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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/666/10071/AAkrillM-A171204.1.mp3
4daf19c66760c9cf4b943a4befded3d8
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
JL: Ok. Ok. I’ll just do a quick introduction.
AA: Yeah.
JL: And then we can just talk and you can go through it. Right. This is Jeremy Lodge on behalf of Collingham District Local History Society and the International Bomber Command Centre on the 4th of December 2017 talking to Ann and Nick about —
MA: Michael.
JL: Michael.
MA: Michael please.
JL: Why have I put you down as Nick?
MA: Well, I don’t know.
AA: Perhaps you put Mick.
JL: Probably. And Michael. We’re going to talk about their Uncle William.
AA: Yeah.
JL: Who was in Bomber Command during the Second World War. So, do you want to introduce yourselves for the tape and then I’ll let you talk.
MA: Yeah. Well, I’m, I’m Michael. I’m the only one of, myself and my siblings who actually saw Uncle Billy but I can’t remember him because he was lost the week after my first birthday. But the story goes that he was on leave the week before my birthday and he offered me either a penny or a florin as a birthday present and I took the florin. I suspect it was because it was shiny and the other one wasn’t but maybe I was just greedy.
AA: Probably that’s true [laughs] I’m Ann Akrill and I never knew my Uncle Billy as he was known but in the family there was always a picture of him on the wall at grandma, granny and grandad’s house and they always talked about him.
MA: And at our house.
AA: And at our house. We had a picture of him as well at our house and granny and grandad and his sister Auntie Mary always constantly talked about him in our childhood. He was a very, very big figure really, wasn’t he in our childhood. He —
MA: He was.
AA: He was always there. He was always around.
JL: Where was he born and where did he live?
AA: He was born in Billingham, Lincolnshire in 1922 and they had a farm there. They were actually tenant farmers. They farmed one of the farms that belonged to the castle and I can’t remember what their names were now. Anyway —
MA: Doesn’t matter.
AA: Doesn’t matter. But anyway, they had a farm there and, and he did go to school there for a while but then in 1931 they moved to Collingham. To Bolting Holme Farm on Swinderby Road and then in 1932 for whatever reason, I don’t know why, they, maybe they didn’t want the —
MA: Decamped.
AA: Like the farm, or they had to move but anyway they moved in 1932 to Potter Hill Farm on, well, I think it’s called Potter Hill Lane. I think it’s technically Station Road but everybody calls it Potter Hill Lane which is where I was born in the farmhouse.
MA: And where I was born in the farm cottage.
AA: Yes. That’s right. And then in nineteen, yes 1931 to 1936 he went to Collingham Boy’s School where he was taught by Mr Evans who thought he was wonderful according to all accounts. And then in 1937 he went to Newark School of Art and was taught there by Robert Kiddey.
JL: Oh right.
AA: Who is quite a well-known, well he’s a sculptor really. I think he was, but he did do some art and we have got some, a picture that he did which is a kind of a silhouette of Robert Kiddey which the Newark Town Hall Museum was rather excited about when I took it in to show them. And then in 1939 he went to Regent Street Polytechnic, in London to study commercial art because he was a very very talented artist. He did many many drawings most of which, an awful lot of them I’ve got in my possession as the only person whose got room to put them I think [laughs] But he was a really really talented artist. I mean, he, and he was also a very, he had a very inventive sense of humour and he did lots and lots and lots of cartoon type drawings which started [pause] Well, the first lot we’ve got that he did were in 1935 when his father was in hospital and he wrote letters to him which all, half the letters were drawings and cartoons of the goings on that happened at Potter Hill at the time and for, in 1935 how old would he, oh thirteen.
MA: He would have been thirteen.
AA: He was thirteen and the stuff that he did it was not only, it was not only that he was a good artist but his sense of humour was, well —
MA: I would suspect —
AA: Overdeveloped. Overdeveloped.
MA: I was going, I was going to say very well developed for a thirteen year old.
AA: For a thirteen year old.
MA: At that time. Maybe not now but —
AA: Yeah. Yeah. And his letters.
JL: Oh yes.
AA: They were all, he never wrote a letter without putting lots of drawings and silly little things in it. And then in nineteen —
MA: Well, then war broke out.
AA: Yeah. Then war broke out and at the end of the 1939 he came home and he didn’t quite know what he wanted to do. He toyed with the idea of being a conscientious objector but he didn’t quite get that far. And then in 1940 until September 1941 he was employed by Smith Woolley and Co in their drawing office at Collingham which he didn’t enjoy shall I say. He hated it actually but he still, I mean he went there and he did the job that he was supposed to be doing and they all had a really good time because there were four or five young men who were all waiting to be either, to either join up or be called up in to wherever. The Army. The Air Force. Wherever. Oh one of them went in the —
MA: Fleet, well the —
AA: The Fleet Air Arm.
MA: Fleet Air Arm. Yeah.
AA: His best friend went in to the Fleet Air Arm because he, he failed his medical because of very poor eyesight for the RAF when he went with Uncle Billy. They both went together. David got knocked back because he had very poor eyesight which he’d no idea he’d got very poor eyesight and then, so he came back home. Uncle Billy got accepted and joined up. David came back home. Thought he’d try for the Fleet Air Arm and they said there was absolutely nothing wrong with his eyes at all. So, it’s assumed that there was somebody who went to join up to the Air Force who had appalling eyesight but they’d mixed up their, you know.
MA: Records.
AA: Their records because David’s eyesight was spot on apparently according to the Fleet Air Arm. So, he joined. He went off to the Fleet Air Arm and they used to compare notes in their letters about the Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm.
MA: I think the other thing about Smith Woolleys was that it gave him a lot of fodder for his cartoons, didn’t it?
AA: It certainly did.
MA: Because there are a lot of them of well particularly the older guys that were working in the office who you can obviously make more humorous comments about as far as drawings are concerned.
AA: Yeah. He did lots of cartoons and for a long time the cartoons were actually on the wall in the Smith Woolleys office. And then I don’t quite know what happened to them in the end but we’ve got copies of all of them that he did. And you can see. I mean, the likenesses are just incredible. Because a lot of the people who were on those cartoons, we knew them in later life.
MA: In later life. Yeah.
AA: You know, there were a lot of Collingham people that we knew and they are so much like. You can see exactly who it is. You don’t have to be told who they are because you can see who they are and some of their children are still around in Collingham and you could see the likeness to them as well, you know. [laughs] Oh yeah, that’s so and so’s son. Yeah. So, I mean he did loads of really, you know all these funny little cartoons about Smith Woolley but he really didn’t like working there because he wanted to get in there and get to the Air Force.
MA: Get at them.
AA: Get at Hitler basically. That was what he was aiming for. And then he joined the RAF. So, he joined the RAF in nineteen, 15th of September 1941. He went to London, to the Oval as a lot of them did in those days. They went to the Oval and they all got sort of signed up and you know all sorts of things went on and he had all these letters that he’s written. He didn’t have a very high opinion of the powers that be in the Air Force because he thought they were all a bit, you know. It was —
MA: Above themselves.
AA: A lot. Yeah, and a lot of what they were doing really was a bit ridiculous. But anyway, and then he went through various episodes and various, he went to lots of different places. He went to, I think from London he went to Aberystwyth. And then from Aberystwyth he went to [pause] where was it he went? Oh, from Aberystwyth they went to somewhere in the Cotswolds I think it was. And that was when he went to the flying school bit which unfortunately he didn’t pass to be a pilot which is what he really wanted to do. So then he went off to Brighton. And then to —
MA: Eastbourne.
AA: Eastbourne. And started training to be a navigator which after, when he started training to be a navigator he realised that actually pilots didn’t have to be very bright at all. Anybody could fly a plane but not anybody could be a navigator. He did have a fairly high opinion of himself I think [laughs] And then he went from oh it was near Reading. That’s where he went to.
MA: Theale.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Theale, it was called.
AA: Somewhere like that. Yeah.
MA: Yeah.
AA: Near Reading. That was his, where he failed his pilot’s test. And then he went to —
MA: Well, Eastbourne.
AA: Eastbourne.
MA: And he was at Eastbourne for quite —
AA: He was at Eastbourne when his bomb, was bombed. And he had little cartoons of him hiding or having a near miss with a Heinkel or a —
MA: Whatever. Yeah.
AA: Something or other.
MA: Yeah.
AA: You know, one of those German bombers.
MA: And he got quite involved in Eastbourne, didn’t he?
AA: Yeah.
MA: Because I think a couple of times he was asked to preach at the Methodist Church and this, that and the other.
AA: Oh, no that was —
MA: No. I think he, I think he —
AA: Did he there? He might have done then. Yeah.
MA: I think he preached at Eastbourne.
AA: He spoke to the young people and things like that.
MA: Yeah.
AA: He was very involved with Collingham Methodist Chapel when he was there. And then from [pause] from there he went to —
MA: West —
AA: West Freugh.
MA: West Freugh.
AA: In [pause] Is it in Ayrshire?
MA: Whichever one.
AA: On the west coast.
MA: Yeah.
AA: Of Scotland.
MA: Near Stranraer anyway.
AA: Near Stranraer. And that was where —
MA: Well, I don’t think it was near anywhere.
AA: That was where he did his final navigation training and they, they used to go out, you know, pretend bombing and things like that and he was a navigator. And that was when he got his navigator’s —
MA: Ticket.
AA: Ticket, and his sergeant’s stripes. Because they all became sergeants once they got their navigator’s thing. And then from there —
MA: And I think they flew over Potter Hill a couple of times.
AA: Yes.
MA: On training runs.
AA: Well, yes. Well, no he did that more from —
MA: The next one.
AA: The next one.
MA: Ah yeah. Probably.
AA: He came down from, back from there and went to [pause] what was it called? Oh. What was it? No that’s West Freugh. I’ll tell you in a minute. I can’t remember. I know. I know it very well what it’s called. But I can’t remember the name of it.
MA: Was that the place that there were three RAF bases with the same name in different parts of England?
AA: No. No. That was the final one.
MA: Oh, that was the final one wasn’t it?
AA: That was the final one. Yeah.
MA: Apparently, one bloke took [laughs] took a week to get back from leave to the base because he went to all the other three first.
JL: Good excuse. Good excuse.
MA: And got away with it.
AA: Oh, what was it called? You know the place in the, it wasn’t the one in the Cotswolds.
MA: Oh yeah. Yeah.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Of course. Yeah. Upper Heyford.
AA: Upper Heyford.
MA: Upper Heyford.
AA: That’s right.
MA: Upper Heyford.
AA: Upper Heyford or Lower Heyford.
MA: Well, one —
AA: Anyway, there was an RAF base.
MA: The base was at upper Heyford which later became an American, an American base.
AA: Yeah. It is still there I think now.
MA: It is. Yeah. I took a photograph of it.
AA: Yeah.
MA: A year ago now.
AA: Yeah. And then they, that, that was when they did the final training and they got paired up with all their, you know, their crew. And from then —
MA: Well, that’s where he really became involved in the community isn’t it?
AA: Yes. That’s right. He met up with a, he was involved with a Methodist Church there and there were some very nice people who were the bakers in the village and they took in, they would, you know sort of adopt —
MA: I think they had —
AA: Airmen who were away from home and —
MA: They had one sergeant and his wife and little boy billeted with them.
AA: Billeted with them. Yeah. That’s right.
MA: And two or three other of these guys who were Methodists used to spend nearly all of their spare time —
AA: And he spent their Christmas there with them as well.
MA: With the Bates.’ Yeah.
AA: Yeah.
MA: He spent his last Christmas with these people.
AA: Yeah. And I think granny sent, sent them some things, you know. For Christmas.
MA: A pack of butter or something.
AA: Yeah, because obviously —
MA: Yeah.
AA: They were on the farm so they had, you know a bit more of the finer things in life to eat.
MA: Yeah.
AA: And they, they used to write to each other for a short time because you know she was so pleased that they were looking after him and, you know all that sort of thing. And then he went off to, well he came back off leave and got sent to this place which was, well, Honington was the main base that they were supposed to be going to which was somewhere in Suffolk. But there are lots of Honingtons.
MA: In the Brecklands sort of thing.
AA: And they all had, they were all, they all had Air Force bases. All these different Honingtons.
MA: And there was also an American base there wasn’t there?
AA: Yes. Yes. He eventually got to the American base. No. I think the Americans were there. That’s right because, and this was a little satellite place where he ended up in which was a place called East Wretham in Norfolk. In Thetford Forest really and he was there for not very long.
MA: Not very long.
AA: Was he? Not very long. I can’t remember when they actually went there. Should be able to find it in here. Yeah.
JL: Was that still a training posting?
AA: No.
MA: No. This was —
AA: That was, this was the real thing.
JL: Yeah.
AA: That was the real thing and yeah, here we are. Oh, there’s one, a letter here from him, “Somewhere in Norfolk or Suffolk. Goodness knows where. I don’t.” That was February ‘43. Yes. “Nobody had been sure which Honington to go to. My bombardier had gone all the way from London to Honington near Grantham, found it was the wrong place, gone back to Grantham where he found two more fellows on their way so they all came back to Bury St Edmunds. They’d heard my pilot and another pilot were also on their way to Honington, Lincolnshire.” So, you know it was all, but when they were there they had a good, this, they arrived at this place in Norfolk or Suffolk which was an American Air Force base, “And we had a good breakfast and a marvellous dinner. The best I’ve had in the Forces. Some wonderful American stuff which you’d thought had disappeared since the war.” And then they got sent off to East Wretham which is just near Thetford and it’s right, the Air Force base I’ve never been able to get to it because it still belongs to the MOD and you have to make an appointment or, and see if they’ll allow you on. They do, it’s where sort of Dad’s Army Country. You know, where they filmed Dad’s Army and all that. But he went, so he’s now then at the RAF station at East Wretham, Thetford in Norfolk. So, he arrived there in February ’43. Mid-February ’43 and then he went out on one raid. One, one flight the first flight he went out on they were dropping mines.
JL: Do you know which squadron it was?
AA: Yes.
JL: Which aircraft.
AA: 115 Squadron and it was a Wellington. And it was at the time when they were just, they were, they were all waiting to go and be converted to Lancasters. And he was hoping that if he was converted, going on a conversion course which they promised them they would be doing in two or three weeks time he would be at —
MA: At Swinderby.
