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In remembrance of S/Ldr Kenneth George Bickers DFC (Age 21)
Squadron Leader George Bickers was brought up in a working class family in Southampton during the 1930’s, attended Bitterne Park Boys School and joined the Royal Artillery where he was promoted to Corporal, having taken control of a searchlight…
Interview with Alexander Elliott Jenkins
Alex was fostered by the cricketer Bill Woodfull and studied at Melbourne University. He had to go from Somers to defend his decision to join up in 1942. He trained at Benalla and converted onto Wirraways at Deniliquin where he qualified as a pilot.…
Interview with Andrew Carswell
Andrew Carswell volunteered for the Royal Canadian Air Force in his native Toronto. He trained as a pilot and on arrival in the UK and completion of his further training he was posted to 9 Squadron. His first operation was to Berlin. On their final…
Interview with Arthur Sidney Woolf
Arthur Woolf was working in an office before he volunteered for the RAF. He was keen on flying and would cycle to Castle Bromwich airfield to watch the aircraft. He was accepted for aircrew training and became a wireless operator. After joining a…
Interview with Betty Bascombe
Betty grew up in Cardiff and worked in the Royal Ordinance factory. Her first husband, Ron joined the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. She talks about receiving the telegram, stating that Ron was missing and later finding out that he had been…
Interview with Carolyn Pritchard
Carolyns father, Arthur, joined the Royal Air Force on his 18th birthday. Following his training as a flight engineer, was posted to RAF Winthorpe. He was allocated to a crew consisting entirely of Australians. In February 1944 the crew were posted…
Interview with Charles Baron
Charles Baron grew up in London and volunteered for aircrew in 1940. He trained as a navigator and on radar. He later volunteered for overseas duties and was posted to India where he flew intruder operations over Burma. After the war he worked…
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 Darwin Evans
Darwin Evans volunteered for aircrew in 1940 and began training as a navigator. After an accident while training at RAF Bobbington (later RAF Halfpenny Green) ended his operational flying duties, he retrained as a compass adjuster at RAF Cranage and…
Interview with Dennis Kirk. One
Dennis Kirk was born in 1920, in the village of Barkestone in Nottinghamshire, to farming parents. He says that he did not want to be a farmer but when he left school he had to work on the farm. When the war started he wanted to join up but, because…
Interview with Dennis Kirk. Two
Dennis Kirk was born in Barkston 1920, and lived on a farm near Plungar. He recalls when the war started, the War Executive Committee told farmers what to produce; he also talks about the Land Army. Being in a reserved occupation, he joined the Home…
Interview with Elizabeth Anne Tyler
Elizabeth Anne Tyler talks about her family’s farmland, its history and when it was purchased by the Air Force for the construction of RAF North Luffenham. Mentions various episodes of wartime life around Edith Weston, as reported by family members…
Interview with Evelyn Paine
Two of Evelyn Paine’s three brothers joined the RAF. She discusses the service of her brothers Philip Jenkinson and Peter Raeburn Jenkinson. Philip Jenkinson trained as an air gunner. He was was shot down on his tenth operation and after evading…
Interview with Francis Shamus "Jim" Cahir
Jim Cahir grew up in Australia. He originally joined the army but later was transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force. He flew operations as a mid upper gunner with 466 Squadron. His aircraft was shot down and he became a prisoner of war. after…
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 Geoffrey Conacher
Geoffrey Conacher grew up in Australia and after a few months in the army he joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942. After training he flew 14 operations as a pilot with 622 Squadron. His aircraft was shot down and he bailed out over liberated…
Interview with George Eric Cromarty
Mr Cromarty joined the Royal Air Force as an AC2 and served as ground personnel before training as an air gunner. He flew operations as the rear gunner with 630 Squadron from RAF East Kirby. He discusses what operations and life on a station were…
Interview with George Hextell
George Hextell joined the RAF as a flight engineer and flew operations with 51 Squadron on Halifaxes. After being shot down over Holland, he became a prisoner of war. Gives a detailed account of how his capture, imprisonment and liberation. Describes…
Interview with George Thomson. Two
George Thomson was a navigator with 15 Squadron based at RAF Mildenhall. On their nineteenth operation they came under attack and had to bale out of the aircraft. The pilot and mid-upper gunner both died. When he landed he saw a parachute stuck in a…
Interview with Gilberto Martina
Gilberto Martina reminisces his childhood in Chiusaforte and in the Canal del Ferro area: disrupted schooling, fear of Germans, subsistence farming, saboteurs, and one of his mates being killed by a bomb found in a pile of litter. Stressed how the…
Interview with Harry Irons. Two
Harry was under age when he joined the RAF in 1940 after witnessing bombing in London. He went to Blackpool in August 1941 and became a rear gunner. Gunnery school for six weeks at RAF Manby followed, and Harry joined 9 Squadron at RAF Waddington. He…
Interview with Harvey Hayward Bawden
Harvey Bawden, from Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, volunteered for the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942 at the age of eighteen. After initial training school and assessment as an air gunner, he was shipped to England via the United States. After…
Interview with Henry Leslie Shackleton
Henry Shackleton listened to Chamberlain’s speech on the radio and hoped to be a Spitfire pilot. He began his training and was selected as a flying instructor and was posted to Canada. On his return to the UK he was posted to his operational…
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…
Interview with James Wright
Jim was a civil servant before joining the Royal Air Force in May 1941. He carried out two tours on 61, 630 and 97 Squadrons. Although he wanted to be a pilot, there was a shortage of navigators. He was called up to Regents Park and then posted to…