Browse Items (18 total)

  • Tags: RAF Dalcross
  • Type is exactly "Sound"

AGoodallOR190510.mp3
Oscar was born in Australia. His father was a machine gunner, was wounded seven times and died from his wounds two months before Oscar was born. This experience influenced him to join the Royal Air Force. As an Air Cadet Corps member, he went to the…

ASwainsDNJ170123.mp3
In 1936, Dennis went to Dr Challoner’s Grammar School in Amersham, where an Air Training Corps was formed. Aged 17, he got a job with the North British and Mercantile Insurance company. He visited RAF Halton with the Air Training Corps each Sunday,…

PNeechPRR1601.jpg
Peter was born on the 7 January 1925, in West Hampstead, London. He worked in a jewellers in Hammersmith and left his job to join the air cadets at RAF Hendon from 1941 to 1943. On his 18th birthday, he joined the RAF to begin training as an air…

PWilliamsAE1510.jpg
Arthur Emlyn Williams was working as a pump operator at the mines, before he volunteered for the RAF. His mother hid his first recruitment letter. He trained at Lord’s Cricket Ground, and Number 2 Air-Gunnery school at RAF Inverness, on Ansons. He…

PNeechPRR1601.jpg
Peter was born in London and recalls his home suffering bomb damage during the war. He served in the Air Training Corps until joining the Royal Air Force in 1943. After reporting to the Aircrew Reception Centre at St John’s Wood, he spent a few…

PLarardFN1502.jpg
After being called up, Larry was assessed as pilot, navigator, bomb aimer but changed to rear gunner, to avoid the delay in pilot training. He was trained at RAF Dalcross on Wellingtons before moving to RAF Lindholme to convert to the Halifax and…

PIbbotsonJ1601.jpg
Jim Ibbotson grew up in Sheffield and recalls the city being blitz bombed. He joined the Air Training Corps and volunteered for the RAF when he was 18. He was called up in March 1943 and trained to become either a pilot, navigator or bomb aimer. He…

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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…

PJohnsonKA1507.jpg
Ken Johnson was born in Doncaster. At the start of the war the family was living in Sheffield but his father decided to move the family back to Doncaster, to avoid bombing. Ken started work as a joiner and later made cables for barrage balloons.…

PJohnsonKA1507.jpg
Kenneth Alfred Johnson joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 19, after being in a reserved occupation making barrage balloon cables. He trained as an air gunner, serving as a mid-upper gunner. He spent time at the Operational Training Unit, flying…

ADobleRG151117.mp3
Ron Doble grew up in London and joined the Air Training Corps and the fire watchers, when war was declared. He volunteered for the Air Force when he was 18 and trained as an air gunner. He talks about the conditions in his turret and the mishaps he…

ABaileyHH160501.mp3
Bill Bailey was born in Stafford. After finishing school, he went to work for the Post Office Telephones service as a telegram boy. He decided to join the Royal Air Force and began training as a rear gunner at RAF Dalcross. He joined 31 Squadron of…

PJamesDWK1701.jpg
Douglas (Jim) James was born in India and returned to England when he was nine. After leaving school, he joined the RAF as an air gunner, forging his father’s signature on the application. Jim carried out 29 operations with 460 Squadron, flying in…

PCromartyGE1601.jpg
George 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…

PBrownJ1721.jpg
Jeff left school at 15 and became an electrician. Being keen on aircraft he joined the Air Training Corps and volunteered for the RAF when aged 17 to prevent him being randomly sent into the mining industry. Deferred until he was 18, he was initially…

PBaconSG1601.jpg
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.…
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