1
25
13
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/31565/PGrayHM1606.2.jpg
8df666276e9a301f8f61be61d5f8ab16
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/31565/PGrayHM1607.2.jpg
d6de2f789716da0bb1e8c3e2c9847d62
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
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
Medal ribbons
Description
An account of the resource
Ribbons for The 1939–1945 Star, France and Germany Star and Defence Medal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three cloth ribbons
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Physical object
Physical object. Decoration
Physical object
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PGrayHM1606, PGrayHM1607
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1442/LGrayHM184299v1.2.pdf
29b880f1891e664a5308afa8e355cdcd
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
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
Herbert Gray's navigator's, air bomber's and air gunner's flying log book
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
England--Lincolnshire
England--Suffolk
France--Normandy
France--Blaye
France--Caen
France--Creil
France--Dijon
France--Falaise
France--Flers-de-l'Orne
France--Le Havre
France--Mimoyecques
France--Paris
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Neuss
Germany--Saarbrücken
Netherlands--Middelburg
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Domléger-Longvillers
Description
An account of the resource
Navigator's, air bomber's and air gunner's flying log book for Sergeant Herbert Gray from 21 February 1944 to 10 November 1945. Detailing training and operations flown. Served at RAF Stradishall, RAF Hemswell and RAF Elsham Wolds. Aircraft flown were Lancaster and Stirling. He carried out a total of 30 night time and daylight operations as a flight engineer with 103 Squadron from RAF Elsham Wolds on the following targets in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands: Aachen, Aul Noye, Blaye, Bordeaux, Caen, Cahagnes, Dijon, Domleger, Dortmund, Duisburg, Falaise, Flers, Fontaine le Pin, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Kiel, Le Culot, Le Havre, Mimoyecques, Neuss, Paris, Rieme Ertveld (Ghent-Terneuzen Canal), Saarbrücken, Sannerville, Trossy St Maximin, Westkapelle. His pilot on operations was Squadron LEader Van Rolleghem.
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
LGrayHM184299v1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-24
1944-05-25
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-17
1944-06-18
1944-06-22
1944-06-24
1944-06-29
1944-07-01
1944-07-05
1944-07-06
1944-07-07
1944-07-18
1944-07-30
1944-07-31
1944-08-03
1944-08-05
1944-08-11
1944-08-12
1944-08-13
1944-08-14
1944-08-15
1944-08-18
1944-08-19
1944-08-26
1944-08-27
1944-09-05
1944-09-08
1944-09-12
1944-09-13
1944-09-23
1944-09-24
1944-10-03
1944-10-05
1944-10-06
1944-06-25
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
103 Squadron
1657 HCU
49 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
bombing of Luftwaffe night-fighter airfields (15 August 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)
Bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944)
flight engineer
Heavy Conversion Unit
Initial Training Wing
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Hemswell
RAF Stradishall
Stirling
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
V-3
V-weapon
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1050/PGrayHM1604.1.jpg
338fa6516efdddadc33823069fcbc6dc
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1050/PGrayHM1605.1.jpg
857fda7d9aba400e22f810e97c291a4a
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
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
Herbert Gray
My father
Description
An account of the resource
Head a shoulders portrait of Herbert Gray in airman’s uniform tunic. On the reverse ‘My father’.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Charles H Farmer
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PGrayHM1604, PGrayHM1605
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1049/PGrayHM1603.1.jpg
c8aef821e4c7e85232318245b84f8933
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
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
Herbert Gray
Description
An account of the resource
Head a shoulders portrait of Herbert Gray in airman’s uniform tunic.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Charles H Farmer
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PGrayHM1603
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1048/PGrayHM1601.2.jpg
358c1e19510b3fd711b0787d642fbb2e
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1048/PGrayHM1602.2.jpg
956aeaf373bc6c84df19ea446778ebe3
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
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
Herbert Gray
H M Gray in RAF, 1939-45 war
Description
An account of the resource
Head a shoulders portrait of Bertie Gray wearing tunic with flight engineer brevet and officer's peaked cap. On the reverse ‘H M Gray in RAF, 1939-45 war’.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Walter Scott
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945-08-03
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PGrayHM1601, PGrayHM1602
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-08-03
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
aircrew
flight engineer
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1047/EGrayHMGray[Wi]440806.pdf
54798e1753309b9201fee775e15a6c40
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] No. 5 [/underlined] Sunday. 6.8.44
8.20 pm.
[inserted] [underlined] 12 [/underlined] [/inserted]
[RAF badge]
My Priceless,
Little Wife,
Remind me sometime to have the phone removed – I might get a letter from my best girl occasionally then!
Of course I have to thank you for one letter – No.4, I think – but I cannot answer it now as it is in my locker in the locker room. How it comes to be there when I am down here sitting outside the billet in the evening sun writing to you is rather a long story but nevertheless I intend to inflict it on you, old girl!.
It certainly was nice to hear your voice again last Thursday – and I didn’t reverse the charges either! I decided that the call counted as equal to a letter so I would write on Saturday.
