Browse Items (586 total)

  • Tags: Pathfinders

SMarshallS1594781v10014.jpg
An ex-RAF pilot describes a bombing operation to Ulm in Southern Germany, He hadn't flown for three years and he is amazed at the technical improvements in hitting the targets using the Pathfinder force. He mentions the squadron CO, Wing-Comdr J R St…

MAnsellHT1893553-160730-03.pdf
Service and release book of Sergeant Henry Ansell from 12 April 1943 to 15 May 1947.

NColeFIG170709-020001.jpg
A newspaper cutting with cartoons of Captain Swales, German fighters, Lancasters under attack and airmen baling out. It is annotated 7hs 40 Trip No 33.

SPerryWRP1317696v60011.pdf
A short history of 106 Squadron. Covers formation in world war one. Reformed in 1938 with Hinds and Battles. Equipped with Hampden at beginning of the war. Initially a advanced training unit. Became operational in September 1940. Describes early…

MBakerWB1392752-161128-13.pdf
A four-page personal history of 115 Squadron written by J L Dixon, covering formation in 1917, to the end of hostilities in 1945. It is typed on Registration Research headed notepaper.

MDexterKI127249-170830-10.jpg
Ordered 1941 and built by A.V. Roe at Chadderton near Manchester as one of a batch of 620 between November 1943 and June 1943. Twenty of this batch either side of ED 932 (Gibson's aircraft) were modified as type 464 provisioning to enable Barnes…

PLoveAI16030001.jpg
Front and rear of two of Ikey's badges.
#1 a Pathfinder badge.
#2 a Caterpillar club badge.

LLoveAI1815027v1.pdf
Navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book for A Love, Flight Engineer, covering the period from 17 August 1943 to 22 March 1944, when he was shot down and became a prisoner of War. He was stationed at RAF Stradishall, RAF…

PBarnettA2101.jpg
When Alfred’s mother’s house was destroyed during a Luftwaffe bombing, he was determined to join the RAF and fight back. He trained as a gunner and completed two tours and a spell as an instructor.After his final tour of operations, he joined the…

PMeadowsA1601.jpg
Alfred Meadows was born in London. He was keen to join the RAF as aircrew but didn’t pass the medical. He was posted as a driver to RAF Old Sarum from where he witnessed the bombing of Southampton. He was posted then to South Africa. He describes…

AWrigleyA160826.mp3
Alice Wrigley was married to James Wrigley, a wireless operator on Lancasters. She talks about her early life after losing her mother, her marriage to Jim and how war work enabled her to become independent by sorting out somewhere to live whilst he…

AEdwardsAE161024.mp3
Allan joined the Royal Air Force in December 1942 as a flight engineer, having been a member of the Air Training Corps before the war. From Blackpool, he went to RAF St Athan for flight engineer training. His first squadron was at RAF Waterbeach,…

PBarronAJK1901.jpg
Andrew hitchhiked from Edmonton to Calgary and then on to Mountain View by train. Gunnery training was in a Bolingbroke which had a mid-upper turret; bombing training was done in an Anson. Andrew was then posted to navigation school in Quebec for…

ATompsonA160125.mp3
Anthony Tompson worked as an engineer for the Post Office before he volunteered for the Air Force. While training as a pilot in Canada it was discovered he had a difficulty with perception and he trained instead as a navigator. On return to the Great…

PSpencerAHG1701.jpg
Arthur Spencer joined the Royal Air Force after leaving school. He began pilot training in Florida but then re-mustered as a navigator and trained in Pensacola. He completed two tours of operations as a navigator with 97 Squadron at RAF Woodhall Spa…

PCulpinBW1801.jpg
Bob Culpin worked for the civil service before joining the RAF in 1941. He was posted to Alabama for pilot training but was remustered and instead, completed a navigation course in Miami. When he returned to Great Britain, Culpin formed a…

APearsonBM180312.mp3
Her brother-in-law William Mollison Walton, after training to be a pilot in Canada, was based at RAF Swinderby with 97 Squadron. In 1944 his aircraft was attacked and he baled out. He spent two days on a small island where he buried his parachute,…

AGrayLW170301.mp3
Bill Gray was born and grew up in Australia and volunteered for the Air Force. After training, he flew 29 operations as an air gunner with 15 squadron from RAF Mildenhall. He returned to Australia after the war but contracted tuberculosis. He was…

PLucasWE1501.jpg
W E (Bill) Lucas joined the Royal Air Force in 1940, where he trained as a fighter pilot flying Miles Magisters and Miles Masters, before being posted to RAF Lossiemouth and moving into Bomber Command where he flew the Vickers Wellington 1C. He flew…
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