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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2559/43577/SLambertBrownP19330417v10003.1.pdf
ffc1125b58cb57991dbec86e6204283b
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Title
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Lambert-Brown, Peter
P Lambert-Brown
Description
An account of the resource
12 items. The collection concerns Peter Lambert-Brown (b. 1933 Royal Navy). A collection of documents compiled for the Admiralty detailing the bombing of the Royal Navy Dockyards in Malta. The collection covers the siege of Malta and includes the various vessels and docks that were damaged, and the repairs that were undertaken carried out.
The collection was donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Jacqueline Sherman and catalogued by Benjamin Turner.
Date
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2023-05-12
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IBCC Digital Archive
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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LambertBrown, P
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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[underlined] APPENDIX I [/underlined]
[underlined] MALTA DOKYARD- PERIOD OF SIEGE 1940-1943 [/underlined]
During the first 9 months of the war nothing unusual took place at Malta xcept [sic] the withdrawal of the Fleet to Alexandria and the Levant.
2. When Italy entered the war, however, Malta became a very accessible target, situated only some 60-70 miles from Sicily, and during the greater part of the next 3 years the Maltese Islands were surrounded on all sides by enemy occupied territories.
3. Air Raids commenced at daybreak on the day on which Italy entered the war- 11th June 1940 – and continued intermittently for over 3 years, the Aerodromes, Dockyard and Harbours being the principal targets. ( [underlined] NOTE [/underlined] : There were 3328 raids, 1106 of which were at night)
4. These attacks reached their peak during the first half of 1942. Their strength and frequency then gradually diminished with the success of the Allied Arms in North Africa, and had ceased altogether by October 1943 after the surrender of Italy.
5. During this period the Dockyard establishments, maintained their constant effort to keep H.M. ships in service dealing with damage repairs, defeats, fuelling, storing, equipping and generally servicing as required the ships of operating forces, convoys and their escorts.
6. As many skilled workmen as would volunteer transferred to Alexandria to man up the dockyard there and for other eases in the Eastern Mediterranean. Technical and Clerical Staff were also transferred for the same purpose.
7. The Dockyard also did a considerable amount of work for the other Services in Malta. Repairs to vessels, plant and machinery and manufacture of many thousands of articles, fittings and spare parts which were either not obtainable from the United Kingdom, or if shipped failed to arrive.
8. The Dockyard machines were adapted with considerable ingenuity for these purposes which in many cases were completely different from their normal functions.
9. In addition to the above, services performed for the Civil Government, included conversion of machinery at the Generating Station and the Breweries to oil-fuel burning, and provision of expert advice and assistance for the following vitally important services:
Flour Mills
Generating Station
Shelter Construction Department
Organisation for Co-Ordination of Supplies (C.O. SUP: )
10. Numbers of workmen were loaned to the other services as necessary for various urgent requirement. For example :-
(a) Servicing aircraft until such times as the necessary ground-staff could be obtained.
(b) Clearance and restoration work at the aerodromes, often under conditions of hardship and much danger.
(c) Skilled work at R.E.M.E Workshops etc.
11. [underlined] DOCKYARD ACTIVE DEFENCE ORGANISATIONS [/underlined]
[underlined] DOCKYARD DEFENCE BATTERY [/underlined]
In September 1939 the Dockyard Defence Battery (30 th L. A. A. Battery R. M. A (T) ) WAS formed from amongst the Dockyard Officers and Workmen for the purpose of manning the Anti-Aircraft guns allocated to defend H.M. Dockyard from attack by low flying aircraft.
12. The Battery ….
[page break]
12. The Battery attained a strength of some 15 officers and 412 O. R’s, showed a fine fighting spirit and did excellent work throughout the period of air attacks on Malta. Its success [deleted] are [/deleted] [inserted] is [/inserted] evidenced by the number of honours given to its members: -
[underlined] O. B. E. [/underlined] – Major L. B. Bolton, Officer Commanding
[underlined} M. C. [/underlined] – Lieutenant F.W. Angle
[underlined] M. C. [/underlined] – Major L. T. H Cooks R. A. (O.C)
[underlined] M.M. [/underlined] – Sergeant L. Atap
[underlined] M.M. [/underlined] – Sergeant H. Andrews
[underlined] M.M. [/underlined] – Bombardier G. Balzan
[underlined] Mention in Despatches. [/underlined] – L/Bombardier M. Castles
[underlined] Commendations by H. [deleted] indecipherable [/deleted] [inserted] E [/inserted] the Governor for gallant conduct. [/underlined]
L/Sergeant R. Vella
L/Bombardier S. Cacciottolo
Gunner W. Atkins
Gunner C. Zammit (1)
Gunner A. Pool
Gunner L. O’Toole
Gunner Zammit (2)
Gunner V. Sultana
Gunner P. Mangion
Gunner G. Tabone
13. With the exception of a few men who rejoined the battery on a regular enlistment, all the Officers and men were returned to their normal Dockyard employment in July 1942.
14. [underlined] ANTI-PARACHUTIST COMPANY (“PARASHOTS”) [/underlined]
In May 1940 a Company was formed from amongst the English Officers and Agreement Workmen, with the Captain of the Dockyard ad Commandant for the defence of the Dockyard against attack by airborne troops. All members were trained in the use of the rifle and organised in platoons conforming to the A. R. P. sectional organisation.
15. [underlined] DOCKYARD GUARD [/underlined]
In June 1941, consequent on the stationing of a detachment of troops in the Dockyard, the “PARASHOTS” were disbanded and a new corps, called the Dockyard Guard was organised, composed of all fit Agreement Workmen (in fulfilment of their Agreements) and a number of Dockyard Officers who volunteered for this service.
16. The Duty of this Force was to co-operate with the troops in the defence of the Dockyard, and all members underwent a course of training to equip them to carry out their role efficiently. They formed a reserve available to reinforce the troops in emergency, and when fully trained could be employed in the important duty of providing guards for vital points in the Dockyard as the circumstances might require. ( [underlined] NOTE: [/underlined] In this connection it is interesting to note that according to local records there was a Malta Dockyard Battalion of Artillery in 1852-1855, and it is believed that clause 7 of the agreement for service at H.M. Naval Yards abroad was introduced then owing to the refusal of a workman to undergo training. The formation of the Dockyard Guard in 1941 was the first occasion, since that period, of implementing the defence clause in the English Workmen’s Agreements by the formation of such a corps.)
17. [underlined] CONDITONS DURING BOMBING PERIOD [/underlined]
Meanwhile it was vitally necessary to excavate rock shelters for the protection of personnel and important plant, and to get as many workshops and offices as practicable sited underground as quickly as possible. This work was pressed forward with the limited labour available for the purpose.
18. Many of the….
[page break]
18. Many of the families of Naval and Civilian personnel from the United Kingdom were evacuated in 1939 and early 1940 to the Near East, South Africa and United Kingdom. A large number of families still remained in Malta, and took up residence, some 5 miles away from the Dockyard, at the St. George’s Barracks which were allocated by the Army Authorities for this purpose. There they were able to organise Messes [deleted] s [/deleted] , and although there were no rock-shelters but only slit trenches they and their men folk were able to feel some degree of confidence in that they were away from the main targets of the enemy.
19. It was not until April 1942 that the enemy concentrated air attacks on these barracks, which were then very severely damaged and had to be evacuated.
20. It had been necessary from the start to provide living accommodation in the Dockyard for staff required for A. R. P. and Fire Services , and for emergency work. As the enemy attacks increased, the bulk of the population of the Three Cities were evacuated to more distant places in the Island. This resulted in the withdrawal of the shopping and domestic services which were necessary to enable staff to live in these towns, and accommodation had to be improvised in the Dockyard for the majority of the Officers and Agreement Workmen. Emergency Messes were formed, but the conditions under which the Officers and Men had to live were not only devoid of comfort, convenience and means of recreation but positively unhealthy due to the damp.
21. The local workmen were now dispersed to living centres away from the Dockyard but means of transport for them were reduced to a minimum owing to general shortage of petrol, loss of supplies and loss of vehicles by enemy action. The daily journeys of the workmen between their homes and the Dockyard had to be made on foot for the most part, and were arduous journeys and full of uncertainties. As enemy action might at any time have resulted in some thousands of men being unable to leave the Yard, perhaps for some days, [deleted] and [/deleted] preparations to meet such a situation were organised and emergency food dumps prepared in suitable positions with the co-operation of the Civil Government.
22. On 23rd February 1942, owing to the shortage of petrol and need for economy in transport, a 5 day working week was adopted throughout the Island. To conform with this the Dockyard working hours became 9 1/2 hours daily, Monday to Thursday inclusive, and 9 hours on Fridays and this arrangement worked very smoothly. The establishments reverted to the normal 6 day working week on 1st November 1943.
23. After each bombing raid prompt action was taken to clear debris and fill craters, so as to keep the roadways and wharves as clear as possible to allow of the passage of the fire engines and other vital traffic.
Electric Light, power and telephone cables were broken and the installations put out of action time after time. These vitally important services however were always restored in a short space of time.
24. The water and gas services were put out of action early in 1941. Improvis [sic] [indecipherable arrangements for supply of water throughout the Dockyard were organised by means of water-carts and tanks placed in shelter under rock as far as possible.
25. The town of Senglea was completely isolated except b passing through the Dockyard, and was completely deprived of water supply. A tank vessel from Victuall [sic] Yard was placed alongside Senglea Marin [deleted] e [/deleted] [inserted] a [/inserted] to keep the remaining inhabitants supplie [inserted] d [/inserted] with water.
26. As much undamaged machinery as could be so dealt with was transferred [inserted] under [/inserted] rock shelter. Damaged machinery was rescued and brought into use again either [inserted] under [/inserted] rock shelter or in its original position [deleted] . [/deleted] [inserted] , [/inserted] [deleted] T[/deleted] [inserted] t [/inserted] he damaged shops being patched up [inserted] to [/inserted] provide the necessary protection from the weather.
27. Aggregations of large parties of personnel in the open or in exposed buildings were to be avoided. The Muster and Pay Stations had been demolished by enemy action, and lost muster-tickets could not be replaced. Ordinary mustering [inserted] was [/inserted] therefore impracticable and alternative arrangements were introduced. Payment of wages was made under rock shelter, but even so, currency notes were sometimes scattered by bomb blast.
28. The cumulative…..
[page break]
28. The cumulative effect of the damage mounted rapidly with the increasing force of the raids. Docks were put out of use, cranes and machinery throughout the Yard were destroyed or rendered useless, tugs, lighters and boats were sunk, workshops demolished, and stores and storehouses destroyed.
29. In order to maintain effective working, the Dockyard developed methods by which work usually done by machines, was done by hand. Though slow in operation, this meant that effective functioning was still maintained.
30.[underlined] EFFECTS OF DAMAGE [/underlined]
The air attacks on Malta reached their peak in April 1942 during which month there were no less than 283 raids.