AA: Swinderby, which was like a hop, skip and a jump from the farm where he lived so he was hoping that he would be able to spend some time with —
MA: The rest of them.
AA: The rest of them.
MA: At this stage he hadn’t let his parents know that he was operational. He was going to do three, four, five or something.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Just so as he could say, ‘Well, look —
AA: I’ve done all these.
MA: I told you it was safe. I’ve done them all. I’m right.
AA: Yeah.
MA: But —
AA: So, he did, he did the, he did the one where he went, they went out. I’m just trying to see where it says it and then on the 11th of, 11th of March it was his twenty first birthday and he had lots of lovely presents from people. People had sent him all sorts of things. And on the 12th they went off to bomb the Krupp’s factory in Essen and didn’t come back again [pause] And that was it. So —
JL: That was his first, that was his —
AA: It was his first actual bombing.
JL: Bombing run. Yes.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Yeah.
AA: That was his first one.
MA: They’d laid mines but that was —
AA: And they’d, I’m trying to see [pause] Oh yeah here we are this is, he wrote this book that I’ve got here. It’s got the letters that he wrote to his parents and it’s got the letters that he wrote to his friend David —
JL: Yeah.
AA: Who was in the Fleet Air Arm and they’re very different letters because with his parents it was all, yeah, jolly. This is great and everything’s going fine. With David he sort of laid himself bare and told him what was the same sort of things that David was going through as well. And so he’d written to David and they’d had, I think four of their, his colleagues, four of the other planes they, four of them had gone out on one night and only two came back and then in the morning all these what they called the erks who were the powers that be, you know. The minions from the —
MA: Ministry. The men from the Ministry [pause]
AA: Yeah. That’s right. Those.
MA: Not quite.
AA: They would just come in and just sweep away everybody’s belongings who hadn’t come back and come in, sweep everything up and go out again. So, he’d written about that and and they were, he said they were all a bit [pause] he said [pause] they were all very shaken up about this because and he’d, he’d written, he’d written letters to all the parents of the boys that had gone out and hadn’t come back again. So, I think he was sort of, you know the chap in the group that —
MA: Did that sort of thing.
AA: Did that sort of thing.
MA: Yeah.
AA: And, and then he did, he did write a letter saying to David, saying to him, telling him how he was feeling and said that he wasn’t, he wasn’t worried about going because he’d got to go and there was a job to be done and whatever happened that was, it was ok. He was going. But please tell them at home what I’m, you know that that’s how I feel because if I don’t come back I want them to know that. And he didn’t come back. So [pause] it was all quite [pause] Well, it was very traumatic wasn’t it?
MA: Yeah. Yeah, it was.
AA: Granny and grandad never recovered from it. We can’t, none of the three of us can remember seeing them smiling which is a bit sad really isn’t it? and that was I mean granny lived till nineteen ninety something didn’t she?
MA: Ninety three.
AA: No. Ninety. No.
MA: No, sorry eighty.
AA: Nineteen seventy something.
MA: Nineteen seventy. Yeah.
AA: That’s right. Yeah. Grandad died in the 1960s.
MA: She was ninety three when she died.
AA: We can’t remember them smiling and you know she just, he was their world really even though they had two other children as well but, you know. He’d gone.
MA: Who they loved dearly but —
AA: Yeah. That’s right.
MA: But he was, well, A) He was —
AA: The youngest.
MA: Six years younger than dad.
JL: Right.
MA: So, he was —
AA: The baby.
MA: He was considered the baby of the family and I guess you look after the baby.
AA: Yeah. But he was, he appeared to have a very, he was a special sort of person. You know, there are some people that are just like, there’s something about them that everybody loves. Well, he was that sort of person or so it would appear. We don’t know because we [pause] but everybody said how lovely he was. You know, everybody we’ve met who knew him said what a wonderful person he was. So, yeah.
JL: It's shocking how sudden it is.
AA: I know.
JL: I was watching you leafing through—
AA: Yeah.
JL: The letters. Thinking oh, there’s only two or three pages left.
AA: I know. Yeah. And well, that’s what everybody said when they read it. They’ve really enjoyed reading it but they all know that they’ve got to get to the end.
JL: Yes.
AA: And they know what the end is because it says so on here. You know. Yeah.
JL: What happened to David? Do you know?
AA: David survived.
JL: Right.
AA: And he used to come and see Auntie Mary and, and my grandparents as well I suppose.
MA: Yeah.
AA: But I never met him. We’d never met him.
MA: I never did meet him.
AA: You never met him. I, when my auntie died we found a letter from him and both my other brother and I, my other brother lives in Cardiff. I was working in Newport at the time and this letter from David [Iliffe] was, had the address was from them somewhere Carleon, which is about what ten miles ten miles from Newport. And I thought —
MA: Oh.
AA: Oh. And we got all these things that we’d found because all, all the stuff, all the letters, all his paintings and drawings. Nobody knew that they existed until Auntie Mary died. We had to clear the house out. Went in, up in to the attic and there were just, there was all this stuff. There were suitcases full of all these letters and things which nobody knew. My mum didn’t know they were there. Nobody had ever said anything about them and there was all the artwork and there was all, all these letters. They were all in the envelopes still. All put together in a suitcase. And nobody had ever seen them so I thought hmm I think I’d better find out about this.
MA: This chap.
AA: David Iliffe. So, I looked in the phone book, the Newport phonebook and I found somebody called D [Iliffe] but he didn’t, he wasn’t living in Caerleon he was living somewhere not far away but he was, he was in that phone book. So, I rang him up and I said, ‘Hello. I’m trying to find a Mr David [Iliffe] who used to live in Caerleon.’ He said, ‘Oh, that’s my father.’ And I said, ‘Oh, well, my name’s Ann Akrill.’ He said, ‘Oh, you must be Akey’s family,’ or nephew, niece or anyway to do with because they always called him Akey. David always called him Akey and he had always talked throughout his whole life, he’d talked to his family about Akey as if, almost as if he was still alive. You know, he told them all about him because they were such close friends. So, he was living in, still living in Caerleon so I went to visit him and he was just, well he was so, he was so thrilled that we got in touch. And that’s where half of these letters came from because he had kept all of Uncle Billy’s letters as well and he’d transcribed them all himself and had a file of all these letters which he let me have. So they all went in here, in this book as well. And we kept in touch with him and I kept, I went to see him several times when I was down there but all his family knew all about Uncle Billy because he’d constantly talked about him really. And there was a lovely drawing that Uncle Billy had done of David as well in his, in his Navy uniform which was really nice. But you know he died, it must be probably about —
MA: I don’t know. Don’t look at me.
AA: About ten years ago probably David died. Now I don’t whether his wife is still alive. We have over the past year, we always used to get a Christmas card from her or mum always got a Christmas card from her. But I don’t think we got one last year. But he’s got, he had three sons and I could get in touch with, with one of, with those sons to see if he was still alive which I ought to do really to let him know that —
MA: Yeah.
AA: Mum died. Yeah. But yeah, I mean it was lovely to see him because he obviously was so fond of Billy you know and Uncle Billy was also, also always used to go and visit his family. His parents and his —
MA: Sister.
AA: David [Iliffe’s] brother in law had been lost previous to that and he’s on the Collingham War Memorial as well. His name was Jack Chell. C H E L L. And his daughter, if you are of an age or maybe you have children of an age who used to watch —
MA: Blue Peter.
AA: No. No.
MA: No. Not Blue Peter.
AA: Not Blue Peter. Jackanory. Was Carol Chell —
JL: Oh right.
AA: And she used to be on Jackanory and that was David [Iliffe’s] niece.
JL: So, David was from Collingham as well.
AA: Well, he lived in Collingham. Yes.
MA: Not originally.
AA: They weren’t originally from Collingham.
MA: I don’t know where they came from originally.
AA: No. I don’t. They weren’t originally from Collingham.
MA: But where —
AA: But his father worked for Smith Woolleys.
MA: Yeah.
AA: And so David worked at —
MA: Mr Chell was at Smith Woolleys too.
AA: No. No.
MA: Mr, Mr [Iliffe]
AA: Mr [Iliffe] Yeah. They lived in the corner house in Collingham which is, I think is it the corner of Church Lane or, as you’re going into Collingham you go past the [pause] and you go past the Low Street turn. I think it’s the next one.
MA: It’s the next one which isn’t Church Lane.
AA: It’s the big house on the corner with a wall around it which is called the Corner House. They lived there. But then after a while they moved to a house because they were renting it from Smith Woolleys probably, you know. They moved to a house which is either on Low Street, right at the far, near the office anyway. It was oh. It’s [pause] I can’t remember what it’s called now. But there’s a farm and there’s a house that have both got the same name and I can’t remember what they’re called. Just around the, if you —
MA: [Manor?]
AA: No. No. it’s What’s it called?
MA: [unclear]
AA: No. It’s right near Smith Woolley’s office. You know. On that corner. By the —
MA: By the tree. By the Stocks.
AA: By the tree.
MA: Yeah.
AA: By Stocks Hill there. I can’t remember. I can’t remember now what it’s called. But that’s where David’s family lived in latter years. They moved there. They moved from the Corner House to I think it was a slightly smaller place.
MA: Yeah. I can’t remember ever having met them. Whether —
AA: No.
MA: How long they stayed in Collingham, I don’t know.
AA: I don’t think they, because I don’t think David lived in Collingham after.
MA: After the war.
AA: After the war. Because he met, he met his wife, she was in the Air Force as well, I think doing, well they weren’t in the Air Force as such were they? They were —
MA: Fleet Air Arm.
AA: No.
MA: Oh.
AA: Yeah.
MA: Oh, the WAAFs.
AA: I think she might have been in the Air Force but they weren’t called [pause] They was, they had another name.
MA: The WAAFs.
AA: They weren’t officially in the Air Force then. It was the Women’s Voluntary Auxiliary. Women’s Auxiliary or something. Anyway, I can’t remember what they were called and he met her during the war and then they got married and I’m, I can’t, I’m not sure where they lived because David carried on as a surveyor and all the stuff that they were doing at Smith Woolleys. He carried on in that profession because I think that’s what his father did.
JL: Yeah. Smith Woolleys, for the tape are land agents in Collingham.
AA: Yeah. And they became more than that didn’t they? They were more than just land agents after.
MA: I don’t know.
AA: Yeah. They were.
MA: Yeah.
AA: Yeah. They were surveyors and all sorts of things.
MA: Well, I mean —
AA: I suppose that’s probably —
MA: And before that they were still a very important family wasn’t it because —
AA: Yeah.
MA: Smith Woolleys was —
AA: Yeah. Smith Woolleys have been around for years, haven’t they? Yeah.
MA: Yeah.
AA: Yeah. So, and really that’s, that’s our story of Uncle Billy.
JL: Ok. That’s great.
AA: Although we’ve got loads of photographs. We’ve got loads of artifacts and bits and pieces, haven’t we? Which —
MA: But I haven’t still got the florin that he gave me.
AA: No.
MA: I suspect mum took that and put it straight in my piggy bank.
AA: Or in your bank account even.
MA: Well, in my bank account maybe.
AA: Well, no. You probably didn’t have one in those days.
MA: I probably didn’t have one when I was one.
AA: Yeah. Yeah.
JL: Shall I switch it off?
AA: I think that would be —
JL: Ok. That’s brilliant.
AA: That will be alright. Yeah
JL: Thank you.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Michael and Ann Akrill
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jeremy Lodge
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AAkrillM-A171204
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Second generation
Description
An account of the resource
Michael and Ann Akrill talk about their uncle, William Akrill. He grew up in Lincolnshire, and studied art in London and under the tutelage of Robert Kiddey. He considered becoming a contentious objector, but volunteered for the RAF and after training, he served as a navigator with 115 Squadron. He wrote many letter home which focused on the more light hearted episodes of training but the letters to his friend in the Fleet Air Arm reflected his concerns. He wrote about how upsetting it was as crews who did not return had their belongings swept away before a new crew took their place. William celebrated his 21st birthday on 11th March 1943 and on the 12th March set off on his first operation. He did not return. His family stored all his artwork and letters and kept his memory alive with constant reminiscences of the time he had been with them. They discuss the likenesses to real people in his cartoons and his training, his brief operational service and the impact his loss had on their family.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
Germany--Essen
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09-15
1942
1943-02
1943-03-12
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:34:06 audio recording
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
115 Squadron
aircrew
arts and crafts
bombing
home front
killed in action
navigator
RAF East Wretham
RAF Honington
training
Wellington
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No1436220 L.A.C. Akrill
No2 Flight, D Squadron, No1 E.A.O.S.,
Imperial Hotel,
Sun. 8.3.42. Eastbourne,
Sussex.
Dear Harry,
I think it’s the usual thing to send congratulating letters to the father though why he should get all the praise I don’t know. Anyway I do think it’s great to have got a son and heir in the family. What does it feel like to have proud grandmas and aunts rushing about admiring [underlined] your [/underlined] young’un?
I can just imagine the excitement at Potter Hill though it’s the first time its happened in our family in my day. Other folk’s babies cause enough excitement but with a real Akrill there’s no telling what they’ll do. You’ll have to watch them well. He hadn’t been born 3 hours before Auntie Mary had written all about him.
Still I guess I’ve no room to talk & expect I’m just as pleased about it as anybody and looking forward to seeing the latest partner of Akhill & Sons
[page break]
Mary didn’t say that mother & son were doing well but I’ll take that for granted.
I was sorry about your ringworm. Think it must have been worry! You seem to be busy as usual at this time of the year, and now you look like being busier with nappies to wash etc.
Tell mum I’m liking this place very well. Managed to chum up with another lad from an E.F.T.S who seems a jolly good sort. The food (so far) has been exceptionally good. Do you know, today at dinner we had trifle with decorations in sugar icing on the top! Eastbournes a lovely place but just about dead now. It’s had a lot of raids.
It’s really warm in the sun today so I think I’ll get out and enjoy it while I’ve a chance. I must climb Beachy Head before I leave.
Give my best to Ros and thank her very much for the birthday present. Couldn’t have a better ever. I’ll write to her soon as I want to give the young feller a present and she’ll know best what he wants. All the best [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to Harry
Description
An account of the resource
From Bill Akrill who is undergoing training at No.1 Elementary Air Observer School, Eastbourne, congratulating him on the birth of his son and saying how good the food is.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-03-08
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two 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
EAkrillWE[Recipient]H420308
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Eastbourne (East Sussex)
England--Sussex
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-03
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] 1- [/underlined] No 1436220 Sgt. Akrill,
Sgts’, Mess,
Wed. 18.1.43. R.A.F. station,
Upper Heyford,
Oxon.
