Interview with Douglas Joss
Douglas was born in Aberdeen, the eldest of 5 children. He signed up for the Royal Air Force in October 1938 and trained as a Flight Rigger, becoming a Leading Aircraftsman after training.
During his time as a Leading Aircraftsman, he tells of working with George Stainforth, the last Schneider Trophy Pilot for Britain, and his experiences of meeting Douglas Bader whilst he was training to get his Royal Air Force wings back.
Douglas spent time in the Gold Coast, assembling aircraft such as Maryland Kitty Hawks before moving further inland to Nigeria and tells of his run-in with the Foreign Legion, before contracting Malaria and being sent home.
After recovering from Malaria, Douglas then trained as a Flight Engineer before being posted to the Heavy Conversion Unit on Handley Page Halifaxes, and then on to Avro Lancasters with 12 Squadron.
After his time in 12 Squadron, Douglas volunteered for the Pathfinder Force but was sent overseas to India and Singapore instead where he was involved in the sending home of wives and families from Siam Road, who were interred by the Japanese.
Douglas completed 32 operations, doing 2 extra operations to allow his bomb aimer to completed his tour of duty and he left the Royal Air Force with the rank of Squadron Leader.
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2015-10-07
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01:47:00 audio recording
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AJossDA151007
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Pilot Officer Doug Joss
Head and shoulders portrait of Doug Joss wearing flying helmet, goggles and jacket. 'Captioned 'Pilot Officer Doug Joss, Rear Gunner 626 Squadron, Retired Squadron Leader with MBE'.
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal
One b/w photograph
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PJossDA1503
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Crew of Sugar 2 of 626 Squadron
Seven aircrew, three sitting in front and four standing behind. All are wearing tunic with aircrew beret. In the background curtains at either side. Captioned ‘Len (Navigator) Arthur (Wireless Operator) Mac (Flight Engineer) Don (Bomb Aimer)
Douglas (Rear Gunner) Chippy DFC (Pilot) Jimmy (Mid-Upper Gunner) (aged 18)
Crew of Sugar 2 of 626 Squadron. 32 operations. Hit by flak
On 4 occasion, with only one injury, and that to Bombe Aimer.
Also 1 severe strike by lightning, blinding Pilot for 10 minutes!’
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal
One b/w photograph
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PJossDA1502
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