[page break]
2.
So yesterday morning about 10.20 am, being free for the moment, I got out my pad to start a letter to my darling, had not had time to set pen to paper when a bloke came into the crew room and said ops were “on” and briefing was immediately! So away went pen and paper and I dashed round to the Flying Commander’s office to see [deleted] indecipherable word [/deleted] Van and find out if we were on the Battle Order. He said yes [inserted] we [/inserted] were and that there would not be time to take the guns, chutes, harnesses, Mae Wests and other gear out to the kite [aeroplane] as we usually do as soon as we know we are “on” and carry out the various tests and checks that are necessary.
He was waiting for a phone call to say when the briefing was to be. Whilst we waited for this to come through I thought, “another day light with out any dinner, just our luck!” But I was wrong. About five to eleven the message came – ops. meal at 11.00; briefing at 12.00.
Pete had borrowed my bike (another long story!) so I was unable to go down to the billets for my vacuum flask – something I had come to
[page break]
3.
[inserted] 12 [/inserted]
[RAF badge]
regret before the day was out.
The cookhouse did their best but of course it was not a proper dinner as their notice had been as short as our own.
So up we went to Briefing thinking, well this will be nice short daylight as otherwise Van would not be on. Imagine our surprise at finding that although it was certanily [sic] a pukka day light it was of over eight hours duration!!! Nevertheless it was a target we wanted to do as it was something of a novelty for us so we were scared stiff that the M.O. would stop Van from going. We tried to prevent him from knowing that Van was going. He found out eventually but I think he turned a blind eye to it for we took off OK. First kite from our squadron to leave the deck.
We were to attack a target not very far from Bordeaux (that’s not spelt right, I’m sure) which as you know, is on the French coast in the Bay of Biscay. In order to do this we flew many miles out into the Atlantic before turning round and heading for our
[page break]
4.
target. All this time, and in fact for the whole trip, we flew in boiling hot sunshine although sometimes the air outside was below freezing point. Van had to keep opening a window to let a breath of fresh air into our little oven. A surprising thing about this trip was that we crossed the coast eight times altogether.
Pete had the satisfaction of seeing our bombs all land in the target which was only a very small one although important. We took off a few minutes before two o’clock and did not bomb until 7pm! Five hours, and we still had to go home. Shortly after we had crossed the English coast on the way home Ben received a wireless message telling us to land at a drome near Newark – a sea fog had come in and made our [inserted] drome [/inserted] drome u/s for the night. It was turned 10pm when we landed at our diversion – tired, hungry and feeling very dirty and sticky! But what a drome it was! We were jolly thankful we were not stationed there. We had a very poor meal after interrogation. There was
[inserted] u/s = unserviceable [/inserted]
[page break]
5:
[inserted] 12 [/inserted]
[RAF badge]
no one to tell us where the Sgt’s Mess was – but we found it and soon had a pint apiece but they had only Woodbine cigarettes. This was just a few minutes before midnight so it was quite dark when we tried to find out where we were supposed to sleep. Of course there was no one who could tell us anything. Eventually we found a truck and got the driver to take us to one of the sites (RAF camps are often split up into several small sites of billets scattered about all over the place). Here we found the picket who provided us with three blankets apiece and then found us some empty beds in one of the huts. Mind you, no one thought of providing us with either soap or towel. So I had to wash without soap and dry myself on my handky. [sic] Believe me it did not take me long to get to sleep but Paul must have been off first
[page break]
6.
for the last thing I remember was Paul (who often talks in his sleep) shouting, “Look out, Skipper, they’re coming in line astern!”
Believe it or not but Ben and I were first up this morning about 8.30. Of course, there was [inserted] method [/inserted] method in our madness. We knew we stood a better chance of flanneling an egg for breakfast if we were first in the cookhouse! Virtue had its due reward – we got our egg alright. It was just a few minutes to twelve this morning when we took off to return to base. Both Pete and Paul went without their eggs or any breakfast – they just would not get up till the tannoy message came telling us to report to Flying Control at 10am.
And that is why I havent [sic] got your letter with me at the moment, darling. What? Do I hear you say that it does not explain how it got in
[page break]
7.
[inserted] 12 [/inserted]
[RAF badge]
the locker? Well that is a small detail. We are not allowed to take anything with us at all on ops. Any little bit of paper might give the enemy just the clue they need (I fancy they will need much more than clues right now!) so I always empty my pockets and leave everything in my locker. I could leave everything with the intelligence officer but my way is quicker. Anyway, when we finally landed here this afternoon we were in such a hurry to get down to the mess for dinner that I forgot the things I’d left in my locker.
Incidentally the Sports were held yesterday – without me! You are lucky – your husband will not return a physical wreck on his next leave. All being well that should be three weeks on Tuesday. And we have done 17 ops now – good show.
[page break]
8.
[inserted] [circled 12] [/inserted]
Don’t forget, darling, that if you should ever feel like writing me another love letter I shall be more than pleased to receive it. You know without my telling you again that you are the only woman for me. You love me and thrill me as much as ever I could wish and much more than I deserve.