31. The situation then was as follows: -
(a) All docks out of action. The only one capable of being used in the near future was No. 1, provided masonry could be repaired satisfactorily and if power supply to the pumping station could be kept in repair.
(b) The whole electrical distribution system, including underground and overhead lines for power, lighting and telephones had been repeatedly and severely damaged. Limited electric supplies were restored intermittently in the Nos: 4 and 5 Docks area round No. 1 Dock. Power could only be supplied with any reliability to the following, which were underground: -
M. C. D’s Small Ship Fitters’ Shop and Hand Benches
M. E. D’ s Optical Instrument Repair Shop, Tool Room, Coppersmiths’ Shop and Foundry
(c) No. 1 Ship Fitting Shop was severely damaged and completely out of action, and machines were being transferred to the first chamber of the underground shop, the incomplete excavation work being suspended for the purpose. Excavation of the second chamber was commenced.
(d) A limited amount of joinery and smiths’ work could be undertaken by hand.
(e) Pending extensive repairs to air mains, compressed air supply was dependent upon portable compressors loaned from salvage plant and by Civil Government, about 5 compressors being serviceable at any one time.
(f) Electrical Engineering work was limited by lack of material rather than damage. The damaged workshops were in process of moving into prepared sites underground or into such excavations as could receive them for the time being.
(g) Most of the Naval Stores were under masses of debris. Both diesel fuel lighters were sunk, and R. F. A. ‘BOXOL’ and two furnace fuel lighters damaged.
(h) Three tugs and one mooring vessel had been sunk, leaving only one tug and one mooring vessel available. The tug was undergoing extensive machinery repairs.
Many boats and lighters had been destroyed and many severely damaged. There were some 34 wrecks in the docks and harbours, besides remains of various lighters and small craft.
(i) The Victualling Yard and other adjacent establishments were without light, power and telephones, the cable routes and distribution having been damaged in far more places than it had been possible to cope with.
(j) The Armament Depot was without power and light, and all hydraulic cranes were out of action. A few hand cranes were expected to be useable when the wharf could be cleared, but all railway lines were broken. All of the workshops were demolished and all the above-ground stores and laboratory rooms damaged. Some gun and mine spares were recoverable. Half of the lighters had been sunk.
(k) The greater
[page break]
(k) The greater part of the Yard area was pitted with orators and strewn with debris, which in many places was of a massive nature and tangled with girders. Frequent air raids still continued to do damage.
32. [underlined] RECUPERATION [/underlined]
At the end of July the situation was as follows: -
[underlined] Docks [/underlined]-
No. 1- In full use, with power supply and welding facilities.
No. 2)- Repairs to caissons well in hand and pumping serviceable.
No. 3)
No.4- Out of Use.
No. 5- Preparations in hand for an attempt to repair the breach in dock walls. One pump serviceable.
[underlined] Power Light Telephones [/underlined] –
Restoration proceeding satisfactorily. Cables being led through excavated rock passages to minimise future risk of damage. Limited supplies of power and light restored to adjacent establishments but no E. H. T supplies yet possible.
[underlined] Shops & Plant [/underlined] –
Many motors for driving machine tools repaired and others in hand. Sufficient machines in operation to meet current requirements.
Compressed air available in No. 4 and 5 Docks and Factory area, and being extended to No. 1 Dock.
Eight fixed and travelling cranes restored and operating.
[underlined] In full working [/underlined] :-
Underground Compressor and Oxygen Plant
Underground Tool Room
Underground Gunmounting [sic] Shop
Underground Fitting Shop
Tube Shop
Welding Tube Shop
Temporary Smithery
Main Electrical Shop (Underground)
Extempore electrical workshops for mains, and telephones.
[underlined] Working with limited output [/underlined] :-
No. 1 Ship Fitting Shop
No. 3 Ship Fitting Shop (Underground)
Joiner’s Shop (extempore)
Foundry (Underground)
Coppersmiths’ Shop (Underground)
Boiler Shop
Saw Mills
Drawing Office- M. E. D. (Underground)
[underlined] Stores & Fuelling [/underlined] –
Recovery of Naval Stores proceeding. ‘BOXOL’ and two barges repaired and one of the barges reserved for diesel.
[underlined] Armament Depot [/underlined] –
Light restored, also limited 440 volt D.C. power. One 2 ton derrick and two 1 1/2 ton hand cranes operable.
Road and single rail facilities restored.
All workshops functioning by hand in improvised accommodation. No machines working.
Above ground stores and laboratory in partial use.
Recovery of buried material progressing.
18 lighters in service.
33. On 1st August 1942 the following signal was addressed to the Admiral Superintendent by the Vice-Admiral, Malta : -
“The recuperative power of the Dockyard, and steady progress are most satisfying.
“You and all others are concerned deserve high praise for what has been accomplished
“in so short a time. Please convey my congratulations to all. “ (T. O. O. 1129)
34. At this…….
[page break]
34. At this period the further restoration of the electrical system was hampered by shortage of cable and other materials. In the case of the telephone lines, undamaged lengths of cable were recovered from other routes and used for the repair of the most important lines.
35. Repairs to buildings were rendered difficult owing to shortage of materials and the slowness of removal of spoil from underground excavations, this being handicapped by lack of fuel.
36. The next 5 months showed a steady increasing rate of progress towards normal working capacity, in spite of the continual air raids, shortage of supplies and plant, and the demands on the Yard arising out of the development of Allied Operations for the liberation of North Africa, Sicily and Italy.
37. The great anxiety now was the shortage of food supplies in the Island. The August convoy brought partial relief and supplies were carefully husbanded, but by October the outlook had become very grave.
38. Civilian rations had been reduced until there was scarcely anything beyond a small ration of very poor quality bread and a very insufficient amount of corned beef. The arrival of the famous November convoy towards the end f November 1942, brought the much needed relief just in the nick of time, and removed what threatened to become the main weakness of the Island’s defences.
39. The situation at the end of December 1942 was as follows :-
[underlined] Docks [/underlined]
No.1 – In full working
No.2- In use for small craft. Wreck of ‘LANCE’ had been floated and redocked on 29th October and undocked 12th December. Dock then occupied by Caisson of No. 3 Dock for repairs. Power and welding facilities available.
No. 3- In use as a wet berth for small craft only as wrecks outside preclude [inserted] d [/inserted] entry of anything larger than a trawler. Expected to be available with power and welding facilities about end of March.
No. 4- Repairs to Caisson and face of groove in hand. Expected to pump out mid January and commence work on wreck of ‘KINGSTON’ .
No. 5- Repairs to masonry well advanced. Expected to pump out about 26th January.
[underlined] Electricity and Telephones [/underlined]
Restoration progressing satisfactorily to meet all requirements. Supplies of power to Armament Depot and Rinella not yet restored owing to lack of material.
[underlined] Compressed Air [/underlined]
Leads extended to No. 1 Dock via Cospicua, Store Wharf, Church Tunnel and M.C.D’s Fitting Shop. All M. E. D’s underground shops supplied and work in hand to supply to Boat House, Canteen Parlatorio Wharves.
[underlined] Workshops- Percentage of normal capacity [/underlined]
[underlined] C.D. Dept. [/underlined] –
Sail Loft 50
Rigging House (re-sited) 70
[underlined] Constructive [/underlined]
Smithery 85
Joiners 60
Paint Shop 90
Plumbers 90
Sawmills 40 (steadily improving)
Boat House 60
Welding 90
No. 4 & 5 Dock Shop 60
Destroyers Workshop 90
Ship Fitting Shops 60 (one underground)
Submarine Workshop 20
[underlined]Engineering[/underlined] …….
[page break]
[underlined] Engineering (Aboveground) [/underlined] –
Fitting Shop 40
Foundry 70
Coppersmiths 50
Motor Repair Shop 80
Tool Room Nil
Pattern Shop 75
Yard Machinery Shop 30
Gunmouting 40
Tube Shop 90
Other Boiler Shops 20
Smithery All hand work. Low output. No heavy forgings
[underlined] Engineering (Underground) [/underlined] –
Tool Room & Fitting Shop 100
Coppersmiths 50
Foundry (Not yet complete)
No. 60 Fitting Shop 100
No. 60 Gunmounting Shop 100
[underlined] Electrical [/underlined]-
If adequate supplies of material and stores were available 90
[underlined] Cranes [/underlined]-
Following cranes had been repaired and in full operation :-
Burmola Wharf 20 tons
Boiler Wharf 50 tons
No. 4 Dock 10 tons
Machinery Wf: 5 tons
(Six other 10 ton and 5 ton travelling cranes but limited by damaged tracks.)
Canteen Wharf, one fixed, 4 tons
Hamilton Wharf, one fixed, 4 tons being erected with 120 feet travel.
[underlined] Naval Stores [/underlined]
Recovery progressing steadily.
Greatly increased fuelling requirements being met successfully despite restricted facilities. Length of 12’’ fuelling main to Dolphins, 250 feet recently renewed.
[underlined] Armament Depot [/underlined]
Greatly increased commitments being met despite disabilities. Laboratory work reduced by weather pending repair to buildings. Mine Shop, capacity (Aircraft Mines 100%, Moored Mines 60%). Work of supply much hampered by lack of Hydraulic Crane System pending receipt of parts.
40. The limitations in general Yard capacity at the end of December 1942 were mainly due to :-
(a) Lack of berths alongside, owing to submerged wrecks.
(b) Lack of docks (situation improved by early April).
(c) Lack of welding and compressed air facilities at available berths.
(d) Lack of sufficient portable air compressors and welding sets.
(e) Lack of lifting facilities at available berths.
(f) Lack of materials and stores.
41. The redevelopment….
[page break]
41. The redevelopment undertaken was dealt with on the following general lines :-
(a) Underground excavations to be provided as an alternative for all the more important workshops and plant.
(b) Re-conditioning of normal workshops and provision of temporary aboveground accommodation for those items in (a) which had, of necessity, received a low priority, and for which it was not possible to provide rock cover in the immediate future.
42. Much of the progress was achieved by salvaging damaged machines and scrap materials which were freely used in extemporisation.
43. At the beginning of 1943 further progress was limited by the following factors:
(a) Civil Engineering Labour, of which there was a marked shortage due to heavy demands by all the Services and the Civil Government. This seriously affected excavation of underground shops, sub-stations etc, and repairs to buildings, roadways, mains etc.
(b) Lack of materials for repairing and re-roofing damaged buildings.
(c) Shortage of stores of all kinds.
(d) Lack of experienced salvage party with full equipment adequate to clear sunken wreckage from approaches to wharves and docks.
(e) Additional supervising staff was required by all Departments in order to expedite the redevelopment programme.
44. On 18th January 1943 the Commander-in-Chief sent the following message to the Vice-Admiral, Malta and the Admiral Superintendent :-
“I have read with much interest and pleasure the account of the present state
“of H.M Dockyard at Malta, contained in the Admiral Superintendent’s signals
“………and V. A. M’s letter ……….. and signal ………….
