Browse Items (2051 total)

  • Tags: ground personnel

PWildR1602.jpg
Ralph was conscripted into the army but wanted to join the air force. He eventually became an instrument repairer and trained at RAF Cranwell. When war started, he volunteered for aircrew but he was not transferred for some time. Briefly in 242…

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ABaileyHH160501.mp3
Bill Bailey was born in Stafford. After finishing school he went to work for the Post Office Telephones service as a telegram boy. He decided to join the Royal Air Force and began training as a rear gunner at RAF Dalcross. He joined 31 Squadron of…

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PCurnockRM1602.jpg
Richard Curnock was born in Grantham and joined the Royal Air Force in 1941.He achieved the rank of warrant officer and served in 425 Squadron. Richard tells of how he followed his two older brothers into the services, and his time serving in the Air…

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PBeecherC1801.jpg
Charles Beecher was a member of the local Air Training Corps in Wakefield before volunteering for the RAF. He was unsuccessful in his application for aircrew because of his eyesight and trained as a wireless mechanic. Part of his course was in…

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PParkerE1602.jpg
Eric was born in 1924 in West Derby, Liverpool and volunteered for the Royal Air Force at the age of 17 and a half, finally being called up in January 1942, when he became a navigator/bomb aimer on Lancasters. After completing his training in Canada,…

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AStathamR160627.mp3
Rex Statham was born in Luton. His father died in a motorbike accident when he was very young. Although Rex had been very keen to join the Navy he volunteered for the RAF as a flight mechanic. When he realised that many trained mechanics were being…

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BBlacklockGBBlacklockGBv1.pdf
From his youth to the award of his DFC by the King.

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Frost, Bob.jpg
Bob Frost recounts experiencing the London Blitz as a member of the Auxiliary Fire Service. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained at the Air Gunnery School at Evanton, Scotland. He was then posted to the Operational Training Unit at RAF…

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PWatsonD1511.jpg
Donald Watson was working in the print industry before he joined the Royal Air Force in 1941. After training he served as an armourer with 61 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe.

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AHookingsE151024.mp3
Eric Hookings joined the RAF and served as ground crew at RAF Newton before training as a pilot in America. He was posted to RAF Bruntingthorpe, flying Wellingtons, Stirlings and Lancasters with 619 Squadron. During an operation an Me 110 shot down…

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PRoyallG1501.jpg
George volunteered to be a pilot but settled for Air Observer. He talks about his selection and training in London and then in Stratford-upon-Avon, where enjoyed the theatre and how, at Brighton, illness separated him from the rest of the course. So,…

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ABishopV170926.mp3
Violet Bishop’s two brothers both volunteered for the RAF. One trained as a bomb aimer and the other as ground crew. Both survived the war. They wrote to each other throughout the war. She was very proud when her brother accompanied her to a dance…

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ADoneI170710.mp3
Upon leaving school until her marriage, Iris worked for London County Council. After her marriage she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. She reported to Bridgenorth in June 1942 to be sworn in. After that, she went to Morecambe where she learned…

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ASimmsL160807.mp3
Lester tells of his tough, early childhood and his first experience of seeing a Heinkel bomber flying over his home in Surrey, to attack the Brooklands Aircraft Factory. He tells of how he worked in the experimental department of Hawker Aircraft…

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SRAFIngham19410620v040001-Audio.mp3
Jan Stangrycuik (Black) was born and raised in Poland. When he was a teenager, his family emigrated to Argentina for a better life. When the British Embassy called for volunteers to join the war effort, Jan answered the call and sailed, with seven…

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SRAFIngham19410620v050001-Audio.mp3
Lech Gierak was born in Poland and after the death of his father made his way to England and joined the Polish Air Force. He worked as an armourer on a number of stations and after the war moved to Stoke on Trent to become a miner. Lech talks about…

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SRAFIngham19410620v060001-Audio.mp3
Marion Clarke served as an mechanical transport driver during the Second World War, her main duties were on Bomber Command stations primarily driving crew buses. She talks about the conditions she experienced such as her accommodation, uniform, leave…

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SRAFIngham19410620v070001-Audio.mp3
Mieczyslaw Maryszczak was born in Bokyivka, Ukraine and served in the Polish Army and then the Polish Air Force. An early memory of the war is throwing bread to starving Russian prisoners being marched from Lviv to Podlesice. At seventeen he was in…

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SRAFIngham19410620v090001-Audio.mp3
Wanda Szuwalska was born on a farm in Poland and was deported to Russia by train at the start of the Second World War. She talks of the journey to Russia, the time she and her family spent there, then coming to England and becoming a WAAF. Wanda…

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SRAFIngham19410620v100001-Audio.mp3
After a challenging time being sent from country to country, Zosia Kowalska finally came to England and became a WAAF. After training, she was posted to RAF Locking where she met her future husband whilst she was working as a cook. The wedding was…

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BPayneGPayneGv1.pdf
Geoff Payne's autobiography divided into five chapters.

Chapter 1. Under Training.
Having been assessed in Birmingham Geoff sets off to London in August 1942 for training, at Lords. Initial training was at Bridlington then gunnery school at…

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SCheshireGL72021v10043.jpg
To officer at Central Medical Establishment thanking him for letter stating that he will get the medical officer to complete special fitting mentioned.

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SCheshireGL72021v10047.jpg
To Royal Australian Air Force liaison officer at Bomber Command. Writing that Flight Lieutenant D J Shannon desires to continue with operations and does not want to return to Australia. Mentions Shannon's wife is in Royal Air Force serving in same…

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MBubbGJ1477939-160322-01.pdf
166 pages of instrument course including notes with details and hand-drawn colour diagrams of aircraft instruments and gauges including pressure gauges, warning systems, clocks, compasses, bomb and gun sights, flight instruments and telecoms…

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MBubbGJ1477939-160322-02.pdf
64 pages of course notes. Inside front page ' Bubb G J 1477939, Entry 35, Berryfields, Melksham, Sept 2-21 1943' Contains information of batteries and motors in general then specific notes on F24 camera and controls, night photography MkIII, torpedo…

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