Isn’t the war news simply marvellous – it cannot last much longer at this rate.
It is 11 o’clock now and time this little boy was in bed – it’s too bad he cannot sleep with you, my darling. So, good night, my [symbol] love. God bless and keep you.
adore you.
Yours own
[underlined] Bertie [/underlined]
P.S. There had better be a letter from you tomorrow – or else …. !!!
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 to his wife from Herbert Gray
No. 5
Description
An account of the resource
Starts with complaint that phone calls from wife are replacing letters which he does not like, but did enjoy hearing his wife’s voice. Letter is then a long explanation of why he cannot answer her last letter as it is in his locker at the squadron where he had to leave it as he was suddenly called for an operation. He explains that it is standard operating procedure to leave behind any identifying material before departing on operations. Goes on to describe numerous events in the lead up to an eight hour daylight operation to a target near Bordeaux. Notes that crew are concerned that medical officer may prevent them from flying as this exceeds their captain’s permissible flight hours. Continues with description of successful operation and subsequent diversion on return to an airbase near Newark due to fog. Describes poor food, lack of facilities and problems finding sleeping accommodation and beds at diversion base. Rises early to ensure egg for breakfast and returns to base at around midday. Letter concludes with some affectionate domestic chat and a jovial threat about wife not writing.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bertie Gray
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-08-06
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Eight page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGrayHMGray[Wi]440806
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
France
England--Newark (Nottinghamshire)
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-08
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
Andy Hamilton
bombing
ground personnel
love and romance
medical officer
military living conditions
military service conditions
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1046/EGrayHMGray[Wi]440801.pdf
9825d1382157ba8b0e6dce6e0a3acce7
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] No. 4, [/underlined] Tuesday. 1.8.44
[underlined] 3.0 pm. [/underlined]
[inserted] 11 [/inserted]
[RAF badge]
My Darling,
Many thanks for your Mon. No.3 letter which I have just received. Yes. I was rather disappointed that there was no letter from you yesterday, particularly as we were on ops. both Sun. and Mon. (both “daylights”). That is also the reason I was unable to phone on Sun. However, I will try to do either Wed. or Thurs. between 7 & 8 pm as you suggest.
It really is good news to hear how much better you have been since I came back off leave. Incidentally we are now a week
[page break]
2.
nearer the next leave – we don’t, of course, know the definite day as yet but I shall give you as much warning as possible. I’m hardly back from one leave before I’m looking forward to the next!
Sorry to hear that you got overtired entertaining the card crowd and could not sleep afterwards. You know, I think that I could have helped in that direction! Rotten luck, too, with your four Kings – did you both draw 2 d for bonus’s or is it just the winning hand in such cases.
How is Phil getting on these days? You don’t give me any news of him and surely Anita must have given you plenty of news.
It is nice of you to promise
[page break]
3.
[inserted] [underlined] 11 [/underlined] [/inserted]
[RAF badge]
to write to me again “tomorrow”, which is, of course, today. Anyway, I am looking forward to hearing from you again tomorrow.
Our original kite, “K – King”, was lost a few ops. ago when she was being flow [sic] by a crew who were doing their 30th op. (their last). Wasn’t it rotten luck for them. As a result we had to do Sunday’s trip to Normandy in a strange kite, “T – Tommy”. Yesterday we got a brand new “K – King”, air-tested her straight after lunch, landed, had a very quick meal, into briefing and so off on our 9th day light and altogether our 15th op. Our first and very successful daylight was on Le Havre which was
[page break]
4.
Also yesterday’s target.
I believe we may go out tonight if we wish but I rather think I shall stay in and do some more swatting. I find it much more difficult to get down to swatting here on squadron than I need to. It is probably the result of our rather highly strung existance [sic] here. Anyway, I try to persuade myself that if I don’t hurry up the war will be over and I shall then never get a commission. Not that I should mind but Firth’s directors are particularly “commission conscious” as someone reminded me on my last visit.
God bless and keep you, my darling.
All my love and embraces
Yours as ever
[Underlined] Bertie [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to his wife from Herbert Gray
No. 4
Description
An account of the resource
Starts with thanks for letter number 3 but complains about lack of letters for a couple of days particularly as he had been on operations. Sets up times for future phone calls. Noted that the crew’s original aircraft had been lost while being flown by another crew and that after a operation with a strange aircraft they had been issued with their own new one for their ninth daylight and 15th overall operation to Le Havre, which had also been the target for their first daylight operation. States that the crew was allowed to leave the station that afternoon but that he would stay and swot for his commissioning. Noted that he was finding this difficult to swot but a commission would be worthwhile for his civilian career after the war. Letter numbering system starts again after leave at the end of July.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bertie Gray
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-08-01
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGrayHMGray[Wi]440801
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
France--Le Havre
France
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-08
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
Andy Hamilton
bombing
love and romance
military living conditions
military service conditions
promotion
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1045/EGrayHMGray[Wi]440715.pdf
2b0f09f3d221143b189e6e5623bae823
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] No. 22. [/underlined] Saturday. 7.30 pm.
