming point. Crews ordered to switch to main area but some crews did not receive this message and continued to bomb the original target".
[inserted] E [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] F [/inserted] The post-operational report of the 1 Group Master of Ceremonies, Sqn Ldr Breakspear, reads: "Markers and bombing slightly short but a fair number of bombs fell right across the target". One aircraft of the Special Duties Flight failed to return.
The reports from the other squadrons in the Group are more precise and expansive. 101 SQUADRON: "Red spots accurate. Station interference on W/T. On R/T other aircraft chatting..much back-chat". 12 SQUADRON: "Markers late. "American" broadcast on R/T. Marker Force continually harrassed [sic] by Master of Ceremonies with questions". 100 SQUADRON: "Red spots marking accurate" 103 SQUADRON: "Target marking good but crews kept orbitting for ten minutes. Nothing from Master of Ceremonies. Terrific amount of cross-talk on R/T." 626 SQUADRON: "R/T interruption. Too much chatter. R/T poor. Yellow "flares" for over half-an-hour. Open invitation to fighters. Congestion at 6000 feet. Climbed to 7000 for bombing. Master of Ceremonies poor. Enemy fighters orbitting". However, 576 SQUADRON reports gave something of a different picture: "Red spots scattered. Germans giving orders, cutting in on R/T. PFF 5-10 mins late. 2 combats. Many night-fighters". An additional 103 SQUADRON report is surprising, to say the least: "Me410 and rockets well in evidence".
There was an immediate post-operational tendency to lay the debacle on the "marking force" and in the continuous and constant re-telling of this tale, the blame, inevitably and unfairly, came to be laid at the door of the 617 Squadron Mosquito Marker Force. One can only hope this account and the true records on which it is based will nail that false impression once and for all.
[inserted] F [/inserted]
[page break]
[inserted] G [/inserted] The Mailly-le-Camp raid achieved its aim to a large degree but the price paid was painfully high. In 5 Group, 50 Squadron lost four of the eleven aircraft despatched. 207 Squadron lost two from sixteen. The other ten missing aircraft were distributed among the remaining thirteen squadrons. In 1 Group, 460 Squadron lost five from sixteen: 101 lost four from nineteen: 103 lost four from fourteen: "Shiny Twelve" lost four from seventeen: 626 Squadron lost three from ten. The only squadron in 1 Group without an aircraft casualty was 100 Squadron which had put up eleven aircraft. All told, 316 aircrew went "missing" that night. 253 were killed, 24 were taken prisoner and 39 evaded capture with the help of the local French civilian population, a number of whom were executed or sent on forced labour in Germany when evaders were discovered by the Germans. Of the dead aircrew, 95 were officers and 218 N.C.Os. 46 were under the age of 21: a further 159 were between 21 and 25: 33 were between 26 and 30, with the remaining 15 over 30 years of age. Of the 32 aircrew missing from 101 Squadron at RAF Ludford Magna, only two survived as prisoners of war, the other thirty having been killed in action. "Shiny Twelve's" missing proved to be 21 dead, 2 prisoners of war and 6 evaders, all six from the crew of Fg Off G Maxwell. It adds to the sorrow of these heavy losses to realise that a proportion of the missing crews had survived the massacre of the March 31st operation against Nuremburg!
Such multiple losses always tore great and almost unbearable "holes" in a squadron's aircrew complement. The Messes of both Officers and N.C.O's were unusually silent and empty as survivors remembered their friends. Many of the WAAF who worked closely with aircrew showed their uncontainable grief openly. The tempo of the Station would only gradually be restored with the arrival of replacement aircrew from the Heavy Conversion Units, but the
[inserted] G [/inserted]
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Memory of Mailly-Le-Camp
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Tom Bennett
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
13 photocopied sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
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BBennettTBennettTv1
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
France--Mailly-le-Camp
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
Description
An account of the resource
Part of a memoir describing the operation to Mailly-le-Camp 3/4 May 1944.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Angela Gaffney
1 Group
5 Group
617 Squadron
8 Group
83 Squadron
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bombing
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992)
debriefing
Gee
grief
Lancaster
Master Bomber
Mosquito
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Normandy deception operations (5/6 June 1944)
Oboe
Pathfinders
RAF Woodhall Spa
target indicator
-
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e5960be7783dcab157f1403eeb2d7ceb
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1254/16737/MBakerWB1392752-161128-060003.2.jpg
e0a493fa5343e30cdd85648dca4c204f
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fbc28f04469bae68bfed2d44c3fbd237
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
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Baker, 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
List of operations 1943-45
Description
An account of the resource
Printed list of 31 operations in which W Breckenbridge was pilot. W B Baker was mid-upper gunner on all but 10 of these operations. Hand-written note on the final sheet reads, 'Doc 115 - Recommendation for honours and awards, station diary 30/01/44'.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Identifier
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MBakerWB1392752-161128-060002, MBakerWB1392752-161128-060003, MBakerWB1392752-161128-060007
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three typewritten sheets of tables
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Baker list of operations
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944)
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1375/23785/MEdgarAG172180-180704-03.2.jpg
cc3b8e628a56594008ffbbbd72816ee3
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
Edgar, Alfred George
Edgar, A G
Description
An account of the resource
83 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Alfred George 'Allan' Edgar DFC (b. 1922, 172180 Royal Air Force) He flew operations as a pilot with 49 Squadron.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Pip Harrison and Sally Shawcross nee Edgar, 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
2018-07-04
2019-10-01
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. 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
Edgar, AG
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 Edgar's Operations
Description
An account of the resource
A list of 34 operations undertaken by Alan Edgar.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typed list
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MEdgarAG172180-180704-03
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--Tours
France--Paris
France--Mailly-le-Camp
France--Amiens
Germany--Kiel
France--Cherbourg Region
France--Caen
France--Beauvois
Germany--Stuttgart
France--Givors
France--Reims
France--Rouen
France--Creil
France--Givors
France--Brest
Netherlands--Tilburg
Germany--Darmstadt
Belgium--Leopoldsburg
France--Normandy
Germany--Braunschweig
Poland--Gdańsk
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Poland
France
Germany
Belgium
Netherlands
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
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-05-03
1944-05-04
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06
1944-07
1944-08
1944-08-03
1944-08-15
49 Squadron
83 Squadron
bombing of Luftwaffe night-fighter airfields (15 August 1944)
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
bombing of the Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Le Bourget railways (18/19 April 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
Bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944)
mine laying
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Pathfinders
RAF Coningsby
RAF Fiskerton
RAF Tuddenham
RAF Waterbeach
RAF Woodbridge
V-1
V-weapon