Dear Harry,
I’m afraid this will turn up a bit late to wish you many happy returns on your birthday and its very late to thank you for your letter and Christmas present. Still, better late than never!! I don’t get so much chance for letters these days! What’s more there’s nothing much to write about — things go on just the same.
Been quite busy of late but am free tonight. Last night was the first free night for over a fortnight. It does seem strange! Will be on again tomorrow I expect.
Last night Sgt. Hughes asked me to spend the evening with them He’s a grand chap. It was good of them.
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined]
I managed to get to Chapel on Sunday and went round to the Bates after. I got plenty of leg pulling because of the girl next door (where I went to a party) - a particularly plump young lady of 30 - asked me to supper next Sunday. They’re farmers & have 3 daughters!! I’d rather stay at “home” at the Bates but I shall enjoy going.
[deleted] I [/deleted] Some of our lads achieved my ambition the other night of getting down just where I’d wish, [deleted] to [/deleted] spending a [deleted] night [/deleted] couple of nights & days there. Why couldn’t it have been us!! It’d have been as good as the 48 I seem to have missed. No break now until we’re finished.
One of our best pals has been posted today. It’s a rotten shame. He didn’t get a crew as a few odds & ends had mishaps so he’s gone to another O.T.U. Poor old
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
Johnny he’s been with us so long that we shall miss him a lot. But it’ll be worse for him setting off on his own again. He slept next to me & I’ve now moved to his bed - a nice cosy corner one right along the hot water pipes!
Well I’m ever so tired & its gone 9.30 so I’ll get into bed. There’s nothing to write about anyway. Afraid neither you nor the censor gentleman will find this particularly interesting.
Hope Ros and Michael are fit. Looking forward to the time when I can see you all again. Love to all [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to Harry
Description
An account of the resource
Describes life at RAF Upper Heyford including visiting servicemen living locally and bemoaning the posting of a colleague to another Operational Training Unit. Remarks that neither Harry nor the 'censor gentleman' will find the letter particularly interesting.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-01-18
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three 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
EAkrillWE[Recipient]H430113
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Oxfordshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-01-18
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
RAF Upper Heyford
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Had gunnery exam today & saw the films we’d taken in the cinema.
The Freugh.
[underlined] Tues [/underlined] nr. Stranraer.
Dear Mary,
Still haven’t got this letter posted to tell you I’d got Lizzie O.K. Got your letter in this morning’s post & very pleased to have it. You’re all jolly good to [deleted] cat [/undeleted] send me letters & parcels. I was surprised today to with a letter which turned out to be from Joyce. It was nice of her to write.
I was sorry to hear about Daisy’s foal. What a pity. We pass 4 beauties on the way to Stranraer.
Must say you do seem to be slogging in the garden. I would like to see it. I wish I could see those pink - sweet William plants in flower. Was very interested in them. They are an experiment in cross breeding by Allwoods the Carnation people.
[page break]
Pity they’re in the rose bed but I thought they’d get lost.
I wouldn’t mind a week’s beet singling now. Don’t know when I’ll get leave. May be sooner or much later than Aug. Just don’t know what we’re doing. I like to know where I am & then I can work better. Do you know how Joyce Blow gets from Stranraer? Wish I could get a lift in a kite going that way but they won’t do it.
I’d love to see all the snaps you took & those of Michael as well. If you sent the prints you have now I’d let you have them straight back. Wonder how that one Mum took of me & Mrs. Hit came out. Has the old girl any ducks yet?
Poor old Dave will be in it by now. His firing was pretty hot.
Will get this posted. Oh rabbit pie. Still its nice to know there are still such things! [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to Mary
Description
An account of the resource
Writes from 'The Freugh, nr Stranraer'. Catches up with post and thanks for sending letters and parcels. Catches up with news of family and acquaintances, Writes of gardening and speculates about leave. He is disappointed that the RAF will not sanction a lift by plane from Scotland south.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two 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
EAkrillWE[Recipient]M[Date]-01
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill
2 Flight D Squadron.
No1 E.A.O.S.
Wed. 11. 3. 42 R.A.F.
Eastbourne.
Sussex.
Dear Ros,
I’d been feeling like a nice large mail bag when somebody handed me a very fat envelope at tea time. I wondered just what was inside & could hardly believe that it was all letters. It was grand to have so many - especially as they were full of news about Michael James (I’d been wondering what his name was like John & Rosamund though Mary said it might be that) I’d been wondering how you were both going on as he was only 3 hours old when Mary wrote.
I guessed there’d be some excitement at Potter Hill but judging by the letters you seem to have nearly turned the world upside down. Auntie Mary & Granny are already accusing one another of spoiling the young man. I’m afraid his poor old uncle won’t get a look in anywhere. Never mind I’ll
[page break]
Adopt his young brother when there’ll p’raps be not so much competition.
I’m glad he’s such a fine baby. Auntie M seems to think there’s never been one like him. But oh dear are you sure he’s anything like me? I am disappointed if he is. I hoped he he’d be exactly like his father & then his sister could be like her mother. However, lets hope he’ll grow out of it. I’m [underlined] sure [/underlined] you can’t tell yet who he’ll be like. If you say he can yell he must be like me as I’ve heard stories of how good I was at that in my tender years.
You can’t guess how excited I was when I got to know. I’d thought about him several times a day for weeks now - especially at the end & was looking out anxiously for news. Then I got mum’s letter & thought “no news yet” & then quite suddenly I read Mary’s bit at the end telling me all about it. I wasn’t expecting it then & gave quite a jump of surprise. I wanted to go rushing round to tell everyone but I’d just said good bye to every soul I knew so there was no one I could tell.
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
Then a funny thing happened - a had queer feeling (the more I thought of the little fellow) That I wanted to have a good weep. I didn’t of course as I was waiting in my full kit to come here, but my eyes were a bit watery I admit.
You bet I’m looking forward to seeing him. And if all goes well I shall be coming on a flying visit on the 28[underlined] th [/underlined]. We get a 48 every month here which is quite useful for me. And then about the end of April I should get 7 days so I shall be able to take Michael James out in one of his prams, provided he doesn’t yell - I should be scared stiff if he did.
Yes I like being here very much. There’s going to be plenty of hard work but its good to know I’ve something definite to work for again. It’s much more difficult than the pilots course & really in most cases more important but I’d soon be back at E.F.T.S. I never thought I was brainy enough for this job. We’ve been issued with no end of stuff, including a 15 guinea watch, but we have to share one of these between 4. I’ve not one myself which is as well as I wouldn’t
[page break]
feel safe with it. Also issued with sextants from which we learn to find our position from the sun, moon, planets or stars. They cost 45 guineas each.
I’m on duty tonight & feeling pretty tired too and stiff after playing tennis yesterday afternoon. I’ve got a darkie chap as companion for the night. He’s an amusing fellow.
Well I hope all the Aunties & Grannies don’t give you too bad a time rushing around admiring the baby. Don’t let them spoil him. I’ll be along to see him soon. Have enclosed something for a present. You’ll be able to get him something that will be useful. It’s a nice new one for a new baby!
Would you please tell mum that we don’t get much supper here & that I feel hungry after working all night so if she has time & if there is anything eatable going to the dogs I’d be real glad of it. Hope she doesn’t knock herself up again. Hope Harry’s feeling better.
Just been thinking how pleased Grandad would have been.
Thanks to every body for grand lot of letters. Love to all of you. [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to Ros
Description
An account of the resource
Writes about how happy he was to receive lots of letters following the birth of her baby Michael. Looking forward to leave at the end of month so he can see him and (when he his a longer leave, even take him out in his pram). Writes about life on his navigators' course which is more difficult than pilot training and how expensive the equipment is that they are using.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-03-11
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
EAkrillWE[Recipient]R420311
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Eastbourne (East Sussex)
England--Sussex
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
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3979d8224eec115ec720bfcaa69b5a79
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] East Wretham [/underlined]
Monday 8.3.43.
Dear Ros,
Was very pleased to get a long, interesting letter from you today. You do seem to have been having excitements!
Glad you’ve heard from Jim. I can just imagine what he’d feel like getting 21 letters! Something like my R/Gunner the other day when his back numbers caught him up. He’d a huge pile of letters and a number of parcels which took him ages reading & opening.
Was interested in Michael’s birthday celebrations. He does seem to have had a good time. I expect he enjoyed his party with Grandad, Granny & Auntie Mary there. I guessed it wouldn’t be long before he was standing up
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
& was quite excited to hear he’d done so. I bet he’ll soon be running around and then you can look out missis!!! So he’s getting his grinders is he. I’ve also been getting a wisdom & it’s a horrible great thing & as soon as it’s ready I’m going to see if the dentist will get rid of it.
Poor old Jack, he certainly made a bad choice. He’s lucky to have someone like you next door.
Best regards to Tom & Trevor. Be seeing you maybe at Easter. Love to you all [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to Ros
Description
An account of the resource
Writes he was pleased to receive a long letter from her catching up with family and friends news. Pleased to hear that his nephew Michael had a good birthday and is starting to stand.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-03-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Robin Christian
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two 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
EAkrillWE[Recipient]R430308
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-03
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
navigator
RAF East Wretham
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
No 2 Flight D Squadron.
No 1 E.A.O.S.,
R.A.F.,
Thurs. 2. April 42. Eastbourne,
Sussex.
Dear Ros & Harry.
I think (unless anything unexpected turns up) that we will be getting another 48 next week-end - the 10 [underlined] th [/underlined] to 12 [underlined] th [/underlined]. So I’m afraid I shan’t be able to get for the 19 [underlined] th [/underlined] as we’re on church parade that day. However, if you would like & if Harry is better I can come over next week-end for Michael’s christening. I should be coming home the fortnight after that for several days so p’raps you’d prefer to wait until then. Of course [deleted] I’m [/deleted] you can easily manage just as well without me but I’d like to be there.
You didn’t say where he was being christened or who was doing it. Well, he’s far too grand a little chap to be involved in any unpleasantness with Meek. Apart from that I don’t see that it matters where, how or when he’s christened, if at all, as after all, he’ll decide for himself when he grows up whether he wants to be Christian, Buddist, [sic] or [indecipherable word] nothing at all. I think it would be the grandest thing if Mr. Goodridge christened him. You know how much I admire him & its through him that I am, I
[page break]
hope, a Christian at all (I nearly wasn’t) & that’s the only thing that has made life in the Air Force such a grand enjoyment where it would have been a misery. Well, if you do decide for him to be christened next week-end, I’ll most certainly be over. I shall be writing to Mr. Goodridge so if you let me know what you’ve decided I can ask him. It’s going to be a rush for the 12 [underlined] th [/underlined] though I’m thinking.
Anyway if you write & tell me I can make arrangements for coming home. Otherwise, unless your [sic] all really anxious for me to come home I don’t think I shall do this time. It’s very tempting & I really want to but it’s such a rush & rather expensive - though I might not get so many chances soon. If I don’t come home I shall spend the week-end in Brighton.
I wonder how you’r [sic] all getting on. & if Harry’s face is any better. How’s Mary’s mouth & Daddy’s neck & Irene’s leg? I did enjoy being home & very pleased with Michael but I wished I was staying longer.
Must get on with some work. Passed in all exams so far but I’m far from satisfied with myself & must put in a fortnight’s very hard work. Hope you get this on Sat & then I might get a reply by Monday & I can decide what to do. Love to all Bill.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to Ros and Harry
Description
An account of the resource
Catches up with family news and discusses the christening of his nephew and whether he will be able to attend. Remarks that being a Christian has made being in the RAF 'such a grand enjoyment' rather than a 'misery'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-04-02
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten document
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
EAkrillWE[Recipient]R-H420402
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Sussex
England--Eastbourne (East Sussex)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
faith
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] 1 [/underlined]
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20.
RAF Station,
Sunday 5. 7. 42 W. Freugh.
Stranraer.
Scotland
Dear Ros & Harry,
Thanks very much for both your letters some time ago & for Ros’s & the snaps which I got last week. Afraid I havn’t [sic] written for some time but though I begin most letters “Dear Mum” I’m thinking of all of you at the time!
I guess you’ll be wanting the snaps back so I’ve had a good look at them first. I think the ones of you with the son are pretty good but it’s a pity the [sic] didn’t come out a bit clearer. I’m looking forward to seeing the young feller - and all his friends & relatives as well for that matter. At the rate he’s going on he’ll soon have a first-rate bank account! He seems to be
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
Getting around as well!
I wish Harry could get his teeth out. Hope this fresh stuff will do him some good but I still can’t understand the sun-ray treatment. I should have thought he’d be the last person to benefit from that!
I got mum’s letter [underlined] Monday 6 [/underlined] Ran out of ink last night so am finishing this tonight while having a little rest - just down from stooging around the Irish Sea all the afternoon. Mounting my hours up nicely by this time tomorrow I should have 60 hours Navigation flying in. The minimum we must do is a hundred hours Nav. flying. We start bombing flying on Wednesday & have to do at least 10 exercises on that. Shan’t be dropping any actual bombs for a week or 2 - have to get wind-finding tied up first. I have bombed the Rhur [sic] on the bombing teacher
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
though! Its great fun especially when you’r [sic] given some particular target - such as Crupps [sic] works at Essen. I was given, once, a beautiful bridge over the Dortmunt-Ems [sic] Canal near Essen. I pressed the bomb switch & watched the “bomb” go down Crash!! It missed the bridge by about 3 yds which would have shaken it up a bit anyway! It’s all very well bombing a picture but I’m just longing for the day when the picture becomes real & the bomb causes a bit more damage than a light on the floor. Of course it’s possible, with these big new aircraft, that I’ll not have a chance of bomb-aiming as it’s now a seperate [sic] job.
Af for leave - which is (almost) all we think about these days - it’s fixed definitely (until they decide to alter it!!) to start on Friday July 17 [underlined] th [/underlined] So with luck I should get home at dinner time on Sat. 18 [underlined] th [/underlined] Think the Crewe
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
Derby route brings me into Nottm. Around 10 o’clock. I’ll see if Lincoln would be any better though I have my doubts. Oh leave! leave!!! Jumps of joy [pen sketch] oh to get away from it for a week & oh to be home for a week! No more smelly aeroplanes & no more disturbed nights & no more wondering whether you’ll get any dinner or tea. Yes there’s no place like home. But by the sound of this letter you’d think I was tired of flying & the R.A.F. Not a bit but you can’t keep at it for ever without a break.