15.7.44
[inserted] 10 [/inserted]
SERGEANTS MESS,
R.A.F., ELSHAM WOLDS,
Nr. BARNETBY,
LINCS.
Darling,
What a relief – three whole days without a word from you – and now, on the fourth day, two letters arrive from you, for both of which I thank you. Unfortunately the first, written on Wed, is not numbered so I am calling it No. 29. But the other was written on Frid. and is numbered No. 31 so it very much looks as if at least one letter is missing. You see, according to the letters I have had you did not write either Tues. or Thurs.
I see from your Wed. letter that it is taking three days for my letters to come through so the posts are certainly not normal.
I can’t tell you how sorry I am to hear what a rotten time you had Tues. Wed. and Thurs. All on your own, too, [sic] poor darling, with no
[page break]
2.
sympathetic husband to look after you. Yes, pet, I also hope that God will keep me safe until leave comes along. It rather looks as if we shall not be able to leave here until Tues. but of course we are hoping for the best and praying not to be on ops. on Mon. night. If we are on ops. Mon. I shall come straight home after landing rather than sleep here. I should have to tumble straight into bed when I got home in that case. But don’t think I am necessarily on ops. if I don’t blow in on Mon. evening for it doesn’t follow.
Like you, I am also running short of note paper. They have no more printed paper like this for sale in the Mess so I shall probably have to get an ordinary plain pad when it runs out.
Uncle Jack is not only a Fairy Godmother to the two kiddies but also a very prolific letter
[page break]
3.
writer by all accounts. It will not take me long to get the hedges in order once I get home.
I was certainly feeling pretty worried about you by the time these two letters arrived. I was feeling particularly low last night as we prepared for our 13th op. We had been briefed and had been out at the kite some time and had finished our final checks. The trip was another long one of well over 8 hours with every [deleted] indecipherable word [/deleted] chance of a diversion to another ‘drome on return as the vis. was likely to be bad with low cloud. Then the Wing Co. arrived in his car to tell Van that the M.O. would not allow him to do the trip as it was of course well over 4 ½ hrs. So the reserve crew and kite had to go in our place whilst we stood around our kite watching take off. After the last kite was off the deck, we returned
[page break]
4.
To Flights and had only just got there when we saw one of our kites returning on three engines. Van was off to the phone in a shot and got provisional permission to return to our kite and take off and go in place of the lame duck. So off we went again back to the kite. By the time [deleted] indecipherable word [/deleted] we reached the kite word had come through from Group that they would not allow Van to fly in view of the M.O.’s veto! What a night of false alarms and panics. Unfortunately the reserve crew are missing though this does not mean that we would have run into trouble had we gone for it is millions to one against being in the same bit of sky at the same moment of time when the other kite ran into trouble.
I see you are counting the day – like me – till Mon. or Tues. Yes, Van has told the Wing Commander that he considers that Wilf, Pete and myself should have commissions but it rests with our respective Leaders to recommend us and I think they want us to get two or three more ops. in first. See you soon, my darling. God bless and keep you. Your loving husband.
[underlined] Bertie [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to his wife from Herbert Gray
No. 22
Description
An account of the resource
Expresses concern over regularity of wife’s letters and length of time that letters take to get through. Mentions that they might not be able to depart on leave until Tuesday as the might be on operations Monday night. Recounts that planned 13th operation proved particularly harrowing. Because it was a long operation, the station medical officer would not let their captain, Squadron Leader Van Rolleghan, fly as he was limited to found and a half hour operations. Attempted again to fly operation replacing an aircraft that returned early but were eventually stopped by group headquarters. Reserve crew notified as missing. Concludes with short mention of possibility of a commission for some crew members.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bertie Gray
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-07-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGrayHMGray[Wi]440715
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-07
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Andy Hamilton
bombing
ground personnel
love and romance
medical officer
military living conditions
military service conditions
missing in action
promotion
RAF Elsham Wolds
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1044/EGrayHMGray[Wi]440707.pdf
211248b8e591dec074698e136bea36ce
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] No. 17. [/underlined]
[inserted] 9 [/inserted]
SERGEANTS MESS,
R.A.F., ELSHAM WOLDS,
Nr. BARNETBY,
LINCS.
7.7.44
My Darling,
I’m afraid that this will have to be a much shorter letter than I had intended. Our programme has been drastically altered for this afternoon – it is just striking noon now.
First of all let me thank you for your Wed. letter (No. 23). I don’t think I have received a No. 22 which would be your Tues. letter. I will verify that later when I go down to the billet. Thanks also foe enclosing the Aero Spotter, you may cancel it now as I can see it in the intelligence library.
I was very glad to hear that you had decided to go to Dr. Hemiman. I shall be most interested to hear the result of the X ray. As you say, I sincerely hope that it will get to the bottom of the trouble. Of course, if it is really rheumatism there will [sic] no sign of that in an X ray. How nice that Olive will do the X ray.
