Browse Items (1507 total)

  • Tags: Halifax

PCampbellKWP1601.jpg
Keith Campbell grew up in New South Wales and joined the Royal Australian Air Force when he was old enough. He flew 35 operations as a bomb aimer with 466 Squadron from RAF Leconfield and RAF Driffield when, on their thirty first operation another…

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PBeardKC1701.jpg
Ken Beard served as a rear gunner during the Second World War. He has been a member of The Salvation Army all his life and his faith played a huge role in helping him through the horrors of war. Awarded a scholarship at Retford Grammar School, he…

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PMacdonaldK1703.pdf
Ken has been in the Air Training Corps and enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942. He went to No. 2 Initial Training School at Bradfield Park and then to Marborough where he chose to be a wireless operator/air gunner. They flew on Wackett…

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AMarshallKW160208.mp3
Ken Marshall, grew up in Barton on Humber and enrolled with the ATC before joining the University Air Squadron at Durham University. On one occasion he saw an aircraft on fire at RAF Elsham Wolds and although the crew was rescued it was a reminder of…

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Ken Sleaford was born and raised near Coningsby on the family farm. Tells of life on the farm before and during the war, when it was handed over to the Air Force, to be converted into an airfield and incorporated into RAF Coningsby. Mentions various…

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PTurnhamK1701.jpg
Ken Turnham was born in St Albans and volunteered for the Air Force on his 18th birthday. After his initial training as a wireless operator he was posted to an Operational Training Unit at Lossiemouth. He and his crew were posted to 115 Squadron at…

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PLockeBrownK1505.jpg
Kenneth Locke was born in 1923 and wanted to join the Royal Air Force, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a First World War Pilot. Between leaving school and joining the Royal Air Force, Kenneth worked as a bank clerk, before signing…

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ATrentKL160112.mp3
Ken grew up in London and joined the Royal Air Force on his eighteenth birthday as a pilot. After exams and interview at RAF Uxbridge, he went to Number 9 Receiving Wing in Torquay and an Initial Training Wing in Stratford-upon-Avon. He then trained…

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ATruemanKW150921.mp3
Kenneth William Trueman volunteered for the RAF and was called up in 1941. After training in South Africa, he served as a navigator with 640 Squadron and speaks of his preference for the Gee navigation aid rather than H2S. His operations included…

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PWebbLP1601.jpg
Lacey Peter Webb remembers his role as a flight engineer in the Royal Air Force during the war and flying thirty operations on Halifaxes and two on Lancasters. Retraces his training in various stations, among them St John’s Wood, where he was…

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Langford "Joe" Green was born in Wales but moved to Marlow, Buckinghamshire with his family when he was still a child. He worked in a factory from the age of 14 until he joined the Royal Air Force. After training he flew operations as an air gunner…

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PLarmerLO1506.jpg
Lawrence Larmer was born in Australia in 1920. After completing school he went to work on the Beaufort aircraft in the Department of Aircraft Production. He was called up in 1942 and volunteered for the Royal Australian Air Force to avoid the army.…

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ADowardLA171026.mp3
Len Doward was in the army when he saw an advertisement for aircrew so he volunteered. He trained as a pilot. On one operation he saw a Lancaster alongside hit by bombs from a Lancaster above. After his operational tour Len was posted to India and…

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PMcNamaraL1502.jpg
Len McNamara was born in Bristol in 1924. An apprentice plumber, he joined the Air Training Corps and volunteered for aircrew. Discusses his initial training at various stations, the gunnery course he passed with merit and honours, an escape and…

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ADaviesLR160623.mp3
Les Davies grew up in Australia and worked as a railway porter before joining the Royal Australian Air Force. After initially training as a pilot he flew 34 operations as a mid upper gunner with 466 Squadron from RAF Driffield. He had been forced to…

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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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PMakensL1701.jpg
Louis Makens worked as a farm worker before the war but volunteered for aircrew. He discusses his training on Wellingtons and operations flying Stirlings with 196 Squadron including a crash landing, and glider towing. His Halifax was shot down 18/19…

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AKoudysM160518.mp3
Maarten has a keen interest in the Second World War which wants to pass onto children. He visits crash sites interviewing elderly people and research aviation history. Maarten tells of a Halifax which was shot down on 12/13 June 1943 and…

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AJohnsonM160830.mp3
Mark Johnson reminisces about John Blair. He discusses family life in rural Jamaica as a mixed-ethnicity person, highly respected by everyone. He was a qualified teacher, a lawyer, and a farmer. Reminisces other Caribbeans who volunteered and served…

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PEllisMW1701.jpg
Mary Wilkins Ellis was born in Oxfordshire and became interested in aviation at a very early age. She experienced her first flight with Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus. Mary learned to fly while still at school and obtained her licence in 1938. When…

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WardM [Pesaro].jpg
Roy Ward joined the Meteorological Office when he was 18 and served as a Meteorological officer with 517 Squadron. He returned to the Meteorological Office as a civilian after the war and his final job before retirement was as a weather forecaster at…

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Mary Ward joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1940. She served, briefly, at RAF Driffield but mostly at RAF Linton on Ouse. She trained as a cook before being moved to duties as a map officer, where she prepared maps for briefings and…

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PRobertsM2001.jpg
Born in Manchester, Maurice was 20 years old when he joined up and volunteered for aircrew in 1940. He trained in South Africa, Canada (Moncton and Trenton), the Unites States (Lakeland), and was torpedoed in the Atlantic on his way back. Maurice…

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ASnowballM150626.mp3
Maurice Snowball was born and educated in Sunderland. After school, he served an engineering apprenticeship with a local family firm and was a member of the Home Guard. Maurice was a keen amateur footballer and had hopes of turning professional, but…

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AEdwardsM171030.mp3
Megan Edwards talks about her husband, Arthur Edwards, who served in the RAF with 102 Squadron. Tells of how they met at school and always kept in touch through the war, until they married on October 7th, 1944. She remembers working at the Bristol…

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