Well I don’t think I’ve [underlined] anything [/underlined] worth writing about so until the 18 [underlined] th [underlined] Cheerio [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to Ros and Harry
Description
An account of the resource
Comments on photographs recently sent and catches up with family news.
Bill describes his mounting flying hours during air navigation training and the imminent start of bombing training. He can’t wait to be doing it for real on operations. Writes on use of bombing trainer simulated attacks on the Essen Crupps works and a bridge over the Dortmund-Ems canal. Bill displays his excitement at the prospect of extended summer leave. Includes an illustration of a man in flying gear jumping for joy.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-07-05
1942-07-06
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
Artwork
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWE[Recipient]R-H420705
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1 1436220 Sgt. Akrill. W.E.
Sgts. Mess,
R.A.F. Station.
Mon. 21.12.42. Upper Heyford.
Oxon.
Dear Ros & Harry,
I don’t know whether you’ll get this by Christmas, if not you’ll have to forgive me for not thanking you for letter and photograph of Michael before but opportunities for letters don’t present themselves very often.
Everybody has to look at my photo of Michael and the one of mum & him!! I don’t suppose they’re really interested - [deleted] they [/deleted]the boys prefer them of glamorous looking lady friends - but I show them all the same!! Sergt. Hughes (who is billeted with his wife and 3 youngsters at the Bates) has a baby of 4 months who’s also ‘Michael’ and a funny
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined] little mite who’se [sic] had a terrible cold and I thought it was a bit thoughtless of me to show him [underlined] my [/underlined] Michaels photo which looked so different from their poor little chap.
I got down to chapel last night for the first time for a fortnight though I had a rush as I didn’t land ‘til
late having been up since morning [deleted] 250 [/deleted] dropping 250 pounders on our target in the Bristol Channel, and had had no dinner or tea. I went to the Bates’s for supper afterwards. Both they and Sgt. Hughes asked me to spend Christmas day there. Sgt. Hughes declared the camp would be no place for me then!! He’s a grand chap & takes a fatherly interest in me. Sgt. Arding (Sgt. Hughes’s friend - they are both Link Trainer Instructors) will be there
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined] too. It’s very good of the Bates, I feel really that I shouldn’t go with rationing as it is. There’s now a rumour about having to fly over Christmas if the weather’s O.K. but I don’t think we will though it would be a great pity to miss a fine night or day. I should have quite an uneasy conscience!!
On Saturday, my monthly day off, I went into Oxford with one of the Bombadiers [sic] - “Junior” as we call him and tried to look round shops. Oh dear!! The last Saturday before Christmas in a garrison town on a poring wet day in war time. Couldn’t get near the shops which were empty anyway! So nobody’s getting presents or cards from me this year! There are lots of good book shops so I shall see if I can get in again when the rush is over and have a look round - just to amuse myself.
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined] As it’s too late now to write letters I’ve got a ticket for the Camp Pantomime tonight (W. Officers and Senior N.C.O’s & friends only - snobs night!!!!) but I feel pretty certain that the night flying detail will rather disorganise my arrangements! It’s Dick Whittington & is by personel [sic] of the Camp. They say it’s very good - lots of cracks about are various C.O.s [indecipherable word].
Tell Michael I’ve been looking out [deleted] for [/deleted] among the clouds for a sleigh and reindeer and dear old Santa Claus himself with his sack. Perhaps it’s a bit early yet. We may see him on Christmas Eve!! Maybe he’s got an aeroplane now though! Anyway I hope he’s a good Navigator and gets round to everyone alright. Expect he’s lots of
[page break]
[underlined] 5 [/underlined] things for Michael though toys seem to be out of the question. One of our boys made a beautiful model Wimpey [sic] out of an odd chunk of wood for his little lad.
Well, I’ll wish you all a very happy Christmas (if this isn’t too late!!)
Be sure I’ll be thinking about you all. Love to all [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to Ros and Harry
Description
An account of the resource
Bill relates how he has been showing Michael's photograph to everyone he meet, whether they are interested or not. Mentions how he has had a long day flying and has been invited to spend Christmas with friends living locally. Describes a visit to Oxford - wet and busy and nothing in the shops anyway - so hasn't been able to get cards or presents for anyone. Looking forward to the camp pantomime. Sends message to Michael about looking out for Father Christmas.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-12-21
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
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
EAkrillWE[Recipient]R-H421221
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Oxfordshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-12
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
entertainment
RAF Upper Heyford
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The [one indecipherable word] Holiday (or [one indecipherable word] [underlined] Camp [/underlined]
[underlined] Sunday 20 [/underlined]
Dear All.
Leave for next Sat confirmed but its only a glorified weekend as I have to leave again on Thursday morning to be back here for Friday. It looks as if we’ll be going straight to O.T.U. – possibly on the Friday night. Rather disappointed about this leave as I was hoping that we’d be passed out here, sent on indefinite leave & then posted from here to O.T.U. This is what we were given to understand & I was going to give you such a surprise by turning up as a Sergeant with tapes & brevy[?] up. However it wasn’t so bad for me as for some of the others as I hadn’t got tapes & brevy[?] stitched on my best blue or greatcoat. I bought them
[page break]
yesterday tho.[sic] & you should have seen us comparing brevys[?] & tapes last night!! It was going to be so grand coming home for indefinite leave (& all my kit) as a Sergeant but the RAF always seems to dash our fancies. I ought to be grateful for 4 days (+ 2 travelling). I am but I don’t fancy the idea of returning to The Freugh[?]. Hope we’ll not be here long & hope O.T.U. is nearer home. Most of them are in Scotland or S. England around London & thereabouts tho’ there’s one not so far from Grantham.
Let Dave know if you see him, that if he sees me it’ll still be as a humble L.A.C. as I’d informed him of the great secret that I’d be
[page break]
Sergeant Akrill [deleted one or two letters] on my next leave & was planning a surprise for you. So have my civvies aired, please, as I’m determined not to be seen with props any more!!! All very exciting this passing out & as we’re as good as & all but Sgts. It’s annoying we can’t appear as one on leave! Exams this week, but we’re so fed up we just refuse to do anything else!
I did a drawing of the officer [deleted] two indecipherable words [/deleted] in charge of our Course & the other instructors are getting it photographed & reprinted – one for each of us & others to distribute round the camp. It’s no too complimentary so I hope he doesn’t see it till I’ve gone!
[page break]
Think I [underlined] may [/underlined] be sending my bike home this week as I may not have time to send it to O.T.U. before posting. I’ll see.
See you on Sat – 12.30 I expect, may be a bit earlier.
Be very hungry[?].
Love Bill
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to family
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes about his forthcoming leave (shorter than he hoped) and how he will have to return to Scotland before being posted to the Operational Training Unit. Was hoping to arrive home with his Sergeant's stripes and brevets on his greatcoat and uniform (as a surprise) but that hasn't been possible. Hoping that the next posting is nearer home. Mentions a drawing he made of the officer in charge of their course which is being copied - hopes the officer doesn't see it before Bill leaves.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten document
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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Fam]XXXX20
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military service conditions
Operational Training Unit
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1436220 Akrill W.E. RAF
Avenue Close, NW8
Thursday afternoon
Dear Mum,
I thought I may as well write home again this afternoon. I have a bit of time & we’re not allowed out of billets. We have another Posting Parade at 4.30 in an hours time. We had one this morning [deleted] and [/deleted] but all I know is that I am being posted presumably to some I.T.W. either tonight, the small hours of [deleted indecipherable word] tomorrow morning or tomorrow night or Saturday morning and that, luckily I’m still with what remains of our old flight except that Ron[?] isn’t with us. I’d have been very sorry if [deleted word] I’d been parted from Phil or Joe. They are a grand pair. Joe’s aptitude for seeing the funny side of all our trials & troubles keeps us from getting too “browned off” We’ve been very happy billeted together & I do hope will still be at I.T.W. I’ve not the faintest idea where we’re going and officially we’re not supposed to know until we get there but we may find out from our Corporal.
[page break]
I shall certainly be glad to get away from this place. Receiving Centre was bad enough but “P” Squadron is service life at its worst – or so I hope. We were all absolutely “browned off” before Posting Parade. Some of us had just finished a 24 hr guard and were just about all in & hadn’t even the energy to wash & clean our buttons when we were called out. In [underlined] theory [/underlined] we’re excused all parades today. My shoulders & legs ache with supporting gas capes & masks, tin hats, water bottles & webbing straps for hours on end. I don’t know what I’ll do if we’re called out in the early hours! My vaccination’s rather a mess but my cold didn’t develop.
We’ve opened a new Cookhouse here – a vile place but it doesn’t worry me because I don’t go if I can help it. I’ve found my heart’s desire. There’s plenty of milk to be had in London, though I was rather surprised. I don’t think there is any rationing here. Everything is plentiful. There’s a nice bakery here where you can sit outside and eat lemon curd cheesecakes & drink milk to your hearts content. This place is a great favourite with Joe & me.
[page break]
2
We had Jerry over here last night and the guns were sounding throughout the night but there was no warning. Nobody bothered about such a trifle but I could imagine what a raid must have sounded like. The guns were terriffic[sic]. A number of fine buildings around here have been hit & part of thee flats are unsafe. There are whole rows of empty houses in St. John’s Wood.
[underlined] Later [/underlined] Have got our flight photographs & am sending one home. Wish I had time to tell you about all the boys. They are a grand lot & I’m glad that about ½ of us are still together. The Corporal isn’t our own, he was a great chap. Phil is 4th from left on top row. Joe 2nd from right front row. Ken 5th from left 2nd row down. As you can see I’m having trouble with this hat. It’s always falling off backwards or sidewards
[page break]
I’ve just had mother’s letter & also one from Annie B, but haven’t got Mary’s. What a pity she sent the parcel now. I may get it in the morning, and I hope I get the letter but it may be a long time. What a pity the weather’s so bad. It’s not quite as boiling hot here now but very fine & warm. Very pleased with mum’s long letter. I’ve not had time to read it thoroughly yet. I usually read them over a good many times. I had one from Mick the other day but Dave’s not replied.
Am [underlined] not [/underlined] sending washing as I said, as I’ve not been able to get it sent off. Will see what happens at I.T.W. Will send my address when I get there.
Hope everybody’s O.K. How’s Dear Henry?
Best of love.
Bill
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of life and events at his current location (NW London), and upcoming posting to Initial Training Wing. Says he will be glad to get away but has made some good friends. Mentions a recent air raid and anti aircraft guns sounding throughout the night. Catches up with family news. Sends a flight photograph with the letter and identifies various people on it.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo][Date]-01
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
Civilian
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
Initial Training Wing
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No1436220 LAC. Akrill WE.
A Flight. No 4 Squadron,
No 6 I.T.W. R.A.F.
Aberystwyth.
Friday [inserted] ? 17th [/inserted]
Dear Mum.
Very glad to get your letter at dinner time. I was looking out for one! Glad to know that Mary’s found out she’s exempt. I’m afraid she was worrying about it. Its [sic] definately [sic] not the life for her & she’s doing a thousand times more where she is. There’s a lot I’d sooner do than see her in uniform - not that I‘ve anything against the women services for those they suit. Glad she’s going to the R.T.G.O. it will do her good. For heavens sake tell her not to go & kill herself in that old garden. Its [sic] a brute to manage & she’ll not get much help or encouragement.
[page break]
2
That digging’s too hard for her to do. “Mind my props!!” I’ve not got them stitched on yet - going to the tailor’s tomorrow -. Some of them just ran all the way down the street and arrived back with them on, very important and breathless! Very funny! I expect we’ll be getting L.A.C’s pay on next payday. - a fortnight today -. We get back money from a fortnight ago when we finished exams. Pay’s better than I thought. 5/6 a day. Not bad when we get it all & still £1 [inserted] leave [/inserted] ration money to come. Don’t you think £2 was easily earned money on my weeks leave? [underlined] When [/underlined] we get to E.F.T.S. & start flying I think we get an extra 2/- a day flying pay. I must decide how to save it best. If we look like leaving soon I shall see
[page break]
3
what we do & then get some paid to home. I’d better tell you my exam marks:- Law 64%. Hygiene 66% Aircraft Rec. 92% Navigation 79 1/2% Armaments. 86%. Signals I don’t know but except for lamp receiving I think I got 95% at “sixes”. Law & Hygiene ain’t very good but I’ve passed & that’s all I cared. I counted on 100% in A. Rec. but the test was pretty hot. Everyone lost marks over one question in Navi. On Conventional Signs on maps. I bet I lost [deleted] 15 [/deleted] a good 15 on it so did quite well.
We don’t do a thing these days in the way of work or lectures. Just spend the days messing around in the rain doing drill for Group Captains and Wing Commanders (and Sergeants.) dear old Brownie
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
having room inspections &, we read or talk & mess about in all lectures except Navi. where we’re having an easy time with a supplementary Course. Also having lectures by the Padre pretty frequently. Today we started a jolly interesting course in ju-jitsi (Mr. Henry will explain what that is) with special references to Japanese methods. What’s more we don’t need to parade until 8.30 or 9 for lectures so have a long stay in bed & also finish at 5.30. What a change - there’s no working at nights either. And all for 5/6 a day.
On Tuesday we had our interviews with Wing Com. re commissions. I’m not interested but had to undergo the torture which wasn’t so bad after all.
[page break]
[underlined] 5 [/underlined]
You just stride very noisily into his room, stamp like mad on the floor, salute & stand like a wooden dummy while he squints at you & wait for questions which never came except for idiotic ones like “how old are you” & “where do you come from” We both knew the answers as he had my papers. Then he dismisses you & with himself, the Sq/Ldr & Newell looking on you stamp a salute again & stride out. From that he’s supposed to know whether or not you deserve a commission!
Well I seem to have written as much as anybody’s likely to want to read all at once.
