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Interview with Jack Edward Simmonds
Jack Simmonds was the son of an RAF serviceman. As a result, his childhood was spent moving around a great deal, including spending a few years in Egypt. He joined the RAF and began training as a pilot and then he joined 51 Squadron as a Whitley…
Interview with Jack Kenneth Lyon
Jack Lyon was a navigator/ bomb aimer and a prisoner of war for almost four years. Born in 1918, he was employed with the London Gas Company as a bookkeeper until August 1939 when he transferred to Shell. At the outbreak of the war, Shell closed…
Interview with James Albert Dellow
James ‘Jim’ Albert Dellow had to register the start of the war he as he was 18 years old. On being asked which service he would prefer, he opted for the Royal Air Force as a pilot. Whilst waiting for his call up, he worked in an insurance office…
Interview with James Ferguson Latimer
James Ferguson Latimer was born in Edinburgh. His family emigrated to Canada when he was young but moved back to Scotland in 1939. He recalls witnessing a German U-boat torpedo a ship as they sailed back home. Latimer joined the air force and…
Interview with James Mulhall. Two
James Mulhall trained as a flight engineer and was posted to 75 Squadron at RAF Mepal. On one operation the crew were surprised to be presented by the ground crew with a .303 bullet which proved that they had been the recipient of friendly fire. On…
Interview with James William Birchall
James Burchill was in the ATC before he volunteered for aircrew training. He was expected to be deferred but was told he had been chosen for immediate service. On one operation he was injured and by the time he was ready for operational duties again…
Interview with Jamie (Jim) Barr
Jim joined the Royal Air Force after an engineering apprenticeship. He learnt navigation in South Africa at Oudtshoorn, followed by gunnery training at Port Alfred. After Dumfries, he went to an Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF North Luffenham…
Interview with Janet Hughes. Two
After flying as a spare, Reginald Wilson (Hughes’ father) formed a new crew and completed their first operation to Berlin on the 29th December 1943. During their second operation to Berlin on the 20 January 1944, the aircraft was shot down. Upon…
Interview with Jill Saunders
Jill Saunders’s father Frank Simon was born in Salford in 1917. He served an apprenticeship as a fitter before joining A.V. Roe. He had joined the RAF volunteer reserve but as he was in a reserved occupation, he was only called up in 1944. He…
Interview with Jim Copus. One
James Copus grew up in Oxfordshire. He volunteered for aircrew and, after training, became a mid-upper gunner and flew operations with 97 Squadron. He recalls a crash while taxiing to take-off, baling out of his empty Lancaster and how he kept…
Interview with Jim Copus. Two
Jim Copus was born in Watlington and volunteered for the Royal Air Force when he was 18. After training, he flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 97 Squadron from RAF Bourn. On one operation he realised that it was very quiet so, being unable to…
Interview with Jim Penny. One
Jim Penny joined the Air Force in July 1940, aged 18. He recalls his training prior to becoming a Bomber Command Pathfinder pilot for 97 Squadron at RAF Bourn. He explains the crewing up process and details those who were in his crew. He gives…
Interview with Jim Penny. Two
After volunteering for the RAF Jim Penny began his training which also took him to USA. He was present when the announcement of Pearl Harbour was made and all RAF trainees could openly wear their uniforms as the two countries were officially Allies.…
Interview with Jim Wright. One
Jim Wright was born in 1932. He was evacuated from West Ham during the Second World War, along with his mother and two brothers. His father joined the Royal Air Force as an Observer Bomb Aimer with 207 Squadron. His aircraft was shot down over…
Interview with Jim Wright. Two
John Wright was born in 1932. He was evacuated from West Ham during the war, along with his mother and two brothers. His father joined the Royal Air Force as an Observer Bomb Aimer with 207 Squadron. His aircraft was shot down over Switzerland on…
Interview with John Albert Taplin
John volunteered to join the RAF in 1940 wanting to become aircrew as a wireless operator as he had an interest in early radios. While awaiting his aircrew application to be processed he did his initial training at Blackpool and then onto RAF…
Interview with John Cox
John Cox grew up in Lincolnshire and worked in banking before he joined the Royal Air Force. After training as a pilot in the United States, he served as an instructor for almost three years. He flew 20 operations as a pilot with 626 Squadron, from…
Interview with John Firth
John was called up aged 18 and went to Padgate. He comleted a flight mechanics course at RAF Locking, followed by a Maintenance Unit at RAF Colerne. He was posted to a flight engineers’ course at RAF St Athan. John joined up with his crew at RAF…
Interview with John Harrison
John Harrison grew up in Yorkshire and worked in the Civil Service before joining the Royal Air Force aged 18. After training, he flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 106 Squadron from RAF Metheringham before being shot down over Leipzig and…
Interview with John Martin
John Martin was born in June 1922 and lived in London. He always wanted the opportunity to fly and so at the age of 19 volunteered to join the Royal Air Force as an armourer. He was not accepted as he was in a reserved occupation. Eventually he…
Interview with John Usher about Bob Burns
Bob Burns trained as a navigator and was posted to 106 Squadron at RAF Metheringham. His aircraft came under attack from a night fighter and the centrifugal force pinned the crew down and making an escape impossible.
Suddenly the aircraft broke in…
Suddenly the aircraft broke in…
Interview with Joseph Musgrove
Born in York in 1922, Joseph left school at 14 and started work in a chocolate factory and attended two nights of further education per week. In 1936, a fighter aircraft had landed nearby which stimulated his interest in flying which he retained all…
Interview with Kenneth William Trueman
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…
Interview with Laura Hickey
Laura Hickey was living in Tottenham at the outbreak of war and was evacuated to Suffolk. Her brother, Charles Henry Clarke joined the RAF and was shot down, becoming a prisoner of war and enduring the Long March. She tells of her times as an…
Interview with Laurence Sidney Fisher
Laurence Fisher grew up in Peterborough and served in the Home Guard before joining the Royal Air Force. He served as ground personnel before re-mustering as aircrew. He flew operations from Italy before his aircraft was shot down and he became a…