Browse Items (237 total)

  • Tags: wireless operator / air gunner

PManningL1501.jpg
Len Manning grew up in London and worked in a factory before he volunteered for the Royal Air Force. He flew operations with 57 Squadron before being shot down over France. He spent three months living with supporters of the Resistance in a small…

MWilsonRC1389401-170113-60.jpg
A list of the other six members of Reg's crew...Harvey, Laurie Underwood, Jack McArdle, Bill Ross, John Bushell and Alec McCarroll.

BPayneRPayneRv1.pdf
A detailed account of Reg Payne's service in the RAF. He starts with a list of 18 RAF bases where he served in his 5 years of service. He was 16 when war was declared but volunteered for the RAF at 17. After tests he was selected for training as a…

BSaundersRSaundersRv1.pdf
Document contains order of service for funeral and memoir of service in the RAF. Includes training as wireless operator/air gunner, troop ship to Cairo and continued training in Egypt. Posted for operation on Boston aircraft with 114 Squadron in…

MJasinskiT780866-210624-01.jpg
A document certifying Tadeusz's service in the Polish Air Force.

ELampreyPGuntonW[Date]-33.pdf
Peter Lamprey writes that little has happened since his last letter as operations had been suspended due to high losses after recent operations. He reports that he is now a grade 1 ‘W/OP.AG’ which results in more money. He concluded with a poem,…

ELampreyPGuntonW[Date]-20.pdf
Peter Lamprey writes about basic and wireless operator/air gunner training in the form of a poem.

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A biography of Alec written by his step sister's husband. He details the family history, his search for the grave site, his visit to the grave in 1992 and their research on the crash.

PGardinerEF1701.jpg
Fred Gardiner grew up in Oxfordshire and worked in a furniture factory before volunteering for the Royal Air Force. He flew five operations as a wireless operator / air gunner from RAF Syerston before his aircraft was shot down. He gives a detailed…

MDoxseyJA630441-180920-020001.jpg
Cover with photograph of six aircrew standing and sitting in front of a bomber. Inside on front page, a brief handwritten account of John Doxsey's service on 149 Squadron September 1939 - September 1940. Mentions his crew positions and two pilots…

NChristisonA210110-02.jpg
A newspaper cutting referring to two New Zealand airmen who had to parachute over France.

This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.

AHughesWR150713.mp3
Bob Hughes joined the RAF as war became likely to avoid repeating his father's First World War experience in the trenches and transferred to the RAF Volunteer Reserve when war was declared. He trained on Ansons and then flew in twin-engine Blenheims…

PColeC1601.jpg
Colin Cole was brought up and schooled at Twickenham, and worked for a time at W H Smith before joining the Royal Air Force. He trained as a wireless operator/air gunner at RAF Yatesbury and RAF Barrow in Furness. He then served with 617 Squadron,…

AMeehanJ150604.mp3
Jack Meehan grew up in New Zealand and worked on the railway before he volunteered for the Royal Air Force. He flew operations as a wireless operator / air gunner with 75 Squadron at RAF Mepal.

PWorsdaleE1701.jpg
Eddie Worsdale was working as a furniture salesman in Wellington, New Zealand after the Depression era curtailed his education. His brother volunteered for the New Zealand Air Force and so Eddie followed him. After initial training he continued his…

PPayneR1706.jpg
Reg Payne was born in Kettering in 1923. He left school at the age of fourteen and just before he was eighteen he volunteered to join the RAF. He did his basic training at Blackpool learning Morse Code in the tram sheds. From there he did his…

ATaitJT160610.mp3
John Tait was prompted to join the Royal Air Force, as he was American by birth and therefore he had to report to the police station once a month because he was considered an ‘alien’. He was a wireless operator and gunner, flying in Ansons,…

PHillR1502.jpg
Roy Hill joined the RAF wanting to be a pilot but became a wireless operator air gunner. On his eighteenth operation in a Lancaster flying over the Ruhr he was shot down by a German night fighter. He was captured and incarcerated in Stalag Luft 1 for…

YCrawfordJ[Ser#-DoB]v1.pdf
Covering the period 3 December 1941 to 1945 it details Jack's initial training, sailing from New Zealand to Canada and subsequent train journey, visiting a fox farm, canoeing, taking exams and getting the results and trips in the snow. Qualifying as…
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