Our eleventh op. was notable, not
[page break]
2.
For any particular trouble encountered but for its length. We took off in day light flew all through the night and we were the first kite to get back to base [inserted] in day light again [/inserted]. We received permission to land but could not do so as there was a very low bank of cloud over the drome whose bottom appeared to reach down to the deck. We reported that it was impossible to land so we were all diverted to another ‘dromes about half a dozen kites to a drome. Wilf tells me that we covered 1950 air miles and took just over 9 hrs. to do it. Gee were we tired when we eventually did get back to base about 9.15 am! We did well out of it though first we got an ops. meal (bacon & egg) both at our diversion and also less than two hours later when we landed back at base.
Yes, thanks, we quite enjoyed our outing to Scunthorpe. We saw the old film “Prisoner of Zenda” with quite a galaxy of stars: Ronald Coleman, Madaline Carrol, [sic] Doug. Fairbanks Jnr. Mary Astor, Raymond Massey, C. Aubrey Smith (Now Sir
[page break]
3
Aubrey!) and David Niven. A jolly good show all round. I was the only one of our party that went back to camp on the 10.30 pm train. The others decided to sleep in Scun. and come back on the early morning train as it was pouring down so heavily. I did get a bit damp especially cycling the two miles odd up from Barnetby station to camp.
I will say this for you, my pet, although you are going through a pretty rotten time just now you still write your usual cheerful letter. I give you tops, old girl!
Make the time fly till the 24th and then you can make it stand still for as long as you like.
I dreamed quite vividly of you last night and as it was quite a loving and sexual dream I think it was quite a complement to you for it was another of natures overflows and I [underlined] might [/underlined] have dreamed of any women. In fact that is more usual with most
[page break]
4.
chaps at such times – they dream of being intimate with all sorts of women they know but are not worried to. But I am even faithful in my dreams! Real dreams, not just day dreams.
Bye, bye for now dearest. God bless and keep you. All my love, kisses and cuddles,
Yours absolutely,
[underlined] Bertie [/underlined]
P.S. Your Nos. 24 & 25 have just arrived – many thanks indeed. I will answer them as soon as ever I can. Just imagine, two letters from the sweetest – girl in the world in one envelope – and both addressed to [underlined] me [/underlined] !
[underlined] B [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to his wife from Herbert Gray
No. 17
Description
An account of the resource
Begins with slight admonishment over wife’s letter writing regularity and discussion of progress on wife’s health issues. Provides details of 11th operation which involved an extremely long sortie, taking off in daylight and recovering next morning in daylight. Their crew was first to return and could not land due to very low cloud. The whole squadron was subsequently diverted to several other bases. Operation covered 1950 air miles in a nine hour flight. Recovered to base later that morning. Goes on to describe crew outing to Scunthorpe which included visit to the cinema to see ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’. Bertie Gray returned to base alone that evening while the rest of the crew stayed overnight. Noted that he is looking forward to leave on 24 July. Goes on with some personal description of how much he misses his wife. Concludes with postscript that missing letters have arrived.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bertie Gray
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-07-07
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGrayHMGray[Wi]440707
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Scunthorpe
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-07
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Andy Hamilton
bombing
entertainment
love and romance
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Elsham Wolds
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1043/EGrayHMGray[Wi]440703.pdf
e4b6b2d5f437e5d24fe302218345b03b
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] No. 15 [/underlined]
SERGEANTS MESS,
R.A.F., ELSHAM WOLDS,
Nr. BARNETBY,
LINCS.
Monday. 1.15 pm
3.7.44
My Darling,
Many thanks for your Sat. letter (No. 20) which I have just received. I say, you do seem to be having a rotten time just now feeling sick so often. Do see a doctor soon pet – it is possible that, if he can’t stop this sickness altogether, he may be able to give you something that will relieve it to some extent. It has rather upset me to hear how rotten you have been lately. Win and Nan have certainly been most kind but I feel like you do that we cannot depend on them all the time. If my prayers and good wishes can make you better you should be well again [deleted] soon [/deleted] my darling.
By now you will have had time
[page break]
2.
to digest [deleted] indecipherable word [/deleted] both the bad and the good news about leave. Just imagine if I’m lucky I shall be leaving here a fortnight this afternoon. At the latest – a fortnight tomorrow !!!
I have answered Geoff’s letter now. I wrote to him the day before yesterday after writing to you.
I have very little news to add except to tell you that our crew is going to Scunthorpe this afternoon. It will [inserted] be [/inserted] my second outing since my last leave – a matter of four weeks now. Naturally we are all looking forward to the break. Pete suggested going to the baths but I told him my costume, although OK for RAF bathing, is rather too revealing for civvy mixed bathing.
[page break]
3.