“The immense strides made in the way of recuperation since the days of
“intensive bombing have been clearly due to special efforts on the part of
“every Officer and man to achieve so much in such a short space of time, and
“reflects the greatest credit on all concerned. (T. O. O. 2136)”
45. Nos. 3 and 4 Docks were brought into use again early in April 1943, but the use of Nos. 2 and 3 Docks was still restricted by the presence of wrecks in the approaches. The repairs to No. 5 Dock were satisfactorily completed so that on 4th July the Dock was ready to take a Tribal Destroyer and on 24th July ready to take a cruiser.
46. In January 1943 in order to make the best use of the man power available, the employment of women in the Dockyard was introduced for the first time. They were allocated to jobs which were normally performed by men, but which were well within the capabilities of women, thus releasing men for other work of a nature requiring men’s efforts. At one time as many as [underlined] 700 [/underlined] women were employed, with success, but it could not be described as a popular venture as the industrial employment of women is not in accord with the traditions and beliefs of the Maltese people generally.
47. A Salvage Party arrived in February 1943 and set to work on the clearance of the dock approaches and harbours.
During the period prior to the advent of the Salvage Party, the Dockyard had salvaged the following vessels, in spite of the lack of adequate salvage plant, by persevering efforts and resourceful improvisation :-
[underlined] Number Salved [/underlined]
Tugs 4
Drifters 2
Trawler 1
Steam & Motor Boats 29
Lighters (Dockyard) 32
Lighters (Civil Govt: ) 104
[underlined] Put back into Service [/underlined]
Tugs 4
Drifters 2
Trawler (scrapped)
Steam and Motor Boats 7
Lighters (Dockyard) )
Lighters (Civil Govt : ) ) 121
48. Whilst.
[page break]
48. Whilst recovery was in the progress the Dockyard was faced with additional problems connected with the preparations for the invasion of Sicily and Italy for which Malta was the assembly port.
49. At this stage the receipt storage, and disposal of Naval Stores became a particularly difficult matter. Malta came into use as a storage and transit port for vast quantities of stores of all kinds destined for various future advanced bases. The lost storehouses could not be rebuilt, and space was not available in the Dockyard. All suitable accommodation elsewhere had already been taken up.
50. As general clearance progressed and nissen huts could be obtained and erected, some improvement took place, but the vast quantities of stores and materials to be dealt with continued to increase, presenting a formidable problem.
--------
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Appendix I. Malta dockyard - period of siege 1940-1943
Description
An account of the resource
When Italy entered the war in 1940, air raids were conducted over key military targets and peaked during the first half of 1942. Attacks ceased altogether by 1943 once Italy had surrendered. The various dockyards maintained efforts to keep ships in service, even though many workers were transferred to Alexandria and other docks in the Eastern Mediterranean. Workmen carried out numerous jobs for various branches of the armed forces and government. An anti-aircraft battery was also formed amongst the workmen of the dockyards. Various decorations received between members of the battery and dockyard workers formed guard units. Shelters were excavated in order to get facilities underground. Many families evacuated in 1939 and early 1940. Barracks were severely damaged, and living conditions were without comfort, many of the living centres were situated in the dockyards. Various utilities were damaged during the raids. In the height of the air attacks, docks were out of action, vessels sunk, yards covered in debris and depots without power. By July various docks were running with some still in need repair. Food shortages made the outlook grave. By December almost all docks restored and working capacity almost normal. By 1943, salvage and clearance of the dockyards finished whilst Malta became an assembly port. Storage became an issue whilst preparations for the invasion of Sicily and Italy took place.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1939-09
1940
1940-05
1940-06-11
1941
1941-06
1942
1942-02-23
1942-04
1942-07
1942-08-01
1942-12
1943
1943-01-18
1943-02
1943-04
1943-10
1943-11-01
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Malta
Malta--Isla
Malta--Cospicua
Coverage
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Royal Navy
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Format
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Nine page typewritten document
Contributor
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Benjamin Turner
Identifier
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SLambertBrownP19330417v10003
Creator
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E.W. Colvill
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
bombing
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1007/10920/MHudsdonJD755052-151029-040020.1.jpg
5ad0739ca4ddab8f41db70bc322e09b4
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1007/10920/MHudsdonJD755052-151029-040021.1.jpg
fbc5638b7235f0388310107aae06b828
Dublin Core
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Title
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Hudson, Douglas. Postcards from Laghouat
Description
An account of the resource
Eleven postcards of around Laghouat Algeria in a booklet and a further five postcards of Laghauat sent by Douglas Hudson to his parents. Finally a postcard of the French barracks in Laghouat where they were interned with description on the reverse.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-16
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Hudson, JD
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[inserted]DON’T YOU BELIEVE IT BEST WISHES H.G POSTMAN [/inserted]
[Post marks]
PASSED P.W 8144
MR & MRS H.E. HUDSON
191 HALIFAX ROAD
NELSON
LANCASHIRE
ANGLETERRE
SGT.J.D. HUDON. 755052
CAMP DES INTERNES BRITANNIQUES
LAGHOUAT. ALGERIE
AFRIQUE DU NORD
13-8-42
Delighted Red Cross parcel which arrived intact yesterday. Now to re-cultivate that lifebuoy habit. Letter and cable also sent off today. Heat wave gradually expanding itself and about time too. I won’t say much more because our Sgt postman reads the p.c.s. He’s a curious little fellow.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Laghouat - Une partie de l'Oasis Sud et les Fortifications
Description
An account of the resource
A wall runs from bottom left to top right with buildings and palm trees to the left and above. To the right centre a fortification. On the reverse addressed to Mr and Mrs H E Hudson writing that he is delighted to have received cross parcel and about post and weather.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
James Douglas Hudson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-13
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph postcard
Language
A language of the resource
fra
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MHudsdonJD755052-151029-040020, MHudsdonJD755052-151029-040021
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Algeria
Algeria--Laghouat (Province)
Great Britain
England--Lancashire
England--Nelson
North Africa
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08-13
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Claire Monk
prisoner of war
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1627/25332/BThickettPSaundersEJv10012.1.jpg
0113ce2573a97c2aa511b7365bbfaa74
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Saunders, Ernest John. Album 1
Description
An account of the resource
A history of Sam Saunders RAF experiences complete with a biography. It is presented in an album.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Penny Thicket
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-02-13
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Saunders, EJ
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Sam Saunder's Operations
Description
An account of the resource
Some details about operations carried out by Sam after he transferred to 40 squadron.
Photo 1 is a vertical aerial photograph partly obscured by tracer fire.
Photo 2 is the 40 squadron crest.
Photo 3 is Sam in shorts and tee shirt in front of a tent.
Photo 4 is an airman beside a tent.
Photo 5 is a view across tents.
Photo 6 is an airman standing at the front of his tent.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Penny Thickett
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2013-10
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed sheets with six b/w photographs
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Text
Text. Personal research
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BThickettPSaundersEJv10012
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Egypt
Egypt--Suez
Libya
Libya--Tobruk
North Africa
Egypt--Alamayn
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
1942-08
1942-09
1942-10
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
40 Squadron
aerial photograph
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
Halifax
military living conditions
prisoner of war
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1313/19080/PStachiewiczM17010045.2.jpg
516461309972479b0b38e5500c0d8d96
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1313/19080/PStachiewiczM17010046.2.jpg
d9a1440490bd0c41da67a61af79a4b32
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Stachiewicz, Mieczysław. Album
Description
An account of the resource
58 items. An album of photographs, newspaper clippings and papers relating to Mieczysław Stachiewicz's escape from Poland through Romania, Greece, and France to Great Britain, and his tour of operations as a pilot with 301 Squadron from RAF Hemswell. The album also contains photographs of his friends and family.
These items were digitised by a third-party using technical specifications and operational protocols that may differ from those used by the IBCC Digital Archive.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-01-19
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Stachiewicz, M
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Wyciag z ksiegi strat Dywizjonu 301 w okresie maj – listopad 1942
Excerpt from 301 Squadron's loss book for the period May - November 1942
Description
An account of the resource
A list of 16 aircraft and crew lost between May and November 1942 from 301 Squadron.
Business card for P/O Harry William Bock, Polish Air Force.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
301 Squadron
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-11
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three handwritten sheets and a printed card from a scrapbook
Language
A language of the resource
eng
pol
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PStachiewiczM17010045
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Polskie Siły Powietrzne
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-05
1942-06
1942-07
1942-08
1942-09
1942-10
1942-11
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription. Other languages than English
301 Squadron
aircrew
killed in action
pilot
RAF Hemswell
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20,
R.A.F. Station,
W. Freugh,
STRANRAER.
Wednesday 2. Sept ’42.
Dear Mary,
I want to get this off, if I can, in time to wish you many happy returns of the 4th (I hope that’s right, but I make so many mistakes on birthdays that I feel a bit nervous about getting mixed up these days.)
Anyway – happy birthday, and many of ‘em. Afraid I couldn’t find anything in Stranraer or Girvan that was worth sending you but I expect its best to do without things these days.
Afraid I still don’t know anything about leave but if we get any I think it will be on the 25th as our photography exam is pretty definite for the 23rd – during the week originally planned for our leave. It’s possible that we’ll be passing out and leaving Freugh in 5 weeks but thats [sic] not sure. Everythings [sic] very uncertain at the moment. I expect we’ll
[page break]
suddenly get exams rushed at us tho’. I’m fed up & I think everybody’s the same. I shall never leave a place more gladly than this and never [deleted] am [/deleted] was I more ready for leave. The Freugh itself’s alright and I’m happy as anything here but it’s the eternal training, training, “binding”, and working and all to no encouragement that is sometimes [deleted] is [/deleted] apt to be a bit wearing. To have 3 tapes & a brevy at O.T.U. will seem like a timely reward & will spurt us on a bit! Anyway they’re bound to give us a good leave after O.T.U. It’ll be rotten luck if I miss Dave. I wonder if you saw him last week-end. I fancy he may have been up. It seems years since I was home. [deleted] [three indecipherable words] [/deleted] There goes the Station Pipe Band again – Bagpipes, drums an’ all. They’re for ever making no end of a wild din dancing around the camp. There was to be a display of Scottish Folk Dances one night but, as usual it rained. What with bagpipes and the hills and moors all around just a glowing purple mass of heather we can feel really in Scotland.
Wonder how the corn’s going. I dare say the weather’s still been pretty good with you
[page break]
How is the garden? Expect the Michaelmas Daisies asters &c will be coming out. You’ll be having plenty of tomatoes I guess.
Nothing happening here. Had a good day on bombing yesterday. Weather was fine & it was lovely. Bombing’s rotten when the weather’s bad as it was on Sunday. We’re night-flying tonight and I’m thinking I’ll have to stop and collect my belongings. Expect it will be cold tonight its not a very good night.
I shall be ever so pleased with any letters anybody feels like writing.
