Browse Items (4441 total)
Sort by:
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Part 5
Buildings are engulfed in flames and a mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke and fire starts to expand over the town. Mass devastation is visible.
Inscriptions read “314” signed by the author; caption reads “(5)…E finalmente la sommità si aprì…
Inscriptions read “314” signed by the author; caption reads “(5)…E finalmente la sommità si aprì…
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Part 6
A mushroom cloud is prominent in the top of the painting with a smaller cloud lower down on a pillar of flame. Below that is a scene of mass devastation.
Inscriptions read “315” signed by the author; caption reads “(6)… Poi la testa del…
Inscriptions read “315” signed by the author; caption reads “(6)… Poi la testa del…
The Eder, Möhne and Sorpe operation
A Lancaster flies over the explosion of an Upkeep bouncing bomb against a dam. A second aircraft has been hit by anti-aircraft fire and is plunging towards the water, engulfed in flames and smoke. A third Lancaster is visible on the right with a bomb…
Interview with David Brewster
David Brewster grew up in Alford, and has memories of watching the Luftwaffe bombing convoys at sea, a dog fight and watching bombers take off from RAF Strubby and RAF East Kirkby.
Interview with Eric Brown
Eric left school at 14 and worked in a bakery and then in accountancy. Aged 17 he volunteered for aircrew and trained as a flight engineer. He became a pathfinder and carried out operations to Hamburg, Karlsruhe, and Dortmund, flying from RAF…
Interview with William Bullock
William Bullock was born in Marshfield in Gloucestershire in September 1916 and joined the Royal Air Force as an apprentice in 1932. He was posted to Egypt for training - after serving in the Middle East he joined Bomber Command as an engineer. After…
Interview with George Holmes
George was born in Mansfield and was bought up by his Grandparents until he was seven when he moved back to his parents in Leicester where his Father ran a coffee shop. He was a semi-professional musician playing violin, trumpet and mandolin. He…
Interview with Margaret Ottaway
Margaret Ottaway lived in Louth, the sixth of seven children, and tells of her childhood there. Tells of an air raid shelter they had in the house. Witnessed, as a seven year old, an enemy air raid on 19 February 1941, which caused damage and…
Interview with Elsie Davis
Elsie Davis was raised in Balham by her mother after her father died when she was a child. She worked in a factory and then at the start of the war she went to work on the buses as a conductress because it was a Reserved Occupation. She witnessed…
Interview with Harry Inkpen
Harry Inkpen joined Bomber Command in November 1944 and flew 33 operations on Mosquitoes as a pilot on 162 Squadron. Harry tells of how, in his view, his squadron suffered more losses due to bad weather conditions than encounters with the enemy. He…
Charles Martin Allen by Mrs Anne Phillips
A brief biography of Charlie written by his niece, Anne. Charlie was an air gunner on Bob's crew.
Interview with Alun Emlyn-Jones
Alun Emlyn-Jones (known as Grem among his RAF colleagues) was raised in Cardiff and attended boarding schools in Oxfordshire. He worked manufacturing office supplies when he volunteered to serve in Bomber Command, hoping to avoid being called up to…
Interview with Susan Jones
Sue Jones was born in Manchester. When the mill where she worked closed at the beginning of the war, she went to work for Avro. She worked on Ansons, Manchesters and then Lancasters. She describes the camaraderie on the factory floor. She also found…
Interview with Edith Taylor
Edith Taylor (née Tate) grew up in Manchester and experienced the bombing of Manchester. When the war started, Edith, her mother and two siblings, were evacuated to Leek. Edith was separated from Dorothy and her mother. Billy and Edith had two…
Interview with Eric Varney
Eric Varney completed 28 operations as a mid upper gunner with 207 Squadron from RAF Spilsby. After the war Eric worked as a bus driver, coal miner, long distance lorry driver and coal merchant.
Interview with Frank Tolley
Frank Tolley was born in 1921 in Tipton and left school at fourteen to work as an errand boy for a grocer. He joined the Royal Air Force at nineteen as a ground gunner, and was in at the inception of the Royal Air Force Regiment. After eighteen…
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 Harry Irons. One
Harry Irons left a tailoring apprenticeship to join the Royal Air Force and trained as a wireless operator but actually became an air-gunner. He describes the uniform he wore and the unreliability of heated suits. Discusses the invention of…
Interview with Richard Harrison
Richard Harrison was born in Cologne in 1924 to a German mother and English father. His desire to be aircrew was thwarted initially by a failed medical, something he later surmises could be on account of his mother’s nationality. A member of the…
Interview with Frederick Ball
Frederick Ball grew up in Yorkshire and trained as a motor mechanic, before he joined the RAF in 1939. He completed two tours with 44 and 49 Squadrons, as a wireless operator flying from RAF Waddington and RAF Scampton.
Interview with Bill Spence
Bill Spence was born in Middlesborough. He abandoned his teacher training and joined the Royal Air Force in 1942, becoming a bomb aimer. He completed 36 operations during his time in Bomber Command. Bill tells of his experiences while training in…
Interview with John Harrison
John Harrison grew up in Yorkshire and worked in the Civil Service before joining the Royal Air Force at 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 Bob Lasham
Bob Lasham began an electrical engineering apprenticeship with British Thomson-Houston before volunteering for the RAF in 1941, aged 20. He trained at Babbacombe and Wilmslow before continuing to Clewiston, Florida, to complete his training as a…
Interview with Frank Leatherdale
Frank was an aircraft spotter for the Local Defence Volunteers and volunteered to join the Royal Air Force as a pilot. He went to Calgary in Canada on the Empire Air Training Scheme, where he few Tiger Moths at the Elementary Training School. He…
Interview with Len McNamara
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…