We did another day – light yesterday – our 10th op. [operations / missions] We were very fortunate that the clouds just cleared over the target as we arrived and so we were able to bomb visually. Believe me it was a wizard prang. I feel sorry for any jerries that were in the target area. We bombed dead on zero hour and it was a really remarkable sight to see the huge company of Lancs. behind us fly in, bomb and wheel round after us on to the homeward course. We experienced no trouble of any kind. We now have completed a good third of our tour as it is possible that we shall be screened before 30. The skipper has now done 13 ½ ops. of his second tour and 2 nd tours are only 20 ops long but he has got permission
[page break]
4.
to do 30, ie. Another 17. That will give us 27. We may in the meantime do an odd trip or two with the Wing Commander as skipper and Van thinks we will then be screened at 28 or 29.
I forgot when I sent you the £4 on, that car tax expires on 30th June - £2. 8. 2. However I can manage that out of my next pay – on second thoughts perhaps it would be better if you sent me a blank cheque on as it may take a few days to come through and it would be just too bad if it was not through in time. So will you do that, please, my darling.
My watch is worse than useless but that will have to wait until I come on leave now.
Best wishes for your speedy return to good health and all my love and kisses to you, my darling little woman.
Yours
[underlined] Bertie [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to his wife from Herbert Gray
No. 15
Description
An account of the resource
Opens by expressing concern over wife’s health issues. Goes on to give news about upcoming leave. Mentions crew outing to Scunthorpe. Provides details of tenth operation which was a successful daylight operation. Mentioned that the crew had now completed a good third of their tour and speculates that they may not need to do the full thirty as their captain had completed thirteen and a third. Concludes with some domestic financial issues.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bertie Gray
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-07-03
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGrayHMGray[Wi]440703
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Scunthorpe
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
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
Andy Hamilton
bombing
home front
love and romance
military service conditions
RAF Elsham Wolds
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1042/EGrayHMGray[Wi]440628.pdf
e75077450668c64b98e07427fea214ba
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
(4.)
No. 12
[inserted] 7 [/inserted]
Sergeants Mess,
RAF Elsham Wolds,
28.6.44
So Win wants to know what it feels like to go on a bombing raid. No doubt she will have seen the scenes on the News films of the raid on La Havre. [sic] Well I took part in that raid which was my first “day-light” although it was almost dusk by the time we were over the target area. That would give her a pretty fair idea of what the target area looks like when the bombs are bursting across it and also of what the flack looks like as it is pumped up into the sky.
However, as we usually operate in the hours of darkness perhaps I had better try to give a picture of what it feels like under those conditions.
- Continued on p.5
[page break]
5.
[inserted] 7 [/inserted]
After a trip or two one soon ceases to experience any special emotion at being told, perhaps in the morning, that one is on “ops” that coming night. Except perhaps a feeling of relief to think that we shall soon have completed another trip which will be one nearer our 30 for our tour.
Briefing usually provokes a feeling of excitement, relief or apprehension according to the target and our route out and back. Even this feeling is of brief duration and one is soon too busy with the many pre-flight matters to have a thought for what lies ahead.
From take off to shortly before we arrive at the target area I am very busy indeed at my various tasks so again there is no time for idle thoughts. This is a great blessing and helps a lot.
However about 10 minutes before we are due at the target area my job is to do nothing but stand beside the pilot and use my eyes to see anything and everything which is to be seen on my side of the kite. For we must be on the look out that we do not collide with any of the many friendly bombers we know are surrounding us; that there is not one immediately above to drop its load of bombs on us, nor one below for the same reason; that there are no enemy fighters in the offing; to locate searchlights and flack bursts in the sky.
In front of us we can see literally
[page break]
6.
hundreds of searchlights probing the sky with their slender fingers. Our target, we know, lies right in the middle of these and it seems impossible that we could fly through without being picked up. We see that already a few Lancs. have been picked up and are now in the centre of a collosal [sic] cone of slowly moving searchlights. This is bad for them but good for us as it means that fewer searchlights are looking for us. In the distance we see the flack coming up and bursting looking like so many pretty fire works but it is bursting right on our line of flight. Then we realise that flack is bursting all around us but it now looks more like a puff of white smoke when it bursts (in daylight the smoke looks jet black!).
One thinks of those near and dear ones at home and says a prayer for them. For oneself one only prays for courage and that “God’s will be done”. [sic]
I think at these times I am afraid not of death, but of not being dead if we are hit. I rehearse in my mind what I must do if any of the engines, fuel tanks, etc. are hit and pray that I may make no mistakes. I measure with my mind just how long it will take me to fit my parachute and leave the plane if the skipper ever had to give the order – and I reckon I could do it in 3 to 4 seconds. But afraid I am as I think we all are to a greater or lesser degree.
After what seems like years we hear the skipper asking the bomb aimer if he
[page break]
7.
[inserted] 7 [/inserted]
wants the bomb doors opening. Although we can now plainly see the target illuminated in the light of the first bombs to fall upon it the bomb-aimer quietly replies, “Not yet Skip”. More years go by and then the bomb doors are opened and eventually we hear the bomb-aimer say “Bombs going ….”. What an age it seems after that before we hear him say, “Bombs gone. Bomb-doors shut”. During this while we have felt the kite shudder, almost as if some huge hand was banging up underneath the kite, as our rain of death leaves the gaping maw of the bomb bay and goes cascading down.
