She was selected for wireless training and trained at RAF Compton Bassett and Blackpool, where she used to go dancing. As a wireless operator Sylvia was posted to RAF Bottesford and then RAF Waddington, working shifts in the Air Traffic Control tower. She also had to check the aircraft radios.
Sylvia's accommodation hut had ten beds and on many evenings, she was able to get a lift home to Mansfield and back with a contractor. At RAF Waddington, she met and fell in love with Harold, a bomb aimer and says it was hard to watch him depart on operations. But he survived and they married when the war ended and they had two daughters.
In 1947 the family moved to Scotland for three years but Sylvia found it very lonely so Harold transferred to Mansfield.
Harold's flight engineer emigrated to North America after the war and was always suggesting they do the same. Sylvia's daughters both went first and then, when Harold retired, he and Sylvia went to California
Sylvia says they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in New Zealand and then recalls how she had spent her honeymoon on a train to Glasgow with two army men, before travelling all the way down to Portsmouth, where she became absent without leave. Worried that she might be imprisoned, she returned to RAF Waddington where her WAAF commanding officer took sympathy on her.]]>
Annie Moody]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Schulze]]> Andy Fitter]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Gloucestershire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Wiltshire]]> England--Mansfield]]> Scotland]]> Scotland--Loch Lomond]]> United States]]> California]]> California--San Diego]]> California--Simi Valley]]> 1942]]> 1945-12-04]]> 1946]]> 1947]]>
Sheila Bibb]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Second generation]]> Germany]]> Germany--Wassenberg]]> Cyprus]]> 1951]]> 1952]]> 1953]]> Harry Bartlett]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Air Force. Coastal Command]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Gibraltar]]> Singapore]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Rutland]]> Germany--Dresden]]> 1941]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> 1947]]> 1948]]> 1949]]> 1952]]> 1956]]> 1963]]> David Kavanagh]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Schulze]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1944]]> 1945-06]]> Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Andy Shaw]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Navy]]> Egypt]]> Great Britain]]> North Africa]]> England--Buckinghamshire]]> England--High Wycombe]]> England--Portsmouth]]> England--Wiltshire]]> Egypt--Cairo]]> England--Hampshire]]> 1940]]> 1942]]> 1945]]> In October 1944 Jack was posted to 189 Squadron at RAF Fulbeck. His first three trips were aborted. He carried out 24 operations and two semi-operational trips (leaflets dropping and a diversion to confuse German radar). Several operations were to railway marshalling yards in Germany. He also describes an operation to Gdynia in Poland and the Dresden operation and its rationale.
Jack discusses the main duties of the wireless operator, his experience of ‘scarecrows’ and the difficulty of flying at night in close proximity to other aircraft.
When the war ended, Jack became warrant officer and was stationed at RAF Woodbridge, working on flying control tower signals. He left the RAF in April 1946 and returned to his job as trainee chartered accountant.]]>
David Kavanagh]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> Iraq]]> England--Blackpool]]> England--Buckinghamshire]]> England--Herefordshire]]> England--Lancashire]]> England--Northamptonshire]]> England--Warwickshire]]> England--Wiltshire]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> England--Suffolk]]> Germany]]> Poland]]> Poland--Gdynia]]> 1944-10]]> 1945-02]]> 1940-09]]> 1943-12]]> 1946-03]]>
His first operation was minelaying in the Baltic and he recalls standing in the astrodome to warn of enemy fighters. On other operations he would sit in the front turret and occasionally fire at enemy fighters, without success. Further minelaying operations were carried out and on his eighth, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and diverted to a US Army Air Force airfield where he stocked up on goodies, unavailable in England from the base exchange store.
On the 22 September 1943 he took part to an operation to Hanover and describes the night fighter tactics in detail. Following lengthy evasive action his aircraft was forced down to 5,000 feet where it was hit by by anti-aircraft fire and he was forced to bail out over Emden where he was caught by a member of the Luftwaffe who was visiting his girlfriend. After initial interrogation he was sent to the interrogation centre at Dalag Luft and after a two day train journey arrived at Stalag 5 prisoner of war camp.
On July 1944 the encroaching Russian army forced the evacuation of the camp and he was moved to the unfinished Luft 4 camp and remembers the bullying guards and poor conditions. Again in February 1945 the camp was evacuated and after crossing the River Oder in barges marched across northern Germany. After two months he arrived at Lübeck and escaped the column, narrowly missing being captured by German soldiers by conversing in French. Finding an allied airfield he was repatriated to England where he was treated as a hero.
After recuperation he attended a code and cipher course and was offered a commission if he would go to the middle-east. Wanting to get married he declined and wangled his way to 24 Squadron at RAF Hendon, were he was eventually demobbed in July 1946. ]]>
Annie Moody]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Terry Holmes]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> United States Army Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Gloucestershire]]> England--Herefordshire]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Suffolk]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--London]]> Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea]]> Germany--Hannover]]> Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)]]> Germany]]> Europe--Oder River]]> Germany--Lübeck]]> Poland]]> Poland--Tychowo]]> Lithuania]]> Lithuania--Šilutė]]> 1936]]> 1939]]> 1940]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> 1943-09-22]]> 1944-07]]> 1945-02]]> 1946-07]]>
Dan Ellin]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Linda Saunders]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Staffordshire]]> England--Wiltshire]]> Scotland--Aberdeenshire]]> 1944]]>

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Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Hugh Donnelly]]> Pending review]]> Pending OH summary]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> France]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Greece]]> Netherlands]]> Norway]]> South Africa]]> England--Essex]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Kent]]> South Africa--Makhanda]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]>
Mike Connock]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Carmel Dammes]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Wales]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Somerset]]> Germany--Stuttgart]]> Wales--Bridgend]]> Sue Johnstone]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Hugh Donnelly]]> Richard James]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> England--Rutland]]> 1940]]> 1943]]> 1945]]> Liz describes her work on the switchboard, the shifts and accommodation, as well as her social life. Her highlights were the Australians at RAF Waddington and the film unit operating from there.
After pressure from her father, Liz had to leave in May 1946, and went on to have a successful and varied career.
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Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Dawn Studd]]> Cathie Hewitt]]> Sally Coulter]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]>