Dreams of Xmas leave are fading rather. Very much afraid we’ll still
[page break]
[underlined] 6 [/underlined]
be here. Overseas postings uncertain and Home posting will grow more & more impossible as the weather gets worse. Talking of applying for New Year leave but not counting on it so we’ll look forward to next March anyway! Story going round that 50% of flight at Hatfield have failed through air sickness. Gosh [double underlined] how [/double underlined] I hope I [deleted] can [/deleted] am O.K in that direction. I don’t drink or smoke & I’d give up eating if I thought that would do any good. Suppose I can only wait & hope for the best. Well as the boys are saying every day longer we stay here prolongs our life so why worry?
I [underlined] did [/underlined] have a good time at home. Felt a bit lost & queer for a couple of days - every one seems to have done but was just getting into it when it was
[page break]
[underlined] 7 [/underlined]
over. Could just have done with another week. Well, March isn’t so far off & it’ll be great at Potter Hill then! Wonder if [inserted] our [/inserted] baby will have arrived. Hope so.
Well its going nine. Must listen to news. Quite exciting these days.
Glad to here [sic] James turned up.
Best of love to everybody Be glad to hear from anybody who feels like writing.
Love
[underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Catches up with family news. Writes of life at RAF on Initial Training Wing at RAF Aberystwyth. Tells her what scores he got in tests, how much he’s earning and how leave is looking more unlikely. He also tells her about being interviewed by the Wing Commander for a commission but he is not interested. Dreams of Christmas leave fading and bemoans lack of postings.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Alan Pinchbeck
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Seven 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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo][Date]-02
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Wales--Aberystwyth
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
Initial Training Wing
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No. 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill W.E.
A Flight No 4 Squadron.
No.6. I.T.W. RAF.
Friday dinner. Aberystwyth.
Dear mum,
Havn’t [sic] got a letter yet this week-end. Expect it will turn up tonight or tomorrow but I thought I’d better give you the gen. we’ve just got. Afraid I don’t get any Christmas leave but if all goes very well I’m hoping I’ll be home about the end of January for a few days at least before sailing for the United States!
Yes we got to know yesterday that 25 of us were being posted & this morning we got all the gen. Imagine our excitement
[page break]
2
waiting for the list to be read out! Luckily my name headed it so my suspence [sic] wasn’t for long. Joe is coming with me but unfortunately poor old Max is out. Don’t know much yet but we leave here on the 30 [underlined] th [/underlined] for an EFTS near [underlined] Aberdeen [/underlined] of all places. We’re there for 3 weeks flying &c and on what is called a grading course. If we’re O.K. we expect to go to the U.S.A. possibly California. Gosh! What an opportunity!!! If [underlined] only [/underlined] I survive E.F.T.S.!!
Well must get this posted & then you [underlined] may [/underlined] get it tomorrow. I wouldn’t broacast [sic] the glad news too much. Anything may happen yet. You might let Dave know. Love [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[page break]
3
Dear Mary.
I’d just finished writing mum’s letter when Max came in and said there was a parcel so I’d just time to get it & extract the book & stuff the rest in my pocket to examine in signals where I’m writing this. I’m glad you got me a knife. I’ve been wanting one. The manual will come in useful now too!
It’s a lad job about the beast. It’s not often ours get on the road. You can certainly kill Lucy. Our Christmas menu is just the same as Sundays except that we can have beer! Well I’ll have a good tuck in when I get embarkation leave. Expect there’ll be a few p—s left.
I seem to be jumping out of
[page break]
4
the frying pan into the fire Aberystwyth to Aberdeen - or at least about 6 miles from it. Indeed to-goodness, och-aye! I don’t know whether my dialect will be Welsh or Scotch or American by the time I’ve finished.
Glad you had a good time at Warsop. Talking of mistletoe there seems to be plenty about this year. You should see the girls chasing around the town with it!
Well I’ll get this posted in coming break. Thank you for the present & the manual. Havn’t [sic] had my fizzog done yet. I’ll [underlined] try [/underlined] to get out of the inter-squadron run tomorrow to get it done.
P’raps you’ll tell Dave the news? Love to all [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes to his mother mentioning no leave over Christmas and about his excitement at being selected to go to an Elementary Flying Training School near Aberdeen and if he makes the grade, the opportunity to go to the USA, possibly California. He also includes a letter to his Aunt Mary catching up with news and thanking her for the present..
Contributor
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Robin Christian
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo][Date]-03
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Wales--Aberystwyth
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L A C Akrill.
A 6 Flight No 4 Squadron.
[underlined] Sunday [/underlined No.6. I.T.W RAF.
Aberystwyth.
Dear All,
A last letter from 6 I.T.W! Thought I’d better tell you all about Christmas before I left as there’ll be so much to write about when I get to EFTS.
I’ve just got into the canteen after many good byes to all the folk at chapel. I never realised I knew so many people here. I’d begun to feel really at home. They’ve all been jolly good - Mr. Bray is one of the very best.
Hope your Christmas party went off alright. Christmas in the RAF seems
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
to be summed up in the one word “BOOZE”. Christmas Eve was terrible. We were paid in the morning & got our back “props money” £6-18 in all. This would have called for wild celebration in normal times but as it fell on Christmas Eve - well that night of Peace and Goodwill was Hell let loose. I spent a lonely night & went to bed early. I managed to doze off but was awaked at 10.30 by the most terrible nightmare imagined. The streets seemed full of hordes of [deleted] pe [/deleted] lunatics in full cry. On waking up more I realised that it wasn’t Bedlam let loose or Doom’s Day but merely “A” flight & the rest of the squadron + local inhabitants celebrating Xmas Eve. When Max & Joe came in
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
from being on guard & celebrating mildly I expected them to be at least merry but they were rather disgusted with what was happening. The seasoned drinkers were merely noisy but others had to be carried in & were sick all over the lavatories & rooms. A good many were right by tea time. Consequently I was about the only one who sprang out of bed very early on Christmas morning, cleaned all my stuff & made a good breakfast of eggs & bacon. At 9.0 I went to communion. The padre was grand. Then I went to chapel at 11.0 & Mrs Bray asked me to take someone along to tea that afternoon. Dinner was meant to be a grand occasion all the tables were arranged in 3 rows - 1 for each flight
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
& covered with a fair linen cloth. A limited supply of Waafs had been imported & sprinkled sparingly along the tables. “A” flight had got more than their share [deleted] cons [/deleted] & from the other tables came the shout “We want Waafs!” Well we were waited on by the officers & N.C.O’s with the Squadron Leader dancing round making speeches which every-one cheered wildly ( A flight was just back from visiting Flt/Lt Dickey on leave at the “Skinners Arms”) Sgt. Brown started serving the other flights so we yelled out at the top of our voices “We want Brown!. We want Brown!” & Brownie blushed bashfully & brought us large plates of [deleted] dinner pork [/deleted] [inserted] soup [/inserted]. He got some of his own back as the old saying goes by
[page break]
[Underlined] 5 [/underlined]
remarks such as “Come on Brownie, Off your knees!” or “Come on get crackin’” and “One, two, three, four five pisht”. P/O Spence dumped an enormous plateful by me. It consisted of a [deleted] pile of [/deleted] very small piece of pork camouflaged by a large pile of potatoes, sprouts and stewed apple. Anyway I found it & eat [sic] it & Brownie squeezed my arm playfully & pressed another like plateful upon me but one was enough. Next we got a small island of dark substance in a deadly sea of custard. This was Christmas Pudding & wasn’t bad. Beer was plentiful but I noticed that no one had more than one helping. The combination of beer & pud. produced more
[page break]
[underlined] 6 [/underlined]
unpleasant results.
Well I was very glad to escape with [deleted] Wh [/undeleted] Barney Whitehead to the Bray’s party. We had a grand time - there were the 4 children, a soldier & an A.T. the German girl & her Brother, another soldier, 2 ladies & a girl [deleted] s [/deleted] another soldier& Barney & I so we made quite a crowd.
The next morning we got P.T. first thing. Imagine fellows with dizzy heads & stomachs doing Brownie’s favourite twists & bends! He certainly got his own back! in the end! So much for Christmas 1941. Now for farewell parties tomorrow night!
I got the parcel alright. The mince pies [deleted] of [/deleted] have already gone but I’m saving a bit of the cake
[page break]
[underlined] 7 [/underlined]
for the train journey on Tuesday. My! I don’t know what you put in it but it’s certainly good. I never tasted anything like it.
Well my stay in Aber’s nearly over. Next week will be the great week. We now find that we’re not bound for Scotland after all. There is a station called Theale there but there’s also one near Reading which is on the Thames - not so far from London - in Berkshire which sounds much better than the Highlands & won’t be as bad as Wales for getting home. We’re there for 3 weeks & only fly until we convince the instructor that we are going to make pilots. If we do this in good time we qualify for overseas. Flt/Lt Dickey who’s on leave
[page break]
[underlined] 8 [/underlined]
from EFTS gave us some gen on what to expect. He’s heard from lots of Cadets who’ve gone to the U.S.A. &c. It’s a recognised fact that the U.S.A is a g [inserted] h [/inserted] astly place to be sent to but after his talk I liked the idea less. American Army discipline is pretty grim & chances of getting through the course much less than elsewhere. Well we don’t know where we’re going yet. Canada - in good weather - is definitely the best place. Good old England has it’s merits! Well I now have to do the best I can & hope for the best there is.
Please thank Ros for her present. Tell her I’ve bought a book which I’m very pleased with & will write soon. Had some chocolate from R T G S. A few Xmas cards rolled up at the
[page break]
[underlined 9 [/underlined]
end of the week from Kelsey, Dave, Nat Rosey & Douglas. I hope you all had a happy time. I shall expect to hear all about it. Will send my new address as soon as I know it.
Am sending home [deleted] some [/deleted] my last pay. It’s no use keeping it here. I intended getting some savings Certificates but don’t seem to have had a chance. Afraid I havn’t [sic] had my photo done either. Will see what I can do.
Well I feel like bed. Cold no better. Give my love to all [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Have enclosed £6 which you will perhaps look after for me.
Have you had any snow! I went
[page break]
for a long tramp over the downs & through some gorgeous woods & over to the East all the hills were covered with snow. It was very beautiful. You can see Plynlymon [sic] from there. Saw lots of beautiful natural “rock gardens” & lots of rather choice plants.
Had a lot of mines washed ashore lately & several shocks. The shore is quite strewn with them. [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 from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes home describing saying goodbye to everyone at the chapel, his experience of Christmas 1941 and the antics of his fellow cadets. He writes 'Christmas in the RAF seems to be summed up in the one word "BOOZE"'. He didn't join in at all but was woken up by drunken revelry and was rather disgusted by it all. On Christmas morning he got up early and went to Chapel.Christmas Dinner had a 'limited supply of WAAFs' and the food wasn't all that good. He was glad to escape to the party at his friends' house. They had PT first thing the next morning, which many of the men found very hard.
He writes that his time at Aberystwyth is nearly over and there are various ideas where they will be sent. The next phase of his pilot training will be a three-week pilot ability assessment. He then writes that he believes that America is a ghastly place with strict discipline and low pass rates, Canada would be preferred. Thanks people for presents and cards and sends money for his mother to buy Savings Certificates on his behalf.
Has managed to do some walking in the local countryside, but also saw lots of mines washed up on the shore.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Ten 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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo][Date]-04
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Wales--Aberystwyth
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-12
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
faith
ground personnel
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1436220 L.A.C. Akrill
No 26 E.F.T.S
Theale,
Nr. Reading,
Berks
[underlined] Wed.[/underlined]
Dear all,
Very glad to hear from mum & Mary today. Been looking out for a letter. I’m quite shut off from the outside world here & letters are even more valuable.
Poor old Maim & Smokey. It always seems to be my favourite. Remember Midge Minor? Hope Tub’s O.K.
Sorry about May’s teeth and cold. Hope they’re better by now. Yes I left my cold in Aber. The climate there was very sticky and mild. Here it its been frosty & my cold’s quite gone so that’s no need to worry you.
Mary says “ Fancy going up in
[page break]
a plane.” Well, after all that’s what I joined the Raf for isn’t it!
Yes as you say mum, the Raf certainly [underlined] is [/underlined]thoughtless as far as personal feelings & comfort are concerned. Tired wasn’t the word after working all Tues. travelling all night & rushing round all Wed. & guard until 11.0! Yes this is a lovely spot but of course the gardens & park & woods are very definately [sic] out of bounds. The garden’s full of birds & squirrels & the park has a fine herd of dairy shorthorns, & scores of cock pheasants walking right up to the lecture room windows. So you see its quite like home (except that that pheasants have a very undisturbed life)
I’ve done an hour or two’s flying now but our group’s always been unlucky with weather conditions & day’s non flying & we’ve done much less than the others
[page break]
My instr. also seems to have his hands full elsewhere so I don’t get much in. I’m getting on O.K though & it’s grand while it lasts. I have to work hard while I’m up too – no joy riding with my instr. I’m at the controls all the time (after he’s taken off I’ve not done that yet but may get it tomorrow [underlined] if [/underlined] weather [indecipherable word] is ok) I’ve done straight & level flights climbing, gliding, turning, stalling and pulling it out of stalls & also I land with his guidance & assistance. Weather conditions make all the difference. On my second trip it was very bumpy & I met my first clouds & got quite muddled for a while. Stalls are great. You pull back the throttle, pull the stick back into your stomach & the nose goes right up & the plane stalls. You lose all control & down you go nose first. Luckily its easy to regain control
[page break]
I’ve also had a coupe of hours on the link. This is far more advanced than the tiger & a hundred times more difficult to handle. If you can fly a link you can fly anything. We’re not supposed to start on it until we’ve done 30 hrs sols, so you can guess we’re finding it difficult. My first 2 attempts were hopeless & nearly turned my instrs hair grey but I managed to grasp it more today. You have a whole panel full of instruments to watch & the thing is so delicate & sensitive that the slightest movements send the thing of course. I was like a bull in a china shop & my instr. kept yelling “ Don’t treat the stick like a beer pump handle”
Lectures are boring & the instructors have no idea how to teach. We don’t have to do much but we get an exam at the end. I think its definate that
[page break]
whatever happens we’ll be gone at the end of 3 weeks. Grade 1 & leave I hope!
Alright Mya I’ll be [underlined] very [/underlined] careful!! There have been a very few minor accidents here & one serious one when a bright young chap “shot up” an A.T.S. camp near here & was flying low over the parade ground with eyes on the ground & suddenly saw a tree in front & ended up in the next field on his nose. He wasn’t hurt but the kite was “written off” & he was Court Martialled yesterday & has now disappeared from no 26 EFTS. So that should be lesson enough!