We are still among the searchlights and the flack somehow feel amazed that we have passed through so much of it and been neither hit nor picked up in those revealing beams of light. Our fear changes, I think, at this point to a kind of anxiety lest the good fortune which has attended us so far through the worst of the carnage should now forsake us.
The ever alert eyes of our gunners discern the shadowy shape of an enemy fighter and a sharp order sends the plane diving, climbing and twisting away into the night. Perhaps because the fighter never managed to get into a
[page break]
8.
position to open fire before loosing sight of us accounts for the fact that we have not felt afraid at least not like we were over the target.
Once the enemy coast has been left well behind we all, I think, heave a big sigh of relief though we remain as vigilant as ever for there is always the danger of that lurking fighter which may strike at any time even when we are at last circling our home base.
It is strange perhaps that one of the most loathed sensations on an “op” is one to which attached very little if any, real danger. That is getting into the slip-stream of a kite in front (= very rough air created by passage of aircraft). This has to be experienced to be believed – it can be awful, even “George” the automatic pilot, cannot cope with it.
Something else which has to be experienced to be believed is the unbelievable sweetness and warmth of that cup of coffee from our flask after crossing our coast – home.
That is the picture as far as any poor pen can draw it.
Love to you all. May God bless and keep you. Darling, yours always and absolutely,
[underlined] Bertie [/underlined]
P.S. Thanks again for your letter
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 to his wife from Herbert Gray.
No. 12
Description
An account of the resource
Starts with suggestion that a recent news film of daylight operation to Le Havre, which he was on, gives a good idea of what bombing is like. However as most of his operations were at night he goes on to describe these. Describes emotions and preparations for a typical operation. Provides a detailed description of activities, fears, emotions and activities. Includes looking out for other aircraft on run up to target, describes searchlights and anti-aircraft fire, the wait for bomb release, engagement by night fighters and crew response. Describes most loathed sensation as being caught in another aircraft’s slipstream and delights of welcome cup of coffee when crossing English coast.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bertie Gray
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06-28
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGrayHMGray[Wi]440628
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
France--Le Havre
France
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06
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
Andy Hamilton
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
faith
fear
Lancaster
military ethos
military service conditions
RAF Elsham Wolds
searchlight
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1041/EGrayHMGray[Wi]440318-0001.jpg
3a287216f991e4ab1ea0cf08baaf160c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1041/EGrayHMGray[Wi]440318-0002.jpg
8f9f7a712d40fcfe55525cf3ce91a255
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
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
Envelope
Description
An account of the resource
Registered letter envelope from Sergeant H M Gray at RAF Stradishall to Mrs H M Gray, Lightcliffe Yorkshire.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bertie Gray
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-04-18
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One 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
EGrayHMGray[Wi]440318
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-04-18
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.
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/107/1040/BGrayHMGrayHMv1.2.pdf
6d75b38b9ab0d5c897b0a3f3a3ebf387
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
Gray, Herbert
H M Gray
Bertie Gray
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection relates to the career of Sergeant Herbert M Gray (1593562 Royal Air Force), It contains his log book, three photographs, a handwritten account of his first flight, six letters he wrote to his wife between 28 June 1944 and 6 August 1944, and his medal ribbons. Herbert Gray was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection was donated by his daughter Ann M Gregory and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gray, HM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Monday, 21.2.44
[underlined] ”Initial Dual” [/underlined]
The morning starts with the usual parade and is followed, for us, by a sharp spell of “P.T.” Feeling now fully awake and with the blood tingling in our veins we are marched off for our usual ground instruction.
We can hardly believe our ears when we are told that the programme has been changed and we are actually to fly today. This is what we have been longing for, what all our long months of training have been leading up to. Being our first flight in the R.A.F. we are going merely as passengers.
As the Parachute Section we are fitted with a harness. “Is that right for you?” asks the parachute basher. Shall we just say, “Yes, O.K.,” as it feels alright to us or shall we admit that this is our
[page break]
[centred] 2. [/centred]
first flight and the first time we have been fitted with a harness? Discretion wins the days and the fitting is expertly tested and adjusted.
Next we draw our parachute and then try to enter the Crew Room with the bored air of having been there hundreds of times before. In this we are not entirely successful as the door was not labelled and we were obliged to confirm our bearings from a sergeant just inside the door.
We examine the room with great interest. No one pays any attention to us. Several crews are briefed which we endeavour to overhear. But time passes and still our names are not called. Have we been forgotten? Are we going to miss our flying today after all? Not if we can help it!
At last things begin to move but we have no flying kit yet apart from our ‘chute and harness. So a frantic hour is spent in
[page break]
[centred] 3. [/centred]
securing some few essentials after which we get an early lunch and so back to the Crew Room.
