He recalls that he had a wonderful mother who kept them well fed with fresh food as there were no refrigeration systems in those days, His mother died at the age of 101.
Thomas started school at the age of five and in 1936, aged eleven, passed the required exams to attend a higher education school but, with the introduction of secondary modern education, moved to another school. At the commencement of the war he remembers mesh being fitted to the windows, air raid shelters being dug and land being requisitioned for a school vegetable garden.
Thomas planned to join the RAF as a Halton apprentice but the war changed his plans.
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Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Terry Holmes]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Hertfordshire]]> England--Hemel Hempstead]]> 1936]]>
Harrogate and refresher training in Perth followed. Tom was posted to No. 3 Lancaster Finishing School at RAF Feltwell where two B-17 crashed. He went to RAF Kidlington and, after finishing at the Advanced Flying Unit, Tom was posted to 26 Operational Training Unit at RAF Wing to fly Wellingtons where he crewed up. In March 1945 he was posted to RAF North Luffenham flying Lancasters. Tom then had to report to 90 Squadron at RAF RAF Tuddenham and joined a different crew. He undertook a few Cooks’ tours for ground crew to the Ruhr, and went to 15 Squadron at RAF Mildenhall where he became flying officer. He brought back some British troops from Italy and did Operation Post Mortem, including a German radar at Kiel. With a few hundred aircraft, there was a significant danger of collision.
Tom finished at an instructors’ flying course at RAF Lulsgate Bottom and was demobilised at the end of 1946.
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Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Devon]]> England--Manchester]]> England--Norfolk]]> England--Rutland]]> England--Suffolk]]> Germany]]> Germany--Kiel]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Italy]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> 1942-04]]> 1943-05-16]]> 1943-05-17]]>
Tom joined the RAF at 15 after altering his birth certificate. He trained in Canada as a pilot.]]> Tom Payne]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tricia Marshall]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> Belfast International Airport]]> England--London]]> England--Ludlow]]> Canada]]> New Brunswick--Moncton]]> New Brunswick]]> Great Britain]]> England--Shropshire]]> Tom Payne]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Bradbury]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Hemel Hempstead]]> England--Herefordshire]]>
Additional information on Frank Gunning is available via the IBCC Losses Database.]]>
TP Payne]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tricia Marshall]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Beaminster]]> England--Bridport]]> France--Le Bourget]]> France--Dieppe]]> England--Birmingham]]> France]]> England--Dorset]]> England--Middlesex]]> England--Warwickshire]]> England--London]]> 1940-06-12]]>
Great Britain. Royal Air Force]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Terry Hancock]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Log book and record book]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Canada]]> Great Britain]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> England--Hertfordshire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Norfolk]]> England--Suffolk]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> 1947]]> 1948]]> 1949]]> 1950]]> 1951]]> 1952]]> 1953]]> 1945-06-23]]> 1945-07-18]]> 1945-08-18]]> 1945-08-27]]> 1945-09-02]]> 1945-10-01]]>