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Interview with Brian Llewellyn
Brian Llewellyn was a member of the Air Training Corps during the war and spent time with the RAF as well as the Polish Air Force. He talks about his time in Lincolnshire, including various stations he visited and his first flight. Brian had many…
Interview with Bruce Cunningham
Bruce Cunningham was born in New Zealand. After initial training as a pilot he was posted to RAF Wescott Operational Training Unit and flew operations with 514 Squadron at RAF Waterbeach. His first operation was over Berlin. On one operation they…
Interview with Burckhard Kuck
Burckhard Kuck (b. 1925) tells the story of a 63-year-old mirror, a present from his fellow inmates when he was detained in a prisoner of war camp in England. Emphasises how the object reminds him of the lack of mirrors in the camp and of the fact…
Interview with Charles Henry Clarke. One
Charles volunteered for the RAF when he was 17 and trained as a bomb-aimer at RAF North Luffenham. After qualifying, he was posted to 619 Squadron at RAF Woodhall Spa. He was shot down on his 18th operation and he became a prisoner of war. He talks…
Interview with Charles Henry Clarke. Three
Charles Clarke volunteered for the Royal Air Force when he was seventeen years old and flew operations as a bomb aimer with 619 Squadron from RAF Woodhall Spa. His aircraft was shot down on his 18th operation and he became a prisoner of war. He was…
Interview with Charles Henry Clarke. Two
Charles Clarke joined the RAF aged 17 and began training as a pilot but he became ill with mumps and later trained as a bomb aimer. His aircraft was shot down on an operation to Schweinfurt and he became a prisoner of war. He took part in the Long…
Interview with Christopher Francis Allison
Interview in two parts.
Part one.
Chris Allison served as a flight engineer. He answers questions from school children about what it was like to fly in a Lancaster.
Also taking part in this interview was Tony Bradley who was a child in Hull…
Part one.
Chris Allison served as a flight engineer. He answers questions from school children about what it was like to fly in a Lancaster.
Also taking part in this interview was Tony Bradley who was a child in Hull…
Interview with Colin Fraser
Colin joined the British Army in December 1941, and eventually moved to his preferred Royal Air Force in March 1943. He went to Number 2 Initial Training School at RAAF Bradfield Park in Sydney as a navigator, graduating in February 1944. His first…
Interview with D Jones
D Jones was born in the parish of Manchester, Jamaica. He volunteered for the RAF and went on the SS Cuba to the United States, crossing the Atlantic to Liverpool in June 1944. He went to a former Butlins holiday camp in Filey - there, as ground…
Interview with David Berrie
David Berrie joined the RAF and served as a wireless operator. He flew six operations with 576 Squadron from RAF Elsham Wolds. Shares his experience about living on the station with Polish crews. Remembers crashing twice in twenty-four hours and on…
Interview with David Fraser
David Fraser enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1939 and was trained as a mechanic. He remustered as soon as he was able and flew four operations as an air gunner with 115 Squadron before his aircraft was shot down over Hamburg, in May 1941. He spent…
Interview with David Griffin
David was a navigator in 428 Squadron in Halifax aircraft. He trained in Canada and the UK. He was the only survivor when he baled out of his aircraft over the Netherlands on 28 September 1943. He found a farmhouse and was met with kindness but…
Interview with David Jackson
David Jackson tells of his father, Norman Jackson VC, born in Ealing, London in 1919 and who worked in an engineering company when the war broke out. After initially trying to join the navy, he then joined the RAF and classified as a fitter on…
Interview with Dick Raymond
Richard Raymond joined the RAF to see the world but considering the loss rates he is aware he very nearly saw the next world as well. He had applied to the RAF but been refused on medical grounds. He was offered a groundcrew role and was determined…
Interview with Dinah Smith
Dinah Smith was born in Bamford, Derbyshire in 1937, moving to Darley Dale when her father found a new job as an aqueduct linesman. Dinah outlines her experiences of school, friends, foraging for food, and celebrations during the war. She also…
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 Donald Rainey
Donald Rainey was born in 1927 and he lived with his family at the Royal Oak in Scopwick. Donald remembers George Formby’s wife, Beryl staying at the pub for four days in the war whilst entertaining the troops at Digby. Got a job as an apprentice…
Interview with Dougie Marsh
Interview in three parts.
Part 1.
Doug Marsh was the son of a Royal Navy officer and moved around quite a bit as a child between Kent and Lincolnshire. When his father retired from the Navy his parents bought a fish and chip shop in Grimsby but…
Part 1.
Doug Marsh was the son of a Royal Navy officer and moved around quite a bit as a child between Kent and Lincolnshire. When his father retired from the Navy his parents bought a fish and chip shop in Grimsby but…
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 James Hendrie Burt. One
James Burt conducted his medical training St Andrew’s University in Scotland. Although he and his friends had tried to join a Service during the war their training was a Reserved Occupation and not only were they refused but they were strictly told…
Interview with Dr James Hendrie Burt. Two
During his time as medical officer at RAF Waddington, James Burt was responsible for inspecting sanitation and food hygiene as well as general medicine. On one occasion he also had to travel to RAF Tangmere to investigate the death of a member of…
Interview with Eddie Humes
During the war, Eddie Humes flew as a navigator on Lancasters with 514 Squadron. In May 1939, he chose to join the RAF instead of going to work in the mines. He was initially expected to be posted as a rigger on aircraft but was then sent to a…
Interview with Eddy Smythe. One
Eddy Smythe’s father, Johnny Smythe was a navigator on a Lancaster. He was originally from Sierra Leonne. On one operation he was injured when anti-aircraft fire damaged the aircraft but they continued to target. One engine had been damaged and so…
Interview with Eddy Smythe. Two
Eddy Smythe reminisces about his father, John Henry Smythe, who was from Sierra Leone and served in Bomber Command during the Second World War. John flew as a navigator until his aircraft was shot down in November 1943. He became a prisoner of war in…
Interview with Eddy Smythe. Two
Eddy Smyth’s father was John Smythe. John left Sierra Leone to join the RAF during the Second World War. He was shot down over Germany and spent two years as a prisoner of war. After the war he trained as a barrister and returned to Sierra Leone…