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Interview with Arthur Spencer
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…
Interview with Ralph Wild
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…
Interview with Rusty Waughman. One
He discusses a mid-air collision during an operation with 101 Squadron. to Hasselt. He describes what it was like prior to a operation and the feelings experienced by the crew, from seeing the battle orders on the notice board, the pre-flight meal,…
Interview with Peter Watson
Peter Watson was born in South Wales and joined the Royal Air Force in 1943. He wanted to be a pilot but there was a surplus of pilots so he became an air gunner. He crewed-up and flew with 101 Squadron initially, a special duties squadron, and he…
Interview with Jack Wakefield
Jack Wakefield grew up in New Zealand and volunteered for the Air Force and the Army. He trained as an air gunner on Defiants before being posted to 75 Squadron at RAF Feltwell where he completed a tour on Wellingtons, flying operations to locations…
Interview with Douglas Reed
Flight Lieutenant Douglas Reed worked for the council before he joined the Royal Air Force. He flew operations with 166 Squadron from RAF Kirmington and with 156 Squadron, Pathfinders, from RAF Upwood. His aircraft often suffered damage. On one…
Interview with Raymond Moore
Raymond Moore flew 31 operations as a flight engineer with 408 Squadron. He describes initial training at Skegness and then further training at Cosford, Halton and St Athan. He describes the crewing-up procedure at Eastmoor and describes the…
Interview with Ted Mawdsley
Ted grew up in Essex. Before the war he worked for the Marconi Wireless and Telegraph Company. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1940 and became an instrument mechanic. He was posted to RAF Elsham Wolds in 1942 and overseas the following year. After…
Interview with David Leicester
David Leicester grew up in Australia and worked as an office boy before he volunteered for the Royal Australian Air Force. He completed 68 operations as a pilot with 35, 158 and 640 Squadrons and as a Master Bomber with Pathfinders. He describes how…
Interview with Harold Kirby. Two
Harold Kirby grew up in London and worked in an accounts department before joining the Royal Air Force. He served as a fitter with 460 Squadron at RAF Binbrook before remustering as a flight engineer. He flew two tours of operations with 467, 97 and…
Interview with Ian Denver
Ian Denver grew up in Australia and joined the Royal Australian Air Force as soon as he was old enough. After training he completed 60 operations with 625 Squadron and 156 Squadron. He met and married his wife, Pat who was an intelligence officer at…
Interview with Charles Philip Blackham
Philip Blackham became an apprentice engineer at Diesel engine company Mirrlees, Bickerton & Day, of which he became a sales manager post war. He served in the Home Guard becoming a driver, then he enrolled in summer 1940 with initial training at…
Interview with Bob Frost. One
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…
Interview with Charlie Darby
Charlie Darby joined the Royal Air Force in September 1943 and recounts in great detail, his training as an air gunner/wireless operator on Wellingtons and Ansons at RAF Bridlington, RAF Bridgnorth, RAF Castle Kennedy, RAF Acaster Malbis and RAF…
Ode to an air gunner
Describes the role played by the air gunner and his attitude toward danger. In the afterlife, the air gunner goes straight through the Heavens's gate as his wartime suffering is considered equivalent to expiation.
This is why I joined the RAF
A poem written in December 1942 after her first love was shot down over France. After his death Betty resolved to join the Royal Air Force and became a wireless operator. According to a note, she later found out that some of what she wrote down went…
We were only just beginning to enjoy our teenage years
A poem sent to Betty Turner's friend Billy to celebrate their 80th. Betty describes the wartime hardships she endured, hint at the bereavement after the loss of the men she loved, stresses the sense of duty toward her country, friendship and…
Letter to his wife from Herbert Gray.
![EGrayHMGray[Wi]440628.pdf](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/107/1042/EGrayHMGray[Wi]440628.jpg "EGrayHMGray[Wi]440628.pdf")
Starts with suggestion that a recent news film of daylight operation to Le Havre, which he was on, gives a good idea of what bombing is like. However as most of his operations were at night he goes on to describe these. Describes emotions and…
Fifty years on
Poem of four verses of seven lines each in remembrance of those who flew and the freedom that they died for.
More than one liberty
![MBartlettA[Ser#-DoB]-150520-02.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/94/892/MBartlettA[Ser -DoB]-150520-02.jpg "MBartlettA[Ser#-DoB]-150520-02.jpg")
Relates an incident at an officers’ mess ball which contrasts the attitude of peacetime station commander to those found on operational stations. Describes events surrounding a station ball at a training base in the midlands. Includes general…
Interview with James Flowers
Horace James Flowers was born and grew up in Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire. He became an apprentice butcher before being released to volunteer for the Royal Air Force in 1944. He trained as an air gunner at RAF Bridgnorth, RAF Wigsley and RAF Syerston…