Love to all
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to Mary
Description
An account of the resource
Wishes her happy birthday, no news of next leave. Is now ready to leave West Freugh with its eternal training. - the Operational Training Unit must be better. Notes Scottish band passing by 'they are for ever making no end of a wild din dancing around the camp'.
Had a good day bombing yesterday in good weather (unusually) and will be night flying tonight.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-09-02
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420902
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08
1942-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. AKRILL
Hut 20. A.T.W.,
R.A.F. Station,
W. Freugh,
Stranraer.
[underlined] evening [/underlined] Friday 28.8.42.
Dear Mum,
Thanks a lot for letter which turned up this morning with one from Miss Mary. You seem to be having plenty of trouble with the old binder & the reaper. Still you’r [sic] doing pretty well & I expect you’ve had some reasonable weather these last few days, unless the[deleted]re’s[/deleted] thunder down there has caught you. We’ve actually had 3 perfect hot, sunny days but I think the end is in sight. For 48 hrs at the [deleted] beggining [/deleted] begining [sic] of the week it came down in a solid sheet. I’m looking forward to seeing little Peggy. I must chase the mushrooms up when I come. Yes we did D.D. again & I enjoyed it but didn’t stay in Girvan. Glad you heard the service but you wouldn’t hear my sweet voice. It was the first I’d missed – it started earlier than usual. Don’t start worrying about me yet. I’ve [underlined] months [/underlined] before I go bombing yet - & I may never do so of course. And even if I do I shall be safe enough. We’ve got
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
to be prepared for anything & I think I am, but we do worry when we think you may be worrying. Anyway we’ll forget all about it until it’s time!
Are the fellows in the caravan staying long? I must call on them. My sympathies are always with a genuine C.O. I’ve had a talk with a number of them at Collingham & they seem very good souls though I think they do wonder when they see that I’ve volunteered to bomb & kill! But there’s no other way. Sorry Mary’s duties are’t [sic] so good. Hope Jerry isn’t keeping you awake but I expect he’ll do his best this winter. Yes I can believe you’r [sic] busy with teas and meals – gosh I’d like to intercept a tea basket on its way!
We are detailed for flying at 2.30 in the morning so can’t get [underlined] any [/underlined] sleep tonight Don’t get back ‘till 6 on the morning or our day off. For the [underlined] 3rd [/underlined] time our Saturday will be spoiled. However there’s a lot of low stratus cloud coming up so it may be cancelled. Flying is rather treacherous round here these nights – conditions being ideal for the formation of hill fogs &c. These Scotch fogs are terrific. I can quite understand the Duke’s Sunderland
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
hitting a mountainside if it was flying low but I can’t make out [underlined] why [/underlined] it was flying low. It’s suicide to do it voluntarily & a kite like the Sunderland shouldn’t be forced down like that. We can certainly sympathise but we feel proud to know that he died in sharing our own dangers.
Don’t think I’ll do the same tho’ – they don’t send us into bad weather & we have good pilots & I should be a good navigator by now!
We’ve had lots of brass-hats up here lately (in connection with a recent incident we guess) Yesterday the biggest of all came and gave us – without any silly ceremony, a very good talk in a hangar. He was Marshal of the RAF Lord Trenchard who you’ve no doubt heard of. I believe he gives War Commentaries. Today a not so big wig turned up an Air Marshall and the Commander in Chief Training Command. He came almost unexpectedly & went into the cookhouse where they were serving a terrible dinner & I’d like to know what happened. With these visitors the higher the rank the less the “bull” & panic there is I think its much more sensible for them to turn up unexpectedly & find out just what is
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
happening.
I can’t get hold of any brown paper so the tin & Harry’s sigs [cis] will have to wait till I get the bag
Well, there are lots of stars showing tonight so while I’m waiting till time to go for briefing or else able to get to bed when the “tannoy” announces that its cancelled I’ll go out & take some sights on some of them – provided I can see thro’ the sextant tho’ my eyesight seems a bit shakey there at times. Gosh it [underlined] has [/underlined] to be good for some of the stars.
Love to all, think I’ll be seeing you 3 weeks tomorrow
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
P.S. Tell Nip I keep looking out for a nice breezy letter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Catches up with news and tells his mother not to worry about him.
Bill is interested to hear about the 'fellows in the caravan', who seem to be conscientious objectors. Says he has sympathy for people with genuine objections and has talked with several of them in Collingham.
He is detailed to fly at 2.30 am that night, so will not have any sleep before then, although the weather might cancel it. Mentions that flying can be treacherous due to the frequent fogs. Discusses death of Duke [of Kent?] in a Sunderland, when it crashed into a mountainside.
Mentions yesterday's visit of Lord Trenchard (Marshall of RAF) and today's of an Air Marshall and the Commander in Chief Training Command. They had stayed for dinner, so Bill wonders what they were given, as the men had just had a terrible meal.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-28
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420828
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. AKRILL
Hut 20.
R.A.F. Station,
W. Freugh.
Stranraer.
Thursday 19.8.42.
Dearest Mum,
I was pleased to get your letter. You write lovely common-sence [sic] letters & believe me every bit of them makes the best reading.
Hope the harvest’s going all right & that you’ve had better weather than we’ve had. Expect the R.T.Gs will be [deleted] her [/deleted] at home this week-end. I shall like to see the new little Peggy. [deleted] Fa [/deleted]
Fancy talking about tomatoes & mushrooms! Couldn’t I do with a plateful of mushrooms just now. I’m just feeling as sick as a pig after tonight’s tea. Our staple diet of mouldy bread was mouldier than usual tonight & even the marge wasn’t strong enough to disguise the taste. I was so hungry I had to eat a couple of slices but I’m suffering for it now & have been trying to take the feeling off with canteen buns – they should be dry enough! No wonder so many are still [deleted] sick [/deleted] air-sick
[page break]
But I swear I’ll not grumble [underlined] out [/underlined] of camp so enough said.
I went to the baths last Sat. though not to do Dinghy Drill. I thought it a good chance of getting some swimming in. It was great fun & I had a good day – We had a long bus ride along the wooded coast. The scenery was fine. At the baths I watched Dinghy drill for a bit & nearly died with laughing at the escapades. You dive in in flying suit & Mae West, blow up May [sic] West in the water & then try to turn the dinghy over & this being done they scramble in looking like drowned rats & paddle in triumph round the bath. I got on fine with swimming. After this the bus stopped at a small seaside resort – Girvan - & 2 of us decided to stay & catch the 7. o’clock train to Stranraer. We had a real “day off” 3 big meals – all very good, some raspberry ices, a game on the putting greens, wandered round the shops & amusements & on the front. It was a real good day though compared with my usual spending cost a lot – 8/-. I think we are due for dinghy drill on Sat. & it would be nice to stay again but I don’t think I shall.
I’ll see if I can whisk away the drawing
[page break]
from the wall though I expect there’ll be an outcry when it goes. It’ll show you something of what Hut 20 looks like anyway. Well I’ll try to get some rest as I’ve to be up at 6 in the morning to bomb up ready for bombing.
[underlined] Friday night [/underlined]
The parcel and letter turned up on this afternoon’s post. The sight of those tomatoes was good. I’ve already eaten a couple of small ones. Havent [sic] explored the tuck box yet as there’s the wreckage of the cheese cakes in the way. Afraid they don’t bear the post very well though what’s left’s very good.
It may not be true but there’s a rumour going round that we have to take exams before having our next leave & that this now won’t be ‘till 6 weeks today instead of a month. Ah well it’ll be good to get them over anyway. If only we could get our tapes as well I wouldn’t mind. In any case I’ll have to start working on some subjects though I’ve really passed wings exam on Navigation subjects & gunnery. They are giving us some more “local” exams though, not set by the Central
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
Examinations Board. They are giving us Photography (which takes a bit of grasping) and Bombing which isn’t too bad.
Have been bombing this morning until a bad weather report came through followed by some bad weather which kept us grounded. It’s a lovely evening now – the first for several weeks. I don’t think a day has passed without rain since I came back from leave. I’m glad you’ve had some fine days tho’ Ah yes 48 hrs (without the travelling) would go down very well at the moment.
I do hope that leave is O.K for the 18th as David is hoping to have leave then. It’d be just too grand to get it together. I was afraid it was too good to be true.
Afraid I may not be able to [deleted] hear [/deleted] [inserted] attend [/inserted] the service broadcast on Sunday as I’m detailed for flying late in the afternoon & may not get back in time to get there. Even if I do I’ll not feel much like singing as I’m on 2 details which will mean 7 hours flying at least & that can be tiring. However I’ve no doubt it’ll be good as we rehearsed it last Sunday.
The Squadron Leader’s suddenly got a notion for sending us up to 10 thousand feet & though it’s nice
[page break]
to get up above the murk & gloom below the clouds to the sunshine above its apt to be tiring at that height as well as cold & it gets monotonous looking at clouds all the time
[cartoon drawing of two fighter pilots]
FIGHTER BOYS!!
David was tickled at a drawing I did of the fighter boys so I’ve done another for you. Its really not as exaggerated as it looks
Good old Churchill! What other man of his position would you find rushing all over the globe & working as he does. America Cairo, Moscow. I [deleted] expe [/deleted] wouldn’t be a bit surprised to hear of him in new Delhi or China next. I expect you got excited over the Dieppe raid. Every body did here (yes even [underlined] us [/underlined] !!!!!) & thought it was the 2nd front! Rehearsal I expect. Gee I hope I’m ready when it starts.
Well, I have to be up early for dinghy drill in the morning & I’ve to wash & make up my bunk bed make up [deleted] my [/deleted] the parcel etc etc
[page break]
So I’ll say good-bye for the time being.
I’ll explain the Hut drawing more when I see you. It’s a view I see every night from my bed. The fellow with the ball is our P.T. Instructor who is in charge of Hut 20. He’s a grand fellow.
Lots of love to all
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill hopes harvest is going well and complains about food in the camp.
He gives a vivid description of dinghy drill, which was very funny to watch, but got on well with his own swimming and went on to Girvan where he describes what they did on their day off.
Resumes letter the following evening. The parcel has arrived with tomatoes. There is a rumour that they will have to take their exams before getting leave (so six weeks rather than four) and Bill mentions local exams in photography and bombing. He has been bombing and writes of daily routine and that he will probably be unable to attend the service which will be broadcast as he has flying scheduled.
Next page has cartoon drawing of two fighter pilots captioned 'FIGHTER BOYS!'. Mentions Churchill's visits to all over the world. Describes hut 20 drawing which he has taken down from the wall.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-19
1942-08-20
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six page handwritten letter including coloured cartoon.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420819
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Royal Air Force. Fighter Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
arts and crafts
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20.
R.A.F. Station,
W. Freugh,
Stranraer, SCOTLAND.
Wed. 12. August 1942.
Dear Mum & Mary,
Pleased to get your letters this morning. I had one from Ros this afternoon.