Well, nearly tea time I’ve got off early today been having [one indecipherable word] & so missed flying again, we usually work until 6.0
Best love to Rose, Harry & Paddy & all. Love to Kelsey folk. Afraid I haven’t written.
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
P.S. Yes I’ve got on thick pants thick vest and pullover
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of importance of getting their letters, especially in a new place and catches up with news. Describes journey to Theale and new location. Writes about his how his flying training is going as well as time in a link trainer and how poor the ground instruction is. Mentions flying accident which led to the pilot being court martialled.
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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo][Date]-05
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Berkshire
England--Theale (West Berkshire)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jan Morgan
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
crash
military discipline
military service conditions
pilot
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The Dear old Freugh
(for the last time)
[underlined] Monday [/underlined]
Dear Mum,
Thought id drop you a line before leaving here then you’ll have some idea what’s happening. We got to Stranraer Harbour at about 5 this am. & waited in the usual rain for the first bus at 7.40
Learned that we were being posted tonight & we had a choice of stations and duties – near Leighton Buzzard as Navigator or to near Oxford as either Bomb Aimer or Navigator. I wanted Nav-B. Aimer combined but of the 2 I chose Navigator at Upper Heyford just south of Oxford. [deleted] All [/deleted] Most of my best pals are going there either as B.A.s or Navs.
[page break]
Sorry I shan’t have the long waited for pleasure of dropping bombs but I’d made up my mind to do the harder job of Nav if possible.
So it looks as if I’ll be on heavy stuff – Lancasters and the like. May be taking the roofs off Collingham soon! Of course [underlined] this is not supposed to be public knowledge [/underlined] – I’m just a Sgt. Observer somewhere near Oxford.
All having a terrible job packing. Passing out this afternoon. Got letter O.K. but Pyjamas have not turned up! As a final farewell it’s just pouring with rain. Scots mist & all that and the food is terrible — good old West Freugh!!
[page break]
[underlined] Later [/underlined]
Now passed out. Sergeant Observer . Chaos everywhere at the moment. Trying to get this off but have no stamp. Write as soon as I get to Upper Heyford. 160-TO
[underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Last letter before leaving West Freugh. Writes about potential choice next courses as navigator or bomb aimer. Chooses navigator course at Upper Heyford. Considered navigator as harder job. Catches up with news and writes in pencil at the end that he has now passed out as sergeant observer.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three 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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo][Date]-06
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jan Morgan
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
bomb aimer
military living conditions
navigator
observer
RAF Upper Heyford
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. AKRILL
Hut 20. A.T.W.,
R.A.F. Station,
[deleted] Tue [/deleted] West Freugh,
AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY STRANRAER
MONDAY 1942 Scotland.
Dear Mum,
No end pleased to get your letter on Sat. Thought you seemed so worried over my bit of a sting I’d better let you know that it’s quite O.K. Forgot to mention it when I wrote last. All that’s left is a scar where the blister formed. I thought the other hand was going to follow suit when a thundering great bot-fly bit it & it swelled for a day. I think my blood must be turning sour to let such little things affect me!
Hope your [sic] not having too terrible a time with Mrs. H. going frantic & with the Terrible Infant. I suppose you wouldn’t mind having him alone.
Expect Mary will be camping this week. Is Nip with her as well? Hope the weather’s more settled though
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
I have my doubts. Hope you can get the 16 acre alright anyway.
Some very good news about [underlined] food [underlined]. As from yesterday morning the cadets get a mess of their own - a part of the Corporal’s Mess in fact. Afraid it may do something towards creating ill-feeling among the Ground Staff, but Air Crew does [sic] need a special diet. Yesterday for the first time here I had 3 [underlined] good [/underlined] meals. Breakfast - cornflakes, scrambled eggs (real) & beautifully cooked bacon, bread & butter, plenty of marmalade & buiscuits. [sic]. [deleted] The [/deleted] Dinner - Roast beef. New potatoes done beautifully in mint & some delicious green peas. Sultana roll & sauce. Those potatoes & peas were a treat. Tea - salad, - with tomatoe [sic] radishes & onions, cake b & b & jam. Well I ask for nothing better than that. Today breakfast was more on the old standards but dinner & tea were fine. Whats more the place is
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
kept quite clean, with white oilcloth table cloths, sweet bread, & little pots of jam. The Waafs are clean too. I still can’t believe it’s true & [underlined] can’t [/underlined] believe it will last. I’ve even sat down to eat with an appetite & got up feeling full & satisfied. Up to yesterday I’d eaten about enough to keep a mouse alive since getting back.
We had an interesting trip the other day up to a lovely wee town among the pine forests of the Highlands not far from Aberdeen. We passed close by Glasgow, Edinboro’ & Dundee & had a magnificent view of the Tay & Forth Bridges. We are night flying tonight - worse luck.
Must tell you this. Listen in a fortnight next Sunday night 24 [underlined] th [/underlined] August. Our weekly service in the Scotch Hut is being broadcast. I don’t know quite what time it will
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
be. We normally hold it at 8 o’clock but I suppose it will have to fall in with B.B.C. programmes. I think the Padre will be very good. The [inserted] Camp [/inserted] Male Voice Choir & some Waafs will sit in the front to do the singing but I hope to be there as usual unless flying or lectures keep me back. So look out for announcement for a “Service from an Air Force Camp somewhere in Scotland” Possibly it’s the usual “ Sunday Half Hour” on the force’s at 7.30. every Sunday when they have community Hymn Singing. I was late for the Service last night & didn’t quite get all the gen.
Well there’s not much to tell you. Be seeing you 6 weeks on Saturday. Not long really for there’s tons of work to be done & it will soon pass - for me anyway. Think David was home last week end. Hope Ros’s teeth are not bothering her. Love [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of insect bite and catches up with family news.
Excited that cadets now have own mess and, although not popular with the ground crew, aircrew need a special diet. Food is now much better and describes meals. Writes of flight up to near Aberdeen and about their weekly service in the 'Scotch Hut' which was to be broadcast on the BBC.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christain
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
EAkrillWEAkrill{Mo}4208XX
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
faith
ground personnel
mess
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 A.C.2. AKRILL,
O/12 No. 4 Squadron.
BENTINCK CLOSE,
PRINCE ALBERT ROAD
LONDON. N.W.8.
Monday Night. 15 Sept 1941.
Dear Mum & all,
At last I have a chance to sit down and so I must get off a letter, though when I’ll get it posted I don’t know! Must see if I can cadge a stamp.
I am billited [sic] in one of the best parts of London in a rather nice block of flats close by, almost overlooking Regents Park. I share a bare room with 4 others - beds on the floor but they don’t look too bad & I’m certainly ready for one! Got to King’s X. at 12.25 & had a stroll around town as I wanted to have a look at it as a [underlined] CIVILIAN [/underlined] before getting to camp. Just the same old place it seems. I’ve only seen one bad lot of blitz & that strangely enough was in Bedford Row - you know my old haunt.
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
really depressing. I walked down it and every place was gutted & dead though in the square hoards of evacuated slum bains ran about. As I passed the old Clevedon - though it’s windows were gone it displayed the sign - ‘Open’ Good old Clevedon. Oxford St. was as usual though you see ruined buildings wherever you look. All the big stores were carrying on. I had a pot of tea, Lyons & took the tube for St. John’s Wood getting to Lords soon after 2. Crowds of fellows on the way and the whole place swarming with Cadets - the white flash I envied so much is of no value here - I’ll get mine thrown at me first thing tomorrow and I hear that the thing’s regarded as a curse! We are in charge of a damned decent corporal & I believe we’ll get on fine. Do you know where we have to parade for meals? None other place than the dear old Zoo!! Lots of monkeys I suppose. If [[deleted] expect [/deleted] I do well I shall be gone from here in a fortnight - anyway this address will hold no longer. I have to go through a Psychological Test a Night Vision test and a Maths Test
[page break]
[underlined 3 [/underlined]
down here. If I fail the first I’m out, fail the 2nd I’m no good for Night flying - fail the 3rd & I stay here [deleted] for [/deleted] indefinately [sic] on a Refresher Course. Hope I can manage them all & then I should be gone in something like a fortnight. Don’t distribute the address around as it’s not permanent. Though if you do, make it clear that it will hold only for a fortnight. From what I can see we have a pretty easy time here - we’re allowed out from 6.0 p.m. to 10.30 & 11.59 on Saturdays. This is a receiving centre & we go from here to an Initial Training Wing. I can hear the wardens going round shouting about Black-out. Air raids are taken [underlined] seriously [/underlined] here!
For the moment I can’t think of anything more to say without boring you. Our N.C.O.’s just been giving us fatherly advice. Nice bloke. I’m liking it O.K. so far. A decent lot of fellows from first impression. Like my room mates. One of them was at Cardington when I was.
I’ll be sending my civies [sic] home shortly. Cpl: informs us we’ll get no leave just yet.
Feel like getting out for a spot of fresh air & finding a pillar-box. [deleted] I [/deleted] Tell every body I’ve got my pecker up and am very cheerful
[page break]
though I expect I’ll be stewing in my uniform by tomorrow at this time.
Tell Mr. H. that we actually have to salute WAAF officers! Our Cpl told us a funny story of how he was marching some recruits along through the park when a WAAF officer came along. He gave the order “Eyes right” & the poor woman dropped her suitcase in surprise.
I’ll not be able to write separately to Harry & Ros but this goes for all - if you can read it. I’ll have lots to tell you when I see you. It’s great fun. Best of love to all [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to mother and family
Description
An account of the resource
Writes from the Receiving Centre of his billet in a 'rather nice block of flats' near Regents Park and of walking round looking at bomb damage to some old haunts in London.
They go to the zoo for their meals ('lot of monkeys').
Will on be at the current establishment for two more weeks and having a series of medical and other tests for selection as aircrew. Will then go on to Initial Training Wing.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-15
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]410915
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
bombing
home front
Initial Training Wing
military living conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Sunday 21 [underlined] st [underlined] Sept ’41. NO: 1436220 AC2. AKRILL
9/12 No.4 SQUADRON.
BENTINCK CLOSE.
Prince Albert Road,
LONDON. N.W.8.
Dear Mum,
Thought I’d be getting a letter from you yesterday & was glad not to be disappointed. Knew you’d find time anyway. Nice to hear every body’s OK but tell the whole household that a few times won’t come amiss now & then.
I’m writing this in bed. I intended getting lots of writing done this afternoon as I’ve not yet done any, but I’ve had a very full and miraculously enjoyable day. I woke this a.m. rather dreading Sunday [deleted] though [/deleted] We had nothing to do after Church parade at 8.40. I was sure I should be so tempted to think of the great difference between the old Sundays & this. Weekdays are full & I’m perfectly happy but I was afraid of Sunday. Well we went to C.P. The Nonconfirmists [sic] have to parade to a Baptist Chapel near where the Raf Padre should have spoken to us but as he was away we had the Pastor. Well he gave a general invitation to us to go down to the service afterwards & so I went & [deleted] sta [/deleted] I was the only one & everyone was extremely Kind & I stayed sacrament & the Pastor invited me to tea in the afternoon so I had a grand afternoon & evening. The Pastor & his wife were the grandest old couple
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
& you can imagine how fine it was to get a nice quiet time in a [underlined] home [/underlined] again for Sunday. I went to Chapel again & back to supper with another Cadet who is also a Methodist & has been here for 4 months & has been looked after generally by these two kind souls. We had a lovely evening & I can say that my first Sunday in the Raf has been splendid. I’m sure mother will be glad to know that another mother & father - can share her feelings about her precious little one!
Well my first week’s over — though it feels as though I’ve been here months. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. They are a grand set of fellows and in our room we are already great friends. My pals’ - Jo Phil & Ken don’t know London so I’ve had to more or less look after them - though I left them to their own devices today. During the week we’ve had all our Tests & filled up time with drills, lectures, P.T &c. Next week we don’t do much. Tomorrow is [deleted] vaccine [/deleted] vaccination, inoculation & Blood Grouping & for the rest of the week we recover.
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [underlined]
& get a few lectures. Then we’ll probably be posted though I expect I’ll have to stay on for Maths Revision. The paper we got was quite straight forward — I needn’t have done any of that swotting but I hadn’t anything like enough time to do it satisfactorily but I’m not going to worry for if I know I’m not up to standard I know I’ll have to get there for I don’t want to go on to I.T.W & fail there as that would be the end so If I have to stay for another fortnight I’ll not mind except that it will mean parting from the boys though I suppose that that’s bound to happen though we want to keep together. A story goes that only about 40% get through right off so expect some of them will stay but my particular chums are pretty good on Maths. Preselection was a rum do. Had to do craziest thing before a Psychological Board of [underlined] Waafs [/underlined]. It’s to see, of course, whether you’r [sic] fitted for fighter, bomber or nothing at all.
We’re now without an N.C.O. as Cpl: has gone on leave. He was the best of sorts though [deleted] you [/deleted] though no one would think so on Parade. He was quite the stricktest [sic] of the lot & put us through it but we soon became the
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
smartest flight around. Got our uniforms now. Mine had to be altered & fast as they’re struck on perfect fittings, so I escaped it for a while. Fed up of it already this hot weather and my feet! What do you do for corns? Sending my civvies tomorrow I believe, so possibly get this posted with them.
Food may as well tell you it’s disappointing. At first it [deleted] was [/deleted] couldn’t have been worse. Very little of it too. One day we got fish for the umpteenth time. It was Haddock & the smell was unbearable & I just couldn’t eat a crumb though we had some nice buiscuits [sic] as well. There were complaints but the cooks ignored them as soon as the officer had gone. Anyway there’s been a steady improvement since & todays breakfast was very tasty & I hear that dinner was good. I miss tea parade whenever possible though it means buying some. We get v.good cheap meals in the Canteen under St. Martins. So you see I’ll not save much. Also seen two shows.
I often think of that story of Mr. [indecipherable word] when in the West End. Every other person seems to be an officer of some sort or Nationality
[page break]
[underlined] 5 [/underlined]
& so [deleted] my [/deleted] our arms soon ache. Worst of it is that after giving them [deleted] blighters [/deleted] a perfect salute they wave a paw at you in the sloppiest manner imaginable [deleted] if [/deleted] that is if they acknowledge you at all. I’ve not saluted any Waafs or ATS yet I dodge ‘em but I’d like to try some time for fun.