We have been assigned to a crew and now await our briefing. Whilst sitting in the Crew Room we smile as we remember the good natured chaff of our less fortunate friends as we left our billets a short while ago. They would give their ears to change places with us but know that their turn will come all in good time.
Our skipper’s name is called at last and his crew and ourselves pick up our fit and walk to the kite which is nearby. We notice that we have been assigned to “W” for William. Apart from this distinguishing mark it looks much the same as the other huge, four-engined, Stirlings dispersed around the ‘drome.
We enter the kite in our turn and make our way forward to the
[page break]
[centred] 4. [/centred]
pilot’s cabin. There is some little delay before we may start up our engines so we pass the time examining “William’s” interior. Soon, however, the engines are started one by one, warmed up, tested and ready for taxying.
At 15.22 hrs. we started to taxy round to the end of the runway which, surprisingly, took eight minutes to accomplish. Once there the engines opened up their full throated roar as the pilot [deleted] opened up [/deleted] [inserted] advanced [/inserted] the throttles. We heard the hiss of escaping air as the powerful brakes were released, and one minute after reaching the end of the runway we were air-borne. We had experienced a take-off before and know that to expect but the feeling of power and acceleration down the runway almost took our breath away.
We were unable to determine precisely when we left the “deck” but the upward thrust as the pilot put “William” into a climb
[page break]
[centred] 5. [/centred]
pressed our feet down hard against the floow.
As “William” climbed steadily upwards we were most interested in looking downwards at the rapidly receding landscape. Yes!, Look, there is the ‘drome, there are the hangers, that is the Sergeants’ Mess and there is the building where our less fortunate pals are undergoing their tedious ground training. And here are we, rapidly ascending into a strange new world.
Suddenly our view is obscured and we are passing up through the clouds. Then we burst through into the brilliant sunshine above the carpet of snow-while clouds stretching as far as we can see in all directions.
We are now flying at about 8,000 feet in this strange new world of scintillating sun shine with just an occasional glimpse through a gap in the clouds of the strangely unreal-looking earth
[page break]
[centred] 6. [/centred]
below.
“Yes”, we think, “flying is one of the grandest sensations in the world”. But wait, what is the pilot saying over the intercom? He is going to throttle back and loose[sic] flying speed until we stall!! We have an idea that stalling an aircraft is a dangerous occupation and not to be undertaken in the light-hearted manner of our pilot.
We have little time for further reflection. We can feel the mighty bomber loosing[sic] flying speed so we quickly take hold of two convenient supports with both hands and hope that the evolution will not be as bad as we fear. Here it comes! She’s stalling and we feel the sickening drop in the pit of our stomachs as the aircraft falls heavily downwards. About three hundred years later we can feel that the pilot is getting her under control again and we are regaining flying speed. No, perhaps it was not as bad as we expected but quite enough to
[page break]
[centred] 7. [/centred]
be going on with.
We do several more stalls and then the pilot decides to do some “corkscrews”. This is better, we decide, plenty of fun and exhilarating sensations. One moment our feet almost float off the floor as our bodies temporarilly[sic] appear to loose[sic] all weight. The next moment our knees are doing their best to fold up and we feel as if some malignant force is trying to crush us flat against the floor.
After several more “corkscrews” we resume normal flying which seems now quite tame by comparison with what we have been doing. However, there is still another surprise in store for us.
We are still several thousand feet up and we hear the pilot say over the intercom that he is going to feather the Port Outer. We watch the prop. with interest as it ceases to turn and eventually
[page break]
[centred] 8. [/centred]
comes to rest with its blades in line with the airflow. No sooner has this happened than the pilot informs us that he is going to feather the Port Inner, which he then proceeds to do.
Most interesting, we think, that this massive bomber can fly on just two engines and those both in the one wing, with the other two engines just so much dead weight on the other wing. Then we get a further shock for the pilot is talking of feathering another engine but, to our relief, decides that it would be putting an unneccesary [sic] strain on the one remaining engine. So the two engines are unfeathered and we come down below the clouds to pin point our position.
At first this is a little difficult but then we spot the sea away in the distance on our starboard bow and soon we have identified the county below.
[page break]
[centred] 9. [/centred]
We experience a feeling of regret as the pilot swings the aircraft round and sets course for home. However, all good things must come to an end sometime and eventually, having received permission to land, “William” comes in gracefully to land back at Base.
That evening finds us proudly making the first entry in our new log book which is a permant[sic] record that our first flight lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes.
[line across the sheet]
Being the account of the impressions of one “Sprog Sergeant”
[underlined] Herbert M. Gray. [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
First flight in a Stirling
Initial dual
Description
An account of the resource
Detailed description of impressions, emotions and events leading up to and then during Bertie Gray’s first trip in a Stirling aircraft. Includes descriptions of stalling, corkscrewing and flying on two engines.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bertie Gray
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-21
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Nine page handwritten memoir
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BGrayHMGrayHMv1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Suffolk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
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
Sue Smith
David Bloomfield
military service conditions
Stirling
training