Glad the weather was fairly good for the Camp. It just rains, rains, rains here. Talk about Atlantic Gales & Scotch Mist! Its rather bumpy flying! Glad the hay’s in O.K.
Afraid the food hasn’t kept up to the standard it was on the first day after the change but it’s a bit better than the old Mess & I certainly have more appetite for it. Of course we got a very posh dinner when the A.O.C. came round. Flowers on the table an all!
I’m sorry Jerry’s making himself a nuisance. I keep hearing on the news that he’s been around our district.
Wonder how much more grass they’ll want ploughed up. There’ll be a job on draining it. Guess there’ll be some stuff on the 4 acre & the 19 acre this year.
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
Pleased the Polyphotos have come at last. Yes I’ll take David’s down when I come home but Harry & Ros can claim theirs.
Don’t know how Frank Stanley knows that he’s going to be a pilot after being in a month. It’s odd if he’s going straight overseas too and as for piloting – well I don’t think you get to I.T.W. until you’ve been in more than a month or two these days!
Glad you’ve been able to raise enough for 2 dinghies. There’s no doubt they are a mighty useful & necessary part of aircraft equipment – even if its only for sitting on! We have to be always well up in dinghy-drill & some of us are going to the baths at Girvan on Saturday to be chucked in in full flying kit & a dinghy to make the best of it. They’ve saved a good many valuable lives & it’s the Navigator’s job to inspect them from time to time.
We had a visit from a Spitfire
[page break]
Squadron for a week a while ago. Their ground crews turned up in Harrow troop-carriers – in fact their entire station moved. It shows just how quickly our Fighter stations will be moved when the 2nd front is started. You should have seen what a sight the pilots were slouching round with flowing locks, leather jackets (flying) tunics & shirts flung open & their nakedness hardly covered by yards of silken scarves. It certainly shocked authorities here – they’re so particular at training stations, as discipline is very essential among crews.
The broadcast will be on the Force’s wavelength I expect at 7.30. on the 24th. We’re having a “rehearsal” on Sunday.
Hope Nipperette has a good leave. Have you still got the other two Landgirls?
Wonder if there will be any carrots ready by 18th
[page break]
I had a look & I guessed they’d soon be ready. Thought about them with a bit of bacon, & a nice hearty cabbage & some new potatoes the other day. The Eccles Cake was more than good.
[deleted] Emc [/deleted] Enclosing £3. Pay’s down again this week.
Must collect my kit. We’re detailed for night flying tonight though the weather’s filthy. Been bombing all day in & out of squalls.
Love to all
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother and Mary
Description
An account of the resource
Bill catches up with family news and comments on the wet weather. States food is now better, although not as when first improved. Catches up with more news of farm and friends as well as family fund-raising for dinghies. Outlines what they do for 'dinghy-drill' and how valuable they are in saving lives. Notes visit from Spitfire squadron and describes dress and demeanour of fighter pilots. Mentions forthcoming radio broadcast and is enclosing money.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-12
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420812
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Royal Air Force. Fighter Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
RAF West Freugh
Spitfire
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/194/27236/BAdamsHGAdamsHGv3.1.pdf
b629d8156eacb9d34cd9571706ae198a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adams, Herbert
Herbert Adams
H Adams
Herbert G Adams
Description
An account of the resource
88 items. Collection concerns Herbert George Adams DFC, Legion d'Honour (b. 1924, 424509 Royal Australian Air Force). He flew operations as a navigator with 467 Squadron. Collection contains an oral history interview, photographs of people and places, several memoirs about his training and bombing operations, letters to his family, his flying logbook and notes on navigation.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Herbert Adams and catalogued by Nigel Huckins and Trevor Hardcastle.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-02-15
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Adams, HG
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The War … Training.
Towards the end of 1941, the Air Training Corps was formed. Terry Cooke & I joined at once, and, due to my surname, my number was 10 001, the first in NSW. We trained at Ashfield in Whitehurst’s garage (the showroom floor was devoid of new cars by then), and Whitehurst himself was the Squadron Leader in charge – he was an ex-pilot from WWI. One of the benefits of joining the A.T.C. was that it gave you accelerated position on the waiting list for air-crew … then about 8 months. Air-crew enlistment was very popular, I guess partly due to the Battle of Britain publicity & the realization that air power would play a big part in the war. The Japs had shown at Pearl Harbour that planes could sink battleships (putting them out-of-date forever!)
Our training in the ATC consisted mainly of learning Morse Code, aircraft & ship recognition of both Allied and enemy planes & ships. Terry was already an accomplished plane modeller, & he added several to the growing collection hanging from the ceiling … we studied them, learnt their names & tried to recognise them at a distance and in subdued light.
We also did some P.E. The “old” tubby Squdron [sic] Leader surprised us early in the piece. He got us all to do as many push-ups as we could. No one got beyond 30, several couldn’t do 10. He then proceeded to do 50! He had a table-tennis set up & was quite adept, so we all got a go at that. In the city at that time the world doubles champions had an academy in Pitt St. He invited them to put on an exhibition for us, including a set of singles for some of us against one of them. Two of their ‘stunts’ stood out. Zabados [sic] (the older) would say, “it’s an easy game, see” while returning shots with his back to Keelan (who was good enough to put the ball onto his bat.) Zabados [sic] then turned, faced Keelan & returned several balls using the edge of the bat!
[page break]
I had a set against Keelan, and despite him “setting up” chances for my topspin forehand, he won 21-6.
We were promised uniforms in the spring of 1942. But, although we were then on the waiting list for call-up for aircrew, compulsory national military training had begun. In June, Terry was called up for the Army, & sent to North Sydney for Artillery training. As both our birthdays were in February, I enquired why I wasn’t called up too. We both realized that 6/- a day with everything found made us rich compared with public service wage of about £3 a week … paying board & fares.
I was surprized [sic] to learn they had me “in reserved occupation”! After a lot of phone calls and a consultation, that was scrubbed and I was called up for the Army on 3rd July & sent to Dubbo for basic infantry training .. 54th Company of 5th Infantry Training Brigade, army number 252661. We did the usual rifle, bayonet, machine-gun, anti-tank gun, mortars, grenades, & gas-drills, parade ground drill (not too much), P.E., routemarches ending in the “mad-mile” … obstacle course … a bit like we see at Kapooka on T.V. It was a solid month. Then our corporal invited any of us who could drive a truck to step forward … for a course at Moorebank for a month, likely to have us become a driver on infantry transport. All 30 of us stepped forward! After trying us out in 3 ton Fords, about 20 of us convinced them we could double-shuffle … (one chap never managed to change from low … just grind, grind, grind … so he didn’t go.), & we got on the course.
At Moorebank (next to the big Army camp at Liverpool) we spent most days on practical work, especially on Bren gun carriers, including some driving. The gear linkage was a mirror-reverse of normal gear H pattern …. a bit hard to learn. Gentle curves could be made with the steering wheel which put a bed in the tracks, but for sharper turns, we’d change down 2 gears, hit the accelerator & turn the wheel sharply, which [indecipherable word] one track
[page break]
The carriers were quite heavy (1/4” armour all round) & driven by a Ford V8 Mercury engine, so there was a lot of stalling learning to do sharp turns. Some of the heavier work was repairing broken tracks. We also did a lot of learning how to take-apart carburettors, petrol pumps, mend punctures, change wheels etc. Then, each night we had lectures on all sorts of things to do with transport, including how engines worked, clutches, diffs, steering, electrical etc. I managed to skip a few of these night sessions, but still studied the manual they provided. At the end of the month we had a written exam. A couple of lads hadn’t learnt to read & write very well, and I guess many of the them [sic] hadn’t excelled at school. Anyway, I came top of the class & was invited to do a 6-month course at Sydney Tech College & come out Warrant Officer instructor, age 18! Wartime promotion! I was tempted, since it was well known that the loss rate in Air Crew was high. However, I turned it down, went back to Dubbo for a few more weeks … mostly working on Bren gun carriers, until I got the call-up for air-crew .. on 12th Sept to Bradfield Park, No 2 I.T.S. (Initial Training School).
[black and white photograph of Herbert Adams in Australian Army uniform]
This is my only photo in Army uniform, taken at “Springfield” Mendooran, about the end of August ’42, probably on a short leave after completing the course at Moorebank, on the way back to Dubbo.
[page break]
At Bradfield Park we were 32 course (one a month since the [inserted] Empire [/inserted] Air Training Scheme began early in 1940 to provide aircrew for Britain … training done in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa & Australia.) Each course was divided into several “flights” graded according to our tested speeds at receiving Morse Code. I was one of 25 in 32D flight, … I think there were 7 flights. We all wore “goonskins” & berets.
Photo taken on 6/10/42
[black and white photograph of four rows of men wearing boiler suits and berets at the side of a hut]
Front Row: F. Morgan, J. Chigwidden, R. Roeder, C. Dowie.
Second Row: E. Cunningham, R. McCallister, R. Schneider, P. Rutherford, L. Davies, J. Boatswain, J. Thorne
Third Row: J. O’Brien, J. Weekes, K. Burns, A. Marshall, R. Loton, P. Skerman, B. Adams, D. Nicholls
Back Row: M. Coleman, D. Milliken, G. Lumsdaine, G. Benson, P. Brander, D. Placell, A. Dufty.
[page break]
The course at Bradfield Park lasted about 3 months. There was a lot more Morse Code training, aiming at 20 words/min for us all. There was a lot of introductory training about Theory of Flight, Meteorology, Guns & ammunition, bombs, elementary radio, principles of navigation & bomb aiming. We also got an indication of what further training would occur, & where, for the main categories:- pilots, observors [sic] (combined navigation, bomb-aiming & air gunnery), & WAG (wireless operator/gunner).
All got a dental overhaul. I think there were some ‘trainee’ dentists. I was supposed to get 6 fillings one day. After drilling until only a shell remained on one tooth; in trying to extract it, it broke off & so had to be a cut-job to get the root out. I had that happen 5 more times, about a week apart. No doubt my teeth were chalky. I got a new bigger plate.
Sometime during the course I got a mild case of mumps & was sent to the isolation hospital, Prince Henry, near Malabar.
When I got back I became part of 33 course, but then they decided that part of 33 course would be “rushed” to join 32 course … more places to fill at the various training venues. Those chosen had to be reasonably fast at Morse Code; I qualified & so rejoined 32 course.
We did a lot of P.E. One of our regular tasks was a run down to Fullers Bridge & back (uphill). The P.E. instructors gave us recruits a lot of “get a move on you soft ------- s”. It’s true most of the recruits were soft, straight from civvy street, many from desk jobs. But a couple of us had been toughened up by infantry training & told them not to be so tough. The upshot was a challenge who could get to the top first – us or the P.E. instructors. We won, I guess partly because they could have been at the NCOs canteen after work … we had to be tee-total.
There was a lot of emphasis on marching; we found out why … we we [sic] the main lot to march
[page break]
in Sydney in support of a War Loan Rally. We marched 12-abreast & on some corners collided with onlookers & barricades due to the tendancy [sic] of marchers to push outwards on corners.