Well the boys all seem to be asleep so I’d better put the light out & join them. See if I can finish this tomorrow.
[underlined] Monday after dinner [/underlined] We’ve got a bout an hour’s rest so I can finish this. We’ve had Kit Inspection this morning & this afternoon we are on a Swimming Parade. Tonight we’re on guard. Food’s been very good today.
No I havn’t found London altered at all. Where I have been there’s hardly any bomb damage to be seen though I hear that the City is practically destroyed. Food is plentiful. The shops are full & nobody dreams of queues. You hardly know there’s a war on here. Everything seems absolutely normal until night time. Then you can see that everybody’s on the alert. The Tube shelters are still pretty full. I believe a big Blitz is expected. Anyway no one’s taking chances & the whole town’s prepared. The Houses of P & the Abbey are a bit scarred & I should imagine they’re [deleted] about [/deleted] ruined inside but there’s not much to be seen of
[page break]
[underlined] 6 [/underlined]
damage.
If I get posted at the end of the week I shall go on to I.T.W. at Torquay, Cambridge, Stratford, or Scarborough most likely. I f I get through there I think I can [deleted] squee [/deleted] manage to get a few days leave before being sent abroad. I should be there about 6 weeks.
I expect you’ve got on well with the barley this hot weather. It’s more of a scorcher than ever today & I’m not liking my uniform.
I must write to the boys. Possibly Dave will have written. I want to get my civvies off today if possible as they’re in the way & getting in a mess. Please pack them away in moth balls for me as I’ll be wanting them when on leave. Though I suppose I’ll have to parade around in my uniform. I may as well swank in it while I have a chance. It’s pretty common here, but the Londoners treat us very well. We’re getting some of the glory for the Battle of Britain.
Best of love to everybody. Glad to hear from you all, all about everything. Tell everybody I’m having a good time. [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill is at the Receiving Centre in London. He writes that he has had a good Sunday with going to a Baptist Chapel and being invited for tea by the pastor and meeting up with another cadet - 'I can say my first Sunday in the RAF has been splendid'. He has thoroughly enjoyed his first week generally.
There have been all kinds of tests, drills, lectures, PT and next week they will have vaccinations etc. He's not sure he will pass the maths and may have to stay there to retake it - would rather do this than fail at the Initial Training Wing. Describes Preselection being before a Psychological Board of WAAFs.
Has now got his uniform - which is a bit hot. Finding the food disappointing, although it is getting slightly better. So many officers in West End that saluting them makes your arm ache.
London doesn't seem to be altered - especially during the day, but at night everyone is on alert and the tube shelters are full.
Not sure where he will be posted to. Gets a good reaction to his uniform in London - 'we're getting some of the glory for the Battle of Britain'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-21
1941-09-22
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christian
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six 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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]410921
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
civil defence
faith
ground personnel
Initial Training Wing
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cadet. NO 1436220 A.C.2. Akrill,
9/12. No 4 Squadron,
Friday night 26 Sept. 1941. Bentinck Close,
Prince Albert Road,
LONDON. N.W.8.
Dear Mum,
Glad to have a letter from you this morning. Also had one from Rosie, much to my surprise. I had written to the boys but they havn’t replied. I thought I’d better get most of this letter written tonight as we’re moving tomorrow & will perhaps not have much time. I don’t know yet where [deleted] we [/deleted] I am going but I am not moving from London just yet. Only 3 of our flight have been posted. They went off to I.T.W today. Our flight will be split up & go either to Avenue Close to await posting or to Viceroy Court (next door) for a Maths Course. I’m really not bothered what happens. At Viceroy we get a very good course of lectures in Maths. Aircraft Recognition & Morse, at Avenue we just wait about feeling “browned off’. Well I’ll enclose my new address, but it won’t be permanent.
I’ve completely recovered innoculations [sic]. I felt practically no effect & went out to the chapel in the evening & had a sing song with five other Cadets & I
[page break]
[missing page]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
about every meal too to improve our night vision. I’ve never drunk so much tea before or eaten so much chocolate which is very plentiful. We buy pounds of apples & I’m devouring one now. I always seem to be hungry though I ‘m eating nearly as much as usual. Fancy talking about tomatoes. I must buy some. All the window boxes are full here. But how I could do with a few glasses of [underlined] new milk [/underlined]. That’s one thing I don’t think we can get here & I’m dying for one (well not quite). We hardly dare drink the tea as its liable to be strongly doped. Kept everybody awake one night on the rum! It was like dynamite!!!
Ro I’ve not seen Mr. Woods. I don’t suppose I’d know him but he’s not in our flight. There are hundreds coming in every Monday.
Glad you’ve got Phyllis there. Hope [deleted] she gets [/deleted] it does her good. Hope Peter likes being at school.
Hope you’ll soon be able to get the barley. What a job. You should be having our scorching weather! What a sensation about Bill. B! Where did they get it? Who were they? I could just
[page break]
4
do with one of your Bramble Pies! Glad to hear Joyce is back. Give her my best regards. And [underlined] please [/underlined] I wan’t to hear from everybody. I’m sure daddy could manage a few minutes & I should appreciate it. I hope Mary will write. Tell Nip I’ve just been singing “Good Bye Dolly” in the bath & that like her everybody admires my brown back! Our bathrooms are gorgeous especially when we’ve polished them up for C.O’s inspection. Which reminds me. I scrubbed the floor of our room the other day. Got up at 5.30. to do it & hadn’t time for breakfast. But the old Boy told us it was [underlined] very [/underlined] clean. Gosh! Its surprising what fellows will do in the hope of becoming pilots! Nobody grumbles about scrubbing & polishing & we do make a good job of it. Well (to continue) I was going to say that I’d be glad to hear from Nip too. Heard from H & R. Letters always acceptable. Must go to sleep as boys are waiting to & I’m tired after a strenuous day’s [underlined] drill [/underlined].
[underlined] Saturday [/underlined] Waiting now for the Squadron Parade in full Kit. We’ve just got it all packed up.
[page break]
[underlined] 5 [/underlined]
I feel like a pack mule & I can sympathise with those fellows who did pack drill at Collingham. We have three rucksacks full, steel helmet, gas cape, water bottle, respirator all strapped on & in addition to this our kit bags & cases. Fortunately we’ve not far to go. Don’t know where yet.
We sent off our civvies yesterday. They will be at the Station sometime next week I expect. We’ve quite left “Civvie [sic] Street” behind now. We gave up our Identity Cards on Wednesday & got blue pass books, so I can’t ever pretend to be a Civilian again. We had pay parade on Thursday. 30/- for a fortnight. They pay to the nearest 10/- & the rest goes over to the next fortnight.
This morning my vaccination is beginning to burst & make a nasty mess.
Give my love to everyone, will enclose my new address with this letter when I know it. Cheerio. [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[page break]
P.S. Have you sent off those books &c yet? And have they replied?
Here is my new address (for I hope not more than a week).
Cadet [underlined] No [/underlined] 1436220 A.C.2. Akrill W. E.
5 flight
P squadron.
Posting wing.
You will see that I Avenue Close.
have passed my Exams Avenue Road.
and am still with Joe, Ken London NW.8.
& Phil, billeted in a [underlined] kitchen [/underlined] of another luxury flat [deleted] in a [/deleted] some distance from Bentinck. A number of old chums are not with us. We expect to go to I.T.W a week today. Very very [deleted] stickt [/deleted] keen on discipline here. Yes I can do with a clean pair of pyjamas but wait till I get to I.T.W. [deleted] Write /deleted] If you write write as soon as you can, at least before Wed. or Thurs. so that I’m sure of getting it. [underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes that he is about to be posted within London for a short period. [page missing] Have been given food to improve night vision but he really misses getting fresh milk. Are about to move and really feel they have left 'civvie street' now.
Catches up with family and farm news as well as his daily activities.
Gives new address at the end (but only for a week). Has passed his exams and will be posted to Initial Training Wing soon.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-09-26
1941-09-27
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christain
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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]410926
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
Initial Training Wing
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1436220 Akrill WE.
A Flight, No 4 Squadron,
No 6 I.T.W. R.A.F.
Aberystwyth.
Sat. 1 Nov. ‘41
Dear All,
Just got mum’s letter. Had a nice easy morning and have an [word deleted] hour to spare before dinner so I thought I’d better get this off. Have to go in the inter – squadron run again this afternoon though I don’t feel at all like it. It’s a terrible course up & down the biggest hill in the district. I’m expecting a gentleman calling on me at any moment. I don’t know who he is but I suppose it will be either Mr Eliner, the old gentleman or, most likely Mr Bray, the Minister.
Wer’e [sic] all getting excited about leave. It’s pretty certain we’ll get it from the 21st. though if we fail in Signals or Armaments Exams we don’t get any and if we fail in Navigation we’ll be recalled by telegram. So for the sake of leave if nothing else I’m doing my best to get through!
We’ve started with the Aldis lamp which doesn’t seem too easy at first. We’ve only a fortnight to learn it & perfect our buzzer. Navigation is getting involved but not difficult.
[page break]
Wish you could have seen us yesterday morning. We have become the “Bullshit” (that’s not being rude – it’s the usual term) of our Squadron. This means that every Friday morning we have to be inspected by the C.O. and give him an exhibition of drill on the front. He gives marks for this & for the condition of our rooms & there is a Challenge Cup for the best Sqdn. Each month. 4 Sqdn has won it for 5 months in succession. It’s up to us now & if we still do well wer’e [sic] [underlined] hoping [/underlined] for extra leave sometime. Yesterday we were marched out to the front with boots & buttons & faces shining, flashes clean & everything perfect. We took up position on the front and felt extremely important when our RAF armed guard was mounted round us. Then N.C.O’s & Warrant Officers came fussing round us in crowds, adjusting ties & caps etc. then up came the Sqdn Ldr & started issuing commands in a voice like a dying pig & N.C.O.’s & W.O’s took up positions behind us & in front of us was first the S/L then behind him the Fl/Lt. the S/Leader’s commands were so funny I nearly disgraced myself by laughing outright but just then the wing commander & his escort appeared & the inspection began. By this time half the population
[page break]
of Aberystwyth had turned up to watch. Then we put up a show of drill & apart from our slow march it was really good. For the first time Sergt. Brown gave us a word of praise & said our Quick March was very good indeed. The Sdn: Ldr. Was in raptures & we got a note in D.R.O’s congratulating us on our excellent show. We shall now have to go through this every week until we are posted. Our F/L is leaving us today & going to E.F.T.S. so may see him when we get there. Don’t like our new one much but at least he has wings.
You seem to be having plenty of weather at home. Hope it changes soon. Not too bad at all here. I got a letter from Phyllis today. You seem to be having plenty of visitors. I was ever so upset to hear that Mr Henry was leaving. Wonder why they change about so much. Is there being another change round at the drome I wonder. I suppose he will have gone before I have leave. I was so much looking forward to seeing him. Sorry to hear about Mrs. Baines. I am going to find out about trains soon. I believe there’s one leaves Aberystwyth about 1.30, so I should get somewhere near home by night & with luck get there by Saturday morning. Have to leave again on the next Saturday morning at the latest.
[page break]
You may think I’m getting it soon but I don’t. Some people such as ACW Blow seem to be home every other week. Oh yes I should get a day or two at Christmas if I’ve time to get home.
Well, best of love to all,
[underlined] Bill [/underlines]
P.S. Mr Elinor hast just called to ask me to tea tomorrow.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to all
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes before having to take part in an inter-squadron run that afternoon, which he is not looking forward to. They are all getting excited about the prospect of leave, but if they fail exams this will be cancelled for them.
He describes the run-up to an inspection by the Wing Commander which they have to go through every week, but it went very well.
Writes about news from home and the trains he will catch when he comes home for leave.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-11-01
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Trevor Hardcastle
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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]411101
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Wales--Dyfed
Wales--Aberystwyth
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-10
1941-11
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Dear Mum, Mary & Nip.
Excuse me all of you for a combined letter but I haven’t much time for letter writing these days. Very glad to get all your letters though. Don’t be surprised if this turns out a bit queer as I’m writing this in the Orderly Room whilst on Guard Duty doing a spot of clerical work for a change. Have to book all the Cadets in and out and see to passes oc. so with the Cadets coming in and out and permanent staff sergeants rushing in and out it may be a funny sort of letter. Now sharing the watch with the dear Sergeant Brown who is busy asking me all about the Inter squadron run this afternoon. I have now attained the distinction of becoming Captain of the Squadron Team but as 4 Squadron [one indecipherable word] does any good its not much of an honour. Still led my team in today & we put up a better average and I’m hoping we can put up a better show next week though the other Squadrons are pretty hot.
We had a great excitement [deleted] last [/deleted] this week when we got our Flying Kit! We’re beginning to feel almost like airmen now. It’s the first connection with flying we’ve seen so far. Wish you could have seen us trying it on at night. Really. I looked quite like a pilot! It must have cost an amount. 2 suits— that is a “lining” which looks just like an eiderdown quilt and an overall with a grand fur collar which pleases me a lot! The helmet makes me look super with all its wireless whatnots dangling. The boots are the best, beautiful fur-lined things which wear grand. You don’t know you’ve got them on! Some chaps got sweid [sic] (pronounced swade but I can’t spell it) ones with zips just like Mary wanted but mine are
[page break]
Not so cissy and good strong wearable ones. When I’ve passed my exams I’ll have a photo done in it.
We start exams in just one week and so that means WORK. So please don’t expect further letters after this or you’ll not be seeing me in a fortnights time.
[Symbols]
Now a terrific scuffle just ended one flight just come off leave and a new flight come in & the Squadron Leaders been charging in and out in a great stew. He’s a very good sort provided everything goes alright. I’m sorry we’ve lost Flight Leiut. [sic] Dickey though. Fortunately the changed their minds about minds about the stooge who was going to take over and now we’ve got a Pilot Officer whose [sic] a good sport but no more.
Had a very good time at Mr. Elinors last Sunday. He’s a grand old man. 85 but you’d think he wasn’t a day more than 60. He had a school at Eagle, then went to Winchester & the Gibralter & finally became a Curator at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. Had tons of stories to tell & he roared with laughing whilst telling them. I had a really good afternoon. He also had a fine collection of water colours and a garden.
Had a letter from Dave this week, I think he did very well indeed. It’s hard to get into the F.A.A as a pilot.
Well mustn’t waste any more time or paper. Nothing of importance to write about. Expect me a fortnight on Sat if [inserted] when [/inserted] you see me.
Ever so glad about Sq/Ldr Henry
love
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[page break]
[inserted] [underlined] Sun Morn [/underlined] [/inserted]
Must just tell you all about our Wing Church Parade this morning – an Armistice Remembrance affair Everyone except R. Catholics, Buddists [sic] and the like had to attend. I’ve never attended church under stranger circumstances. Usually on Sunday Morning C.P. the C of Es have some sort of march past be we O D’s (other denominations) just parade to the Methodist Chapel which I attend and listen to a good sermon by the Pastor whose a Methodist and a grand chap.& then we can stroll back on our own. Today the whole Wing — all four squadrons — about 1,000 men in all — was on one parade. We give a parade just by the Church but we still had to march all round the town and back again & in to Church [deleted] with [/deleted] past files of Officers. The service was a flop but as long as we marched alright nothing else mattered. When we came out again the Squadron Leader was getting more in a flap then ever he’s quite lost without our old Flt/Lt who did all the work for him. Well the Squadrons moved off again with the Band leading the way to the Saluting Base on the front. Where the Wing Com. With Squadron Leaders had rushed up to take the salute. The band took up position behind the Saluting Base and made such a din that no one heard the eyes left as we went by & that made rather a mess of things. Still our flight had been put on the front rank & we can [underlined] March [/underlined]if nothing else.
Well that was Church Parade with a vengeance. Can you wonder if fellows say “ Well If this is religion I don’t want any. Ah well I hope I’ll be doing Church Parade on my bike in a fortnights time. It would do with a good oiling I should think if anybody feels like it.
Glad t hear about Mar. is Mrs. H. alright?
[underlined] Bill [/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 from Bill Akrill to mother, Mary and Nip
Description
An account of the resource
A detailed letter from Bill to his family, explaining life and events in the RAF Camp.
Includes orderly room administration duties, being captain of squadron running team, being issued with flying kit (which he details), exams, his visit to an elderly local man (who had been Curator of the National Library of Wales) and a 1000-man church parade for Armistice Day.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-11-08
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jan Morgan
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three 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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]411108
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Wales--Dyfed
Wales--Aberystwyth
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-11
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
faith
military living conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Raf crest]
[No. 1436220 Akrill
A.4. 6. I.T.W. Raf.
Aberystwyth
Friday 14 Nov ‘41
Dearest Mum,
Just one more week!! Think of it — a week tonight you’ll be sitting up with a saucepan of milk on the little stand by the fire (which will be nearly out with some logs thrown on the cinders) You’ll have a basin ready with bread & sugar & salt & you’ll be knitting & reading & sleeping in a cold room with everybody else in bed waiting for the lost one to return. I can just picture you doing all this – just as you’ve done it hundreds of times before! I want you to take my
[page break]
advice & got to bed as it’ll be morning before I get home I expect. We’re going to find out about trains tomorrow so I’ll let you know what I can before I post this. I don’t think our train gets into Shrewsbury our nearest link with civilisation until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. It’s a terrible journey across Wales & then I have to cross England. And now for a piece of good news. Last Monday we had the Squadron Dance when the cup was presented. Well the Wing Com. said nice things about the Squadron Leader, the Squadron Leader said nice things about the Wing Commander, everybody cheered and the Wing Com. gave the whole squadron 48hrs leave and we are adding ours to our 7 days & so instead of coming back on Saturday we have to be back at 23.59 on Monday
[page break]
[Raf crest]
We don’t mind all this stupid drill & stuff if it means extra leave! I think we’ll all be ready for it. The continuous swotting is telling on everybody. I shall be very thankful when I can at last sit down to the exams.
We have Mouse Buzzer first thing Monday, Aldi’s lamp Tuesday, Armaments Wednesday, Law,, Hygiene, Aircraft Rec, Thursday and Navigation last but by no means least on Friday.
Do you know I can hardly realise that I’ll be home at last in a week. I seem to have been talking about it for months. I think I shall spend most of my time in bed. Certainly I’m going to have a quiet restful time as I’m feeling a bit tired with a cold come on this last day or two. Everyone’s the same.
[page break]
I’ll have plenty of stitching for you to do. My trousers are held with safety pins & broken braces. Can’t make buttons stay on. My tunic’s parted body from soul & split up the seams & I’ve not yet stitched on my V.R badges. Wish I could bring you my [one indecipherable word] to stich on but I don’t get them ‘till I get back, having passed all exams.
Had a parcel from the R.T.G’s as they called themselves — Balaclava, big slab choc, & some grapenuts! Must write & thank them when I get home. Well must get some work done — writing it in bad, finish it tomorrow
[underlined] Sun: [/underlined] There is a train vis Crewe& Denby arrives Nottn.] 10.11p.m.
Went to Stn. Today but it was closed (Everything closes here on a Sun) Will try again tomorrow & let you know something more definite as soon as I can.
What a scandal about Kathlene Millns! Seems to be causing a sensation all the soldiers going!
See you Fri (or Sat)
Bill.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes that he is looking forward to coming home on leave in a week's time. All the parades have paid off since they have been given some extra leave. Before then have a whole week of exams. Trying to find out about the trains, but will have to let her know later.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-11-14
1941-11-16
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jan Morgan
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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]411114
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Wales--Dyfed
Wales--Aberystwyth
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-11
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 LAC Aksill,
No 26 E.F.T.S.
[deleted] R.A.F. [/deleted]
Theale,
Nr. Reading ; Berks.
Wednesday 31 Dec. 1941.
Dear Mum,
Am writing this from the sumptuous mansion of Sir Norman Watson, where we are billeted. Sulhampstead House is its name and its in a glorious park setting, and quite a fine example of modern architecture. I’m in a lovely bedroom overlooking the rose gardens, pergolas, wall gardens and park. Here we eat and sleep, do our drill, P.T, all lectures and link trainer – in fact all but the flying. The drome is two good English miles away and the station quite another so that’s one disadvantage though there is certain
[page break]
transport to the drome at times. Reading is about 15 mins journey from Theale and London less than an hour from Reading. I’m feeling dead tired as you can guess. We had to work to the very last minute in Aber. and marched off from the Lion at 5 o’clock to catch the 5.25, all looking very jaunty, waving goodbye to old friends with Sandy charging in front barking wildly. Our Officers and Brownie wished us farewell at the station and as we looked out for the last time on our old haunts we found we’d got Sandy in with us! We put him out at the first stop with instructions for taking him back. Well just 12 hours after starting we got into Reading and had to wait until 8.15 for a train to Theale. You can guess we were dead tired
[page break]
but we got no chance of a minutes rest or wash or any of the common neccessities [sic] of life until late tonight and then I found I had to do fire patrol at 7.0 and 11.0 so it will be late when I get to bed. [underlined] Never [/underlined] have I longed for sleep more. Today we’ve rushed up and down to the drone for parachute fittings, medicals, issuing of lockers for flying kit, lectures and interviews by various officers, filling in forms, issuing of kit and dorms and on top of all that I can’t get to bed until nearly midnight and I’m flying tomorrow. Thigs are certainly starting off in a rush and there looks like being a busy time ahead but we get Saturday off though this week we work on Sunday all day we have Sat and Sun off on alternate
[page break]
weeks but there’s no hope of both. We have some Turkish officers here who are training with us.
Well I haven’t the energy to write anything else. Will write and let you know how I get on later.
Got Mums letter. Glad to know you had a good time.
Love [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[underlined] Wed. [/underlined] Been up today. Its [underlined great [/underlined] You’re to enjoy life!!! Will be at controls every five day now.
[deleted] Got [/deleted] For your peace of mind I have a very steady instructor a Flt/Lt of 15 years experience. Most are crazy Sg/Pilots. In Reading tonight food good.
Love Bill
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill writes describing his new living accommodation in Sulhamstead House, Theale, where his bedroom overlooks rose gardens, park land etc. All except the flying takes place here, whereas the airfield is a couple of miles away. Writes about the journey from Aberystwyth, which took over 12 hours.
Postscript: his been up in plane today and really enjoyed it. Food good.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-12-31
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Ashley Jacobs
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three 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
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]411231
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Berkshire
England--Theale (West Berkshire)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-12
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 [inserted] LAC [/inserted] Akrill.
No 26 E.F.T.S.,
Theale,
Fri. 2nd January 1942 Nr. Reading.
Berks
Dear Mum,
Afraid I’ve run out of notepaper & have to fall back on the good old notebook, but I guessed you’d want to hear a bit more than my scribbled note on Wednesday when I was far too tired & sleepy to know what I was writing.
We’re still feeling rather strange here (I am anyway) as its such a change from I.T.W. Yesterday we started off good & proper. We parade outside on the gravel in two groups – flying & lectures. There are, not including the Turks, 2 courses here ourselves, the junior, and about 20 more in the Senior Course who have passed out & are waiting to go to [deleted] 59 [/deleted] S.F.T.S. Then there’s a complicated arrangement about groups & flights. Joe & I are in different flights but in the same groups. Thus we fly [deleted] & do lec [/deleted] at the same time but from different parts of the field, & do lectures together but do not get the same day off which is a pity. Well, as I was saying we paraded
[page break]
[deleted] and [/deleted] with the Turk officers & answered our names. Imagine the excitement when, with a group of officers present, the Sgt. Read out their first name & their [sic] came a [deleted] so [/deleted] high pitched voice out of the darkness, “I am here!” They’re hopeless at marching & drill & it was painful marching behind them to the flying field. Well it was a bad morning so we had to sit around in the Crew Room till the weather cleared after our various instructors had been along & given us the low-down on the plane & instruments &c. Finally the weather cleared somewhat & I grabbed parachute & helmet & booked out at the Timekeeper’s Office & stumped across the field, strapped on my ‘chute, struggled into rear cockpit & strapped myself in. My instructor told me it was to be a purely passenger flight as the C.O. insisted that first flight should be.
We taxied across the field turned gathered speed & up & away leaving the drome buildings below our left wing tip. We flew to Reading & circled by the Thames. My instructor was doing his best to give me some idea of direction & whereabouts but I was quite lost. Then I got demonstrations in pitching, rolling & yawing. Gosh did my heart & stomach come in my mouth the first time he shoved the
[page break]
stick forward. Well after 20 minutes we came down & my Inst. asked me how I liked it. My beaming face must have answered him. It was [underlined] great [/underlined]! I was deaf for about an hour after but today I felt no effect. My Inst (I’ll call him [underlined] Mr. H [/underlined] for short) also had a Turk so I got no more that morning. In the afternoon we had lectures, very dull as we’ve done it all at I.T.W. We also got P.T. We do 1/2 hr. every day with the Turks. They’re a funny crowd! [deleted] In the [/deleted] After tea [deleted] we [/deleted] Joe & I went into Reading as we get a chance to go on the service bus once a week. Nothing else to do but pictures though.
Today we should have done lectures in the morning & flying in the afternoon but as the Senior Course are night flying there was no flying this afternoon so we had to get in what we could just before dinner. I got in 45 minutes but as I was at the controls most of the time it didn’t seem anything like long enough. I could have gone on soaring around there high above the lovely Berkshire countryside all day – not that I saw much of it, it was foggy & I was far too busy turning, and keeping the kite level to admire it. I flew for miles along a small river & then had to make turns for lakes, smoke &c. Finally I was shown how
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to decend [sic] with a glide, he’d demonstrated some glides before. Suddenly I realised that we were on the edge of the flying field & I felt Mr. H take the stick but I still had the rudder bar & was giving it plenty of right as instructed & so we made a landing. I’ll never be afraid of attempting a landing alone now I’m sure. Oh folks its glorious!!! I feel like doing a dance every time I think about it. I’ve simply [underlined] got [/underlined] to get through – but I don’t see why I shouldn’t. Of course Tigers nearly fly themselves. They’re the most glorious kites on earth I think. I don’t want to get on any heavy two-engined jobs now. It was grand when three Spitfires zoomed in front & just below my nose & at the same time I saw a Wellington far below.
So much for that. Now about life here. It’s very different being stuck here in Sulhampton [sic] House, from the old days in Aber. when one could always be popping into town, getting to know plenty of people. We get one day off weekly. This week ours is Saturday. What to do I don’t know but it will be a rest anyway. I shall go into Reading as there are a few things I want. Sunday is work as usual. We’re pretty well treated here. Food is cooked & served up by women from the village & we’re waited on by A.C.S. Flying Schools are primarily civilian concerns
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5
which have been taken over by the RAF. Theale is only a new station & been going since August but it’s still Civvy with RAF. butting in & you never know where you are. We get Civvy rations (to prevent jealousy from the Civvy Staff we’re told) but they’re not too bad for quantity & very well dished up. Flying certainly gives you an appetite.
Sulhampstead House is a glorious place to live in but when it’s not home I don’t care for living so far away from anywhere. It’s a very lovely district as I can see from the air. It’s a pity I don’t know any one in London or round about as a lot of the boys have gone up tonight to spend their day off there. I [underlined] thought [/underlined] of hitch hiking home but not very seriously. Max & some of the old flight go to Brough near Hull today. I’m sure I could have got home from there. Well I’ll perhaps be home soon & have plenty to tell you.
Glad to get your letter. Poor old pear tree. It won’t be at all like home but it was certainly not much use however ornamental it may have been though I’m sure there be no fruit on any new trees that are planted.
Best love to everybody [underlined] Bill [/underlined] PTO.
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Now getting 7/6 a day but have to pay 5/- a week insurance. I believe I’m now liable for income tax but I don’t suppose it will be deducted.
Dublin Core
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Title
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Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill describes the set up at the Elementary Flying Training School, Theale where there were two flying courses and some Turkish students. He describes his first flight as a passenger which he found 'great'. Goes on to describe flying the next day.
Finds it a bit different being at Sulhamstead House and only having one day off a week, after Aberystwyth, when they could easily go into town. Mentions that the food is good, served up by local women and although they have 'civvy' rations, and quantity is fine.
Postscript detailing amount of pay.
Date
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1942-01-02
Contributor
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Robin Christain
Format
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Six page handwritten letter
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420102
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Berkshire
England--Theale (West Berkshire)
Temporal Coverage
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1942-01
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
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William Akrill
aircrew
military living conditions
pilot
Tiger Moth
training