Browse Items (4469 total)
Sort by:
Interview with Sheila Rankine
Sheila Rankine wanted to become a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force but was conscripted to be a munitions factory worker. She worked at Rose's in Gainsborough making the hydro-static fuses for bombs including the Upkeep bouncing bomb. She met…
Interview with Sheila Wilmet
Sheila Wilmet grew up in Liverpool and was fifteen when war was declared. She describes the devastation of bombing in 1941, spending nights in an Anderson shelter, and navigating unexploded bombs during her commute. She volunteered after viewing a…
Interview with Sidney and Una Ellis
Sidney and Una both experienced the effect of the war in Sheffield as a child. When Dunkirk survivors arrived at the nearby Reception Centre Sidney collected many souvenirs such as cap badges and his aunt also took two soldiers in to her home while…
Interview with Sidney James Richards
Sydney James Richards was born in Greenwich, London and was working in a drawing office in the Arsenal before joining the Royal Air Force. He was originally intending to join the Navy but changed his mind as he decided he preferred aircrew. He did…
Interview with Sidney Knott
Sidney Knott was from Leigh on Sea and recalls the day, with invasion apparently imminent, that signs were put up on the local shops advising people that they had to be ready to move within an hour and taking only one suitcase with them. Sidney’s…
Interview with Sidney Lawrence Davis
Laurie Davis trained as a wireless operator and first went to RAF Silverstone where crews were formed. Because of his bright red hair, he was then known as ‘Red’. The crew worked on Wellingtons for a few weeks and then Stirlings at RAF Syerston.…
Interview with Silvana Morganti
Silvana Morganti (b. 1924) recalls the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome, in which she describes the sight of dead people, a destroyed shelter, and children waiting for their dead mothers to return. Silvana also explains that she…
Interview with Silvana Zerbini
Silvana Zerbini (b. 1924) remembers the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome and the concern she had for her husband’s fate. She recalls the attempt to move her grandparents to a safer place out of the capital and remembers American…
Interview with Silvano Scarnicchia
Silvano Scarnicchia (b. 1925) recalls his first assignment as a soldier, when he was posted to an anti-aircraft battery, defending a bridge in Piacenza. He also recalls a lunch with high-ranking German officers and remembers the wartime dessert made…
Interview with Sinclair Nutting
Clair was born in Radisson, Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in December 1940. He flew 45 operations. He enlisted at Saskatoon and trained at Brandon. Guard duty in Saskatoon followed before Calgary for wireless training. He was…
Interview with Sir Fitzroy Augier
Fitzroy ‘Roy’ Augier was born in Saint Lucia. When Roy was ten, his father owned a shop in the main town of Castries. Roy had a good education and, after school, went to work at the Post Office. However, his ambition was to go to university to…
Interview with Speranza Piras
Speranza Piras reminisces about the Alghero bombing on 17 May 1943 and her subsequent life as an evacuee. She describes daily life in wartime; German occupation; anti-aircraft fire; hardships; the black market; and different anecdotes about enlisted…
Interview with Stanley Bradford
Stanley Bradford was working in a Reserved Occupation until he volunteered. The three services were represented but as he approached them in turn the army and navy both rejected him because of his work. The RAF said that since he was in Reserved…
Interview with Stefania Vischi
Stefania Vischi recalls her wartime life in the Monfalcone area and recalls how she spent long hours alone inside a shelter, frightened by explosions and tremors. She contrasts the horror of being at the receiving end of the bombing war and the…
Interview with Stephen Granville Bacon
Stephen joined the Royal Air Force in Kingston upon Hull. He wanted to be a pilot but became a mid-air gunner instead. He started at RAF Dalcross where he trained on Boulton Paul Defiant aircraft and went to 12 Squadron at RAF Wickenby on Lancasters.…
Interview with Stephen Walker
Stephen’s father, Ronald Cecil Walker, was born in Southampton in 1923. On leaving school he worked as a junior clerk with an accountancy firm. In 1941 he joined the Air Training Corps, 424 Squadron, in Southampton and, in December, the Royal Air…
Interview with Stuart Michael Heaton
Michael Heaton grew up in Worcester and was a member of the Air Training Corps. He worked in a bank before joining the Royal Air Force and training as a navigator in Canada. He completed 22 operations as a navigator with 50 Squadron from RAF…
Interview with Stuart Stephenson MBE
Stuart was five when war broke out and recounts some of his early memories.
In the early 1970s the Lancaster PA474 was flown to RAF Waddington from RAF Henlow ostensibly to be a gate guardian. In 1973 the Lincolnshire Echo announced that it was to…
In the early 1970s the Lancaster PA474 was flown to RAF Waddington from RAF Henlow ostensibly to be a gate guardian. In 1973 the Lincolnshire Echo announced that it was 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 Susanne Pescott
Susanne Pescott talks about her father, Flight Lieutenant Harold Arthur Lawson DFC, who worked as an engineer before joining the RAF in 1941, where he served as a navigator. After completing his training, he was posted to RAF Rufforth and from there…
Interview with Syd Grimes
Sydney Grimes grew up near Southend and joined the RAF as a wireless operator in 1940. He flew a total of 41 operations - 24 with 106 Squadron and 17 with 617 Squadron. He then served on 9 Squadron at RAF Bardney for 2 months and, subsequently, with…
Interview with Syd Marshall
Sidney Marshall grew up in Lincolnshire and worked as an agricultural engineer. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force aged 18 and trained as a flight engineer. On his first operation to Duisburg one of his Lancaster's engines was hit by shrapnel and…
Interview with Sydney Smith
Sydney’s father died when she was a baby. Her mother remarried and had another daughter and son. The son became ground crew in the Royal Air Force.
Sydney lived a few miles from London and attended Byron Court School in Webley. She was five when…
Sydney lived a few miles from London and attended Byron Court School in Webley. She was five when…
Interview with Taff Owen
Aneurin ‘Taff’ Owen was born neat Dolgellau, near Penmaenpool in Wales, and joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 18 in 1942. Taff was a farmer’s son and as such was put into a reserved occupation, so some of the areas of the Royal Air Force…