The food at Bradfield Park was generally fairly good except for their scrambled egg … it was made from egg-powder & found to be so distasteful that garbage bins were overflowing outside the mess huts with discarded scrambled egg. Yet, later, in England we enjoyed scrambled egg made from egg powder. Better cooks maybe?
Towards the end of the course there was a co-ordination test … perhaps to indicate suitability for pilot training. (The bulk of us young fellows wanted to be pilots.) The test required use of a joystick & rudder pedals to cause a light spot to follow a projected light spot. When our course was briefed to do this I was at the dentist & so had to do it later on my own. I suspect I wasn’t given adequate briefing; but the main drawback was because, as a youngster, I had a flivver … you steered it with your feet just the opposite way that rudder pedals work on a plane; it had a handle worked to & fro joined to a crank to the back wheels, like the old railway fettlers ‘trikes’. Whatever the reason, I knew I’d performed badly on the test. So when it came to ask for Pilot, Observor [sic] or WAG, I said observor. [sic] the reply was …”don’t you want to be a pilot? Why observor?” [sic] So I said that I knew I’d done badly on the coordination test, but I’d done well in Maths & Science at High School so I thought I’d make a good navigator (the main task of the observor) [sic] .. What I didn’t say, if I asked for pilot & they’d said no, you can train as a W.A.G. They agreed for me to train as an Observor [sic] at Air Observors [sic] School (No 1 A.O.S.) at Cootamundra, starting on 10 Dec. ’42 after a few days leave.
[page break]
We arrived by train at Cootamundra in the morning. As I threw my kitbag on top of the truck-load of them, I fainted & woke up in the local hospital. A doctor wanted to operate at once for appenicitis [sic] but needed written parental permission as I was under 21. They’d phoned home but had no way to get written permission in time so he got me to sign it. I think I was dilerious [sic] for 2 or 3 days. Mum & May had arrived & stayed at a hotel for a few more days. I was treated (lucky for me) with penicillin, which was relatively new in hospitals then. A large needle was taped to a buttock & graduated doses squirted in … so many CC’s, wait a few hours, more CCs, wait, etc. … it took 24 hours to complete. I had a rubber tube in my side which oozed out grey pus. After 2 weeks I thought I might go home. But I was kept there for 4 weeks. Then sent home still with an open hole in the centre of the scar which had to be dressed & covered … no swimming. Just as I was leaving they said “You’ll have to go and have your appendix out in about 3 months time … all we’ve done has been to teat your infection .. sort of gangrene.” I had 2 weeks sick leave at Mendooran, & did wade in the dam a few times while Beryl & Meggs swam & dived.
[black and white photograph of Herbert Adams in uniform]
This photo was probably taken during that leave in January ’43 at Springfield.
The white strip on our berets signified “aircrew trainee.”
[page break]
When I returned to Cootamundra, I was put on “Light Duties”, in the Navigation Instruments section where they stored, issued, repaired & received maps, dividers, parallel ruler, & C.S.C.’s (courses speed calculators). One person could easily handle it so I did almost nothing. In our spare time I helped his little money-maker – making brooches etc from moulded plastic (he got that free) … all he bought were the safety pins embedded in the back.
I actually joined 35 Course for a while and attended some of the lessons, but didn’t fly with them. However I did get to attend their passing-out dinner at the Albion Hotel, .. the lads normally drank there or at the Globe, opposite, on Sat. afternoons. Some of them did literally pass-out due to too much beer.
On 30th March ’43, I entered Forest Hill RAAF hospital where a big-name RAAF surgeon from Melbourne took out my appendix, kept me there for 2 weeks then I got 2 weeks leave.
On 29th April I got back to Cootamundra and did a few weeks with 37 Course, actually doing my first plane flight ever with them on 11th May … being airsick twice in 3 hours. I attended their passing-out dinner too, and finally began the Observors [sic] course 38A.
In the classroom we did a lot of dry-swim exercises of plotting air-plots, fixes, wind-finding as well as learning more meterology, [sic] signalling, radio, ship & plane recognition, compasses & map projections, & photography. On any flight over 2 hours I got air sick, as did several others … the inside of the old Anson actually smelt like vomit, which didn’t help. I & a few others got some treatment at sick quarters for motion sickness which entailed sitting (strapped in) in a machine than [sic] combined swinging & rotating. It didn’t seem to help. The Ansons were not heavy planes, but one day we taxied to the far corner, it was only a grass ‘drome in those days), & got bogged as we turned to take off. The 3 trainee navs. & the W.O.P. got out & pushed & we got it out.
[page break]
Here’s a bit about the Anson from an old book we used to learn aircraft recognition.
[four drawings of an Anson aircraft]
[black and white photograph of an Anson]
AVRO ANSON
Valuable operations against U-boats stand to the credit of the Avro Anson, a coastal reconnaissance machine readily distinguished by its long windowed “greenhouse” cabin. It carries a crew of three, is driven by two 350 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX air-cooled radial motors and armed with fixed machine-guns in nose and turret. The wooden wings have a span of 56 ft. 6 in.; the fuselage is metal, with fabric covering. The Avro Anson is also used extensively as a training machine. Top speed, 188 m.p.h.
We, later, also flew in Ansons at Parkes doing the Astro-navigation course, and at Llandwrog (North Wales) where we did “Advanced” (not very) Flying … really an introduction to navigating in Britain.
[page break]
At Cootamundra we flew 17 times for a total of 51 1/4 hrs, mostly day-time. Usually 3 trainee nav’s went on each flight, doing 1/3 of the actual navigation each. The other two practised map-reading, drift-taking, bearing taking (with hand-held compass). Our longest trip was to Parafield (S.A.) where we stayed the night. On the way over we flew above cloud nearly all the time, so no map-reading. The W.O.P. tried to get loop bearings on radio stations but these were often difficult to pick up & notoriously inaccurate. We got lucky – below the only break in the clouds appeared the town of Donald (surrounded by many miles of “nothing” for map reading). This gave us a chance to find the wind-velocity, readjust our course for Parafield & our ETA. We had a passing-out dinner, a weeks leave and a posting to Evans Head.
Below is the assessment for the A.C.S. course at Cootamundra … maybe a bit faint for copying from my log-book.
[table from log book between 27.5.43 and 19.9.43]
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On 20th Aug. ’42 we arrived by train at Casino, then RAAF transport lorry to Evans Head’s site of No 1 B.A.G.S. (Bombing & Gunnery School). We did a lot of classroom work on bombsights, bomb construction, and later on air-to-air & air-to-ground gunnery – the deflection problem, & operation of the Vickers Gas Operated machine gun. Our flying was done in Fairey Battle planes, some of which had survived the retreat from France (many didn’t, as they were no match for Me 109’s.). Although the Observor [sic] lay on the floor with his face just behind the radiator when bombing, getting hot glycol fumes, I was never airsick in them. Others were who hadn’t been sick in Ansons. For a typical bombing exercise we carried up to 8 practice bombs, dropped in separate runs on a patch of sand at the bombing range, where our error could be gauged & recorded. Before bombing, we’d use the drift recorder in 3 directions to find the wind to set on the bomb-sight. If our wind was wrong we’d get a bigger error than otherwise. My average error for 131 bombs was 123 yards although this included 45 from low level where the errors were smaller. I did only one night exercise with 3 bombs averaging 74 yards .. better than day-time. Total flying time for bomb-aiming was 60 1/2 hours for 19 flights.
For air-gunnery we would dip the .303 bullet heads in paint, load them into circular drum magazines and shoot at drogues towed by another Battle. Four different gunners, using different coloured paint, could fire at the same drouge [sic] before it was dropped & the number of hits recorded for each colour. The last of the 4 would often be shouted a mock dog-fight with the drouge [sic]-tower after he’d dropped the drouge. [sic] It usually included a loop the loop. The worst part of gunnery was cleaning the paint out of the magazines. I reckon my deafness may be due to the 1656 rounds fired with left forearm below the barrel, cheek alongside the breech-block of the gun mounted in the open rear cockpit on a spigot. My best result was 22 percent of 200 rounds worst 0 percent of 86 rounds (my first try) & overall average about 4 percent, I didn’t find it easy to allow the proper deflection.
[page break]
This is a bit about the Fairey Battle, from the same old aircraft recognition book.
[seven drawings and one black and white photograph of a Fairey Battle]
FAIREY BATTLE
This well-known medium bomber, which won an early reputation on the Western Front, has a distinctive feature in its long cockpit enclosure, terminating in the rear gunner’s position. A second machine-gun is situated in the starboard wing. Fuselage is slim and oval in section and the sharply tapering wings have a span of 54 feet. Power is provided by a 1,030 h.p. Rolls-Royce Merlin II or III engine giving a top speed of 257 m.p.h. and a range of 1,000 miles.
[page break]
We left Evans Head on 10th Oct, (no leave) and arrived at Parkes on the 11th, for a 1 month astro-nav. course. 1 A.N.S. (Air Nav. School). I think we were all promoted to L.A.C. after Cootamundra, getting (I think) an extra 6d a day. When we pass out at Parkes most of us will become Sergeants, some Officers and we’ll get our big O wing (O for observor [sic]), a sergeants pay goes up to 10/- a day.
Most of our days are spent in a classroom. We only did 6 flights (4 at night) totalling 20 hrs, in Ansons again. There was a lot to learn, including the names of the brightest stars in the Southern skies. The bubble sextants we used had a manual averageing [sic] mechanism. You turned the knob until the sun (or star) filled the bubble, pulled the trigger (back to zero) & did it again & again … I think 10 times, then read the average of your 10 sights … and in the air took the time at start and end, to the second (for most of us the first time we’d used a watch with a second hand). We began taking ground sights (so we knew where we were!) & ended up doing 92 of these on stars, the sun & a few on the moon. Our first “moving” sights were from the back of a truck on the smoothest, straightest part of the road Parkes to Forbes .. nice bitumen for those days. Every 4 sights took 2 pages of graph paper & calculations & for each one a position line drawn and error calculated. To keep the bubble centred & steady there needs to be [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] no acceleration or change of direction, so the back of lorry shots were rather inaccurate … and we had to calculate our position on the road to find our error. I still have 2 science graph books full of the working we did at Parkes as well as a Sight Log Book with all the details recorded, including those we did later in Wellingtons … all signed for & certified correct. During our 6 air flights I took 31 star shots, 7 sun, 3 moon and 1 planet, overall averaging about 5 miles error.
For air shots the plane needs to be kept straight & level with speed constant … later with autopilot in Wellingtons we got better accuracy.
[page break]
All those ground shots had to be done in our “spare” time, yet we were in the classroom all day 6 1/2 days a week except when flying. The peacetime course of 6 months had been compressed into 1 month. We had Saturday afternoon free & our instructor said he expected none of us to be sober by sundown. There was a written exam at the end of the month & I did well. I was made sergeant & we went straight to Bradfield Park again on 11th Nov. ’43 to await embarkation. I think we had a few days leave, then sailed on the SS Mt Vernon on 26th. It was an American troop ship with 600 of us RAAF & a lot of wounded/sick Yank soldiers who’d seen a hard time in the Pacific. We didn’t see much of them. We were all in one hold, 4-tier bunks, [deleted] all [/deleted] only narrow aisles between, portholes covered at night & no lights allowed as well. Luckily, we had a lad who played the saxophone well, so each night we’d have a few hours of songs before sleep-time.
The Pacific Ocean was fairly calm for about 10 days, we got our sea legs I think, because we then ran into 3 days of stormy weather (there were logs from the storms floating in San Francisco harbour when we arrived), but few of us were seasick. It was 10th Dec. ’43.
When we docked all our sea-kit bags were unloaded and the 60 of us observors, [sic] who’d been booked for Canada to do a Reconnaisence [sic] course there, were told they’d changed their plans for us, so we had to load our 60 kit bags onto a truck. Then they asked for volunteers to accompany the truck & load them onto the train there … promising that the volunteers would be into town ahead of the others. We’d heard of the “Top of the Mark” Hopkins hotel & agreed we’d all meet there. We volunteers were an hour later than the rest & when we got there they’d run out of all beer except Mexican, and it was worse apparently than American (which was sweet & fizzy). The real disappointment was missing the trip to Canada with the safe prospect of patrols in long-range Liberators over the Altantic, [sic] but instead destined for Bomber Command.
[page break]
[extract from a log book signed by Chief Instructor of the Air Observers Advanced Navigation Course]
[black and white photograph of two men and one woman. Herbert Adams is in uniform and the other man in a civilian suit]
October, ’43. Bert, Beryl & Meggs, just after completion of course at 1 B.A.G.S. Evans Head … on leave before going to 1 A.N.S. at Parkes.
In San Francisco we spent the night in a Transit Camp called Fort McDowell. The next day I bought a new watch with sweep second-hand, as we were told (before we sailed) that there was not enough issue watches in England for all Navigators. We didn’t have much time for sightseeing, saw the Golden Gate, Alcatraz & crossed the Oakland bridge to board the Southern Pacific train at Oakland on 11th Dec. It was a troop train, but with pullman cars like we’d seen in movies … aisle in the middle & little compartments to seat 4, but only 3 occupants, because at night a Negro porter pulled down an upper bunk for 1, & converted the lower seats & table to a double bed … he put on the sheets & blankets too. We all chipped in at New York & gave him a decent tip. There were steam pipes below the seats which worked well, except for the top bunk where I slept … on most mornings there were icicles hanging from the roof from my condensed breath.
[page break]
Our train rarely stopped for us to get off – it was often shunted on to a side track, to allow passenger &/or freight trains to pass.
[black and white photograph of a train]
This is one such diesel Steamliner express at Denver, about to leave for Chicago.
We were allowed off at Denver for 2 hours. I stopped at a chemist shop which also sold watches and asked if they could fix my new watch which had stopped after 1 day! The man fixed it in a few minutes with a dab of oil I think. He didn’t want any payment, but said he’d like an Australian kangaroo penny. I gave him the 4 I had. He thought that too generous! and came forth with a gift of a leather wallet … generous American.
As a group of us were walking back to the train a civilian noticed our little AUSTRALIA strips on our shoulders and said to us .. “Say, boys, I didnt [sic] know AUSTRIA was on our side in the war.” He was keen then to ask us all where in Australia we were from, a bit about our training & the boat trip.
Americans cooked our meals, which were then brought through the carriages by rotating teams of volunteers. For each meal we got a big stainless steel ”tray” of 5 compartments; if it was lunch we’d likely get a ladle of meat in one, a ladle of vegetables in each of 3 spaces, a ladle of sweets in the last & then a ladle of what we reckoned was plum jam spread over the whole lot! But it was nice food.
At Chicago we stopped for about an hour in a huge marshalling yard several tracks away from a platform. As there was snow on the ground most of us got out to have a snow-fight (I’d never seen snow). We soon got back in the train … it was -30o outside, & a chilly wind!
[page break]
On the train, as on the boat, we spent a lot of the daylight time playing cards, mostly pontoon for money but sometimes 500 for fun. Pontoon is a bit like Blackjack, but fairer to the non-banker players, and, I think allows a lot more judgement & maybe skill. On the train we put the limit bet up to 25C (from 2/-), which meant the maximum win possible after double & redouble, getting 5 under 21, which pays double, for $8 win … although that rarely happened.
At New York we went to a Transit Camp, Fort Slocum on 19th Dec. We had 2 days free in the city. I can’t remember much that I did besides going to the top of the Empire State building, going to an ice hockey match at Madison Square Garden, (I hadn’t realized what a rough game it was) sitting so high & far from the rink that I couldn’t see where the puck flew to when a shot missed the net, and having a leisurly [sic] drinking session – their beer seemed light & fizzy at Jack Dempsey’s Spagetti [sic] Bar. We tried the spagetti [sic] … I’d only ever had it from tins with tomato sauce, but there, it was just a big plateful of boiled spagetti [sic] with hard, dry, grated cheese in a shaker, no ketchup either.
From Fort Slocum we were taken to the harbour & loaded aboard the I’le de France on 22nd Dec. It wasn’t a very big troopship, but was stacked with American Army men going to U.K. ready for the invasion in June. Our lot was crammed into a cramped hold (?) below water-level, near the stern … the sides we [sic] quite sloped; the only access to the showers & toilets on the deck above us was up 2 vertical latters [sic] & through round waterproof doors (if closed) in the roof.
[page break]
And they had a plumbing problem with that bathroom, the toilets had overflowed onto the floor … we had to paddle through a couple of inches of watery muck to up more stairs to another bathroom. We were not happy, especially when they did a Boat Drill next day & it took our lot 2 hours to get up on deck.
Still we sailed on the morning of Xmas Eve, got as far as the Statue of Liberty, where the ship broke down – engine trouble, - and was towed back. Eventually, we were fed sandwiches about 9 p.m. The next morning they said we could wait on board for a meal (sometime) and get paid, or go off to the city without either, where there would, maybe, be American civilians willing to take us home for Xmas Dinner. We did that and a nice man Mr Richie took 3 of us to his home in Mt Vernon.
We got there about 1 pm, found the lounge room beautifully decorated for Xmas, a tree lit up, and drinks offered round. We were hungry & wondered when the dinner would begin. But the talking and sipping continued until about 7 pm when we sat down to a sumptuous meal, he carved the turkey, we had second helpings & they remarked that we had good appetites. He took us back to Fort Slocum & arranged to meet us at his factory on the 27th.
[black and white photograph of the front of a house]
Mr. Richies home in Mt Vernon, N.Y.
[page break]
His factory, among other things, made good quality hankerchiefs. [sic] He presented each of us with 1/2 dozen very nice ones, then took us to a businessmens’ [sic] club where we had a few drinks .. we weren’t allowed to buy … it was all paid by the member himself signing a chit … no cash appeared. He took us back to Fort Slocum for the night and we had 3 more days to wander about New York, spend what little money we had left; I think I went to a cinema or two, but can’t remember the films I saw.
On New Year’s Eve we were loaded aboard the Queen Elizabeth which had been converted to a troop ship earlier in the war … some of the cabins had been finished, other parts not … which allowed for even more bunks for troops. We got a double cabin with bathroom … each 6’ of wall had 3-tier bunks so 18 of us fitted in the cabin. We found that on the 3 (I think) open decks where there was a walkway about 10’ wide all round between the rail & cabins walls that they had 3-tier bunks, bolted to the cabin walls and U.S. Army men used them to sleep in 12 hour double shifts. I heard that they put over 20 000 troops aboard. We went to big dining rooms for a meal, twice a day. It took 4 hours for the first meal, a clean up, then 4 hours for the second meal. When it came to Boat Drill all the decks were crammed, all the big wide staircases & still many in corridors. Big fast ships like the Queens travelled alone relying on their speed for safety, cargo ships went in convoys at the speed of the slowest ship, escorted by the Navy & shephered [sic] by long-range aircrafts. A couple of days out we were told
[page break]
that they thought there was a U-boat pack waiting in Mid-Atlantic & so this ship was going to divert well North … up towards Iceland, at maximum speed. They told us to put on warm clothes as they would turn off the cabin heating to get more heat for the engines! One of the crew told us at Greenock, later, that they got to about 40 knots.
The Atlantic was fairly rough & all the rails seemed to be occupied by seasick Americans, but our 2 weeks on the Pacific apparently cured us. We spent most of the time playing cards – the pontoon games were now lowered to a 2C limit. Anyone who’d managed to retain a few dollars could get into crap games (dice) which the Americans played a lot of.
We actually sailed from New York on the morning of New Years Day, and arrived at Greenock, Scotland, near Glasgow, on 7th Jan. Several of the crew were Australians, and one of them took a few of us for a tour of parts of the ship not normally open to passengers. We climbed up inside the mast on narrow steps to, I guess, the crows-nest … it was so high as to be scary even though it only swayed a little, being anchored. He showed us a big gun near the bow … about 6” I think, and maybe 40’ above the water. He said that on a previous crossing ploughing through big waves that the previous gun had been torn from its mountings (bolts about 2” thick). We saw the kitchens & engines … it was great.
By nightfall we’d been loaded onto a train which arrived next morning at Brighton where the RAAF had taken over 2 of the big hotels on the waterfront the Grand & the Metropole, both about 8 floors high.
[page break]
We stayed at Brighton, No. 11 P.D.R.C, until 21st Jan. There were some lessons, a chance to begin learning the main stars ion the Northern Hemisphere – even on cloudy nights we could make use of a planisphere to learn the names & relative positions of those stars. I guess they consulted our records & maybe our log-books, but here they decided who would be navigator, who bomb-aimer, which pilots would go to Bomber Command & which to Fighter or other smaller planes. Sid Payne who’d trained at Cootamundra with me after earlier doing EFTS at Narromine and being “scrubbed” during SFTS at Uranqunity, became a bomb-aimer & I a navigator.
However, the first thing that happened after we got to Brighton was to be sent on leave for a few days. They had an arrangement called the Lady Ryder Scheme, where new arrivals could go to a private home as a guest for a week. My hostess was Mrs Adams, who had a nice house (modernised internally), called Huntercombe Farmhouse, Huntercombe Lane, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, not very far from Windsor. She made me feel at home but had to be absent almost the whole week – she gave the doorkey & said to help myself & recommended I visit Margaret Vyner, an Australian actress, who lived at Dorney Village, between Taplow & Windsor, & who was reputed to like having an Australian visitor. I did that & also met her husband Hugh Marlowe, a handsome English actor (he played The Saint in a film). They took me to the nearby Pub for a drink & yarn. While there, David Niven turned up in uniform (Army Captain) just back from North Africa on leave, with a case of brandy.
[page break]
I guess I was pretty much ignored as they’d been friends for years, & once they started on the brandy I took my leave. While staying at Mrs Adams’ place I visited Eton College and Windsor Castle.
[black and white photograph of Mrs Adams’ house]
Mrs Adams’ house, Huntercombe Farmhouse, Taplow, Bucks.
[black and white photograph of the pub, The Palmer Arms, with a bicycle leaning against the wall]
The Pub next door to where Margaret Vyner & Hugh Williams lived in Dorney Village, between Taplow & Windsor.
[black and white photograph of Eton College]
Eton College
[black and white photograph of the chapel at Eton College]
The Chapel
[page break]
During my first visit to London, Jan ’44.
[black and white photographs of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben]
Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben
[black and white photographs of the interior and exterior of St Paul’s Cathedral]
St Pauls Cathedral
[black and white photograph of Buckingham Palace]
Buckingham Palace
[page break]
[black and white photograph of Eton College]
Eton College
[black and white photograph of the chapel at Eton College]
The Chapel
[black and white photograph of Windsor Castle]
Windsor Castle
[black and white photograph of Windsor Castle]
From the Railway Station
[black and white photograph of Windsor Castle]
From the Soccer Fields
[page break]
On the short rail trip back to London from Taplow, David Niven was in the same compartment, with 6 other people. We merely said good-day; I think he had a hangover.
Back at Brighton, towards the end of our time there, a few of us navigators were interviewed by Group-Captain (later Air-Vice Marshall) Bennett, in charge of Pathfinders. He told us that when he first formed Pathfinders and asked the squadrons for proficient crews to volunteer, a lot of them got rid of crews who were troublemakers and their navigators not often their best. He offerred [sic] us the opportunity of skipping the other training we’d normally do, to go direct to Pathfinders where they’d train us their way; but of course, we’d have to do a second tour straight after the first tour. The end of the war seemed still a way off, and Pathfinders had to spend extra time at each target, so he got few takers, certainly not I.
I’ve saved a few postcards of Brighton, printed pre-war. In wartime they dismanlted [sic] a section of the 2 piers to prevent enemy landings.
[black and white picture postcard of East Cliff and Palace Pier, Brighton]
[page break]
[three black and white picture postcards of Brighton Pier, Brighton Beach and Preston Park, Brighton]
[page break]
While at Brighton we had a few hit & run air raids at night … it wasn’t far across to France. At first we went down to the basement, but stayed in our rooms for the others. Late on 21st Feb. we got on a train, which after a change or two and a truck ride we arrived at Llandwrog, North Wales, No 9 (O) A.F.U. on the 22nd. It was a war-time dispersed camp, several miles south on the coast from the narrow [inserted] Menai [/inserted] strait next to Angelsea, [sic] where Sid Payne was to do his Bomb-Aimers A.F.U. (Mona airfield)
The sleeping quarters were in Nissen huts below sea-level separated from the beach by a sea-wall. Therefore, there was no running water or sewerage. We had garbage tins between each hut to use as urinals at night … sometimes they ran over. There were hundreds of RAAF bicycles … you could take any you saw and leave it where you liked. To our east were the runways, then the hangars, the messes & toilets, showers & laundry facilities, about 1 1/2 mile ride.
We were to spend just over a month there; the flying in Ansons again. We found map-reading difficult; whereas in the Riverina there was lots of open spaces devoid of railway lines, towns etc, in the U.K. there seemed to be too many roads, rivers, towns … difficult to tell one from another, especially since there was mostly a lot of cloud about.
Our aerodrome was only a few miles from Mt Snowdon, the highest mountain south of Scotland. We were told that 13 Ansons had crashed on it during training flights (not all from Llandwrog). So beware. Our staff pilots, when returning to where the navigator said was (below the clouds) our ‘drome, they’d fly west for 10 minutes to descend over the Irish Sea, … just in case.
[page break]
On each flight, 2 trainee-navigators were on board, one to do the exercise and be assessed on it, the other to do practice map-reading, astro shots, drift reading etc. We did just under 36 hours of flying in 13 flights. In Australia, none of the Ansons had heating for the crew, but here it seemed after 5 flights, that they all did. Until the night of 5th March. We took off at 1910 & flew for almost 3 hours, & the plane was nice & warm, as usual, so we just wore our battle-dress uniform. After de-briefing, we were sent on another similar flight at 0250 (early morning), for 2 3/4 hr flying. But the plane wasn’t heated and it was about -30o at 4000! I was supposed to take sextant shots which required tracking a star, eye to the eyepiece for 2 minutes while the clockwork mechanism averaged a lot of readings (maybe 60). It was hopeless. The tears in my eyes began to freeze and I saw circular rainbows before the 2 min. elapsed. We just had to suffer the cold. The heating worked on our remaining 5 flights. My assessments ranged from 65 percent to 81 percent, with a mean of about 71 percent and a remark (written in log book): “average navigator, works hard and is keen.”
One funny thing happened there. Between the hangars & the mess was a wide expanse of bitumen. We saw two airmen on bicycles riding towards each other (not very quickly, luckily) … both tried turning away on the same side, then both back, until their front tyres met squarely head on catapulting both to fall on the tangled bikes.
We had a day off at weekends and visited Caernavon [sic] & Conway castles.
[page break]
[black and white photograph of Herbert Adams and another airman leaning against a hut]
With Col McLaughlin beside the instruction hut at Llandwrog.
[black and white photograph of Herbert Adams, smoking, standing in front of a Nissen hut]
Beside our Nissen hut, below sea-level at Llandwrog, N. Wales,
[black and white photograph of Herbert Adams standing at the bottom of steps at Caernarvon Castle]
At one of the entrances to Caernarvon Castle.
When Val & I revisited in 1994, Val took a photo of me in the same spot.
[page break]
[cutting with photograph detailing the Tail Drift Sight, Mk. IVA]
We seldom used the tail drift sight, preferring to use the bombsight fitted to the Ansons, (not all) but the Fairey Battle had one something like this (simpler). Once we got on to Wellingtons (& later) we had GEE and no longer bothered to find drifts.
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Title
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The war - training
Description
An account of the resource
Writes that he joined newly formed Air Training Corps at end of 1941 as this would give an accelerated position on the waiting list for aircrew. Describes training and sports. Called up into army 3 July 1942 and describes training in basic infantry and as a driver. After exam, was offered course at technical college and position as warrant officer instructor but turned it down. Called up into Royal Australian Air Force 12 September 1942 and initial training at RAAF Bradfield Park and writes about training there. Describes coordination test as pilot which he believed he fails and opting for navigator training. Posted to Cootamundra he fell ill which delayed his course but when recovered goes on to describe his early navigator training on Anson. There followed in August 1932 bombing and air gunnery training school at RAAF Evans Head where he flew in Fairy Battle followed by astro-navigation course at Parkes NSW. He then goes on to describe his journey to the United Kingdom(departed 26 November 1943) via the United State (crossed by train) and then by ship from New York to Greenock. Covers activities in England in Brighton and other locations before training in North Wales on Anson which he describes in detail. Memoire also contains photographs of people, aircraft and places as well as a diagram of the tail drift sight MkIVA.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
H G Adams
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Thirty page handwritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BAdamsHGAdamsHGv3
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Australia
New South Wales--Ashfield
New South Wales--Liverpool
New South Wales--Lindfield
New South Wales--Evans Head
New South Wales--Parkes
United States
California--San Francisco
Illinois--Chicago
New York (State)--New York
Great Britain
Scotland--Greenock
England--Sussex
England--Brighton
England--Berkshire
England--Eton
England--Windsor (Windsor and Maidenhead)
California
Illinois
New York (State)
New South Wales
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07-03
1942-08-20
1943-10-22
1943-12-22
1944-01-01
1943-10-26
1944-06-21
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Anson
Battle
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
Bombing and Gunnery School
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
Nissen hut
Pathfinders
RAF Llandwrog
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill,
Hut 20. A.T.W.,
R.A.F. Station,
W. Freugh
Stranraer.
Scotland.
Sat. 8.8.42.
Dear Auntie,
I’m afraid you’ll be thinking that I’ve more or less disappeared from the civilized world! I [underlined] am [/underlined] pretty far out and I don’t seem to get many letters written other than to home and David, who is now in the Navy. But be sure I’m often thinking about you and mother keeps me in touch with news of you all.
You must forgive me for not having been over during my not very frequent leaves but I feel that I simply [underlined] can’t [/underlined] leave dear old Potter Hill for a minute longer than neccessary. [sic] However, one of these days you’ll be having me turn up. Now [underlined] you [/underlined] should
[page break]
have gone over to Potter Hill for a fortnight or so & then I might have seen you.
I did enjoy my last leave, though it was over very quickly and such a lot of it was taken up with rushing to see people who lived near enough to expect a visit – or more! They were all very very [sic] good but next time I think I’ll put a notice in the paper when I shall be giving interviews [underlined] at home [/underlined]!
Everything was going on much as usual at home and yet it’s so obvious even there that there is still a war on. The aerodrome has crept nearer and monster bombers are for ever roaring over head. How I hate to think of them being there and its my dearest wish that the entire bag of tricks disappears to give way to farms and fields and woods again after this war. However I wasn’t alone having a flip in one of them whilst on leave. It
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
wasn't much of a change from work but it was interesting to have a look down at familiar places. Harry’s getting better very slowly. Its been a rotten time for the old lad. Ros has been having her teeth out and I think he’ll be better when he can get his out. The youngest member of the family, however is doing fine. Never has there been such a sturdy brown boy. He’s as good as gold but full of life.
The garden was looking splendid. Mary has certainly put some work into it. I’d some very good feeds of [deleted] straw [/deleted] raspberries and cream and other things from it. I did enjoy eating at home. I miss the good food I’ve always been used to more than anything. But they [underlined] were [/underlined] good at home – obviously been [deleted] scaping [/deleted] scheming and saving for weeks to get something simply delicious for every meal. It made me feel like weeping sometimes when I looked at the good things they’d got ready for me. Camp food has
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
improved during the last week but at one time I was living on enough to keep a mouse alive. Mum sends me a parcel once a fortnight or oftener and mighty welcome it is!
Mary said that you know or have known our new minister. I’m looking forward to meeting him though I’m afraid my general attitude will be that he can never take the place of his predecessor. Mr. Goodridge has been the finest, most understanding friend. It’s to him I owe the fact that I am a Christian and a member of our church. It’s an enormous disappointment to all of us that he’s going. He is to be super in the Gainsboro’ Circuit so he’ll not be so very far away. So I shall be very interested to meet our new minister.
Life goes on here without much change Classroom work alternating with practical application in the air. I’ve now
[page break]
well over a hundred flying hours in. We have some interesting trips all over the Northerly parts of England, Wales & Ireland as well as Scotland. We are now taking the Bombing course and I’m finding it very interