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Interview with Betty Welton
Betty Welton was born in 1924. She left school at the age of 14 and, at the age of 17 and a half, joined the Women’s Land Army. She saw this as an opportunity to escape her home circumstances. On receiving her papers, she travelled from her home…
Interview with Cyril Gosling
Cyril Gosling trained as an armourer at Kirby in Blackpool and was first posted to 49 Squadron where he worked on the guns and turrets. As part of his role he would go on flights in the bombers to check the guns accuracy by firing at drogues. On…
Interview with David Sanders
David Sanders flew operations as a flight engineer with 189 and 619 Squadrons. He joined the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer and discusses an operation when they arrived too early over the target, being followed by a night fighter and having a…
Interview with Denis Kelly
Denis joined the Royal Australian Air Force at 18 and married when he enlisted. He wanted to be a pilot but became a wireless operator/air gunner because he lacked depth perception. After Somers, Denis went to Victor Harbour. He then did a radio…
interview with Derrick Allen's family
Derrick Allen was the mid-upper gunner on a Lancaster that crashed near Spa in Belgium. He had been making his way to bale out when the pilot asked him to help the rear gunner who was trapped in his turret. He managed to do this but the plane broke…
Interview with Desmond O'Connell
Desmond O’Connell was born in London in 1919. He followed in his brother’s footsteps by joining the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve in 1939. He went to Cambridge to commence pilot training but half the contingent were transferred to become…
Interview with Don Sutherland. Two
Don was brought up in Newcastle, where he worked for a number of years. He attended a meeting a year before the war began, about alternatives to war and that war didn’t have to be accepted as inevitable. Don joined a community which organised…
Interview with Douglas Robinson
Douglas was in the Local Defence Volunteers before joining the Royal Air Force as a pilot. After Babbacombe, he did initial training at Scarborough and then in Rhodesia. Initial flight training in Harare on Tiger Moths was followed by service…
Interview with Dr Derry Derrington
Dr Arnold Pearce Derrington grew up in Cornwall and joined the University Air Squadron at Exeter. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 and completed training at RAF Ansty, South Africa, RAF West Freugh and RAF Moreton in the Marsh, where he trained…
Interview with Efrem Colombi
Efrem Colombi recalls his care-free childhood, initially in the Bergamo countryside and then in Milan. Emphasises his life-long radical anti-Clericalism and recounts how he ran away several times from Catholic boarding schools because of his…
Interview with Ernest Holmes
Ernest Holmes joined the RAF and served as a pilot, flying operations first with 76 Squadron and then on Pathfinders. Gives a vivid and detailed account of when he was shot down over Holland: how he was given shelter by a farmer’s family and moved…
Interview with Fausta Maggioni
Fausta Maggioni recalls memories of her wartime life in Milan. She describes a sizeable shelter reinforced with wooden props, a little bag with the few valuables she had always to bring along, as well as the many duties of her father as warden, who…
Interview with Ferdi Righi
Ferdinando Righi recalls his early life in Monfalcone, brought up by his mother while his father served as a submariner. Describes daily life in wartime: how he used to sleep fully clothed, waiting for the air raid siren. His mother would put some…
Interview with Francis Shamus "Jim" Cahir
Jim Cahir grew up in Australia. He originally joined the army but later was transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force. He flew operations as a mid upper gunner with 466 Squadron. His aircraft was shot down and he became a prisoner of war. after…
Interview with Franco Nocchieri
Franco Nocchieri recalls his early years as an orphan in several different towns in the Province of Pavia. He describes the bombing of the Voghera railway station, which started while he was heading to school. He goes on to explain how he and his…
Interview with Fred Hooker. One
The interview begins with some details of Fred’s life before being called up for service, including that his brother became a prisoner of the Japanese captured Hong Kong. Fred joined the Boy Scouts aged 11 years, and then the Air Training Corp…
Interview with George Thomas Marsh
George’s family lived on a farm at Bassingham Fen. His earliest memory of the war was when he was about two and a half, his father pointing out a Lancaster flying over. On 5 November 1944, EH977 Stirling crash-landed nearby and he saw the massive…
Interview with Gordon Mercier
Cyril Mercier was born in Jersey in 1925. He joined the Home Guard in 1940 and the RAF in 1943. After initial training, and training on gunnery at Bridgnorth he joined 14 Operational training Unit at Abingdon, where he crewed up. He trained on…
Interview with Guido Dell’Era
Guido Dell’Era recollects daily life in wartime Milan, stressing inadequate war preparation. Describes a disciplined, regimented society which later turned to disillusionment. Recollects the declaration of war, the fall of the fascist regime and…
Interview with Helga Cent-Velden
Helga Cent-Velden (b. 1926) recounts her life in Berlin under constant threat of bombing. Describes how her father tried to locate a suitable air raid shelter for the family and especially how he ruled out the Shell House because of a canal running…
Interview with Hugh Parry. One
Hugh Parry was born in Oswestry and joined the Air Force in April 1943 and volunteered to be an air gunner. Knowing that there was a height restriction on air gunners of six feet he hid his height by wearing baggy trousers. After training, he was…
Interview with James William Birchall
James Burchill was in the ATC before he volunteered for aircrew training. He was expected to be deferred but was told he had been chosen for immediate service. On one operation he was injured and by the time he was ready for operational duties again…
Interview with James Wright
Jim was a civil servant before joining the Royal Air Force in May 1941. He carried out two tours on 61, 630 and 97 Squadrons. Although he wanted to be a pilot, there was a shortage of navigators. He was called up to Regents Park and then posted to…
Interview with Jim Auton
Jim Auton grew up on Royal Air Force stations and joined the Royal Air Force at seventeen. He trained as a pilot navigator and bomber at RAF Ansty near Coventry, then in South Africa under the Empire Air Training Scheme. He trained on B-24s at Lidder…
Interview with John James Smith
John Smith grew up near Corby, surrounded by aerodromes, so was used to the sight of aircraft. He observed Lancaster aircraft practising for the Dambusters raid over Eye Brook Reservoir. He also witnessed glider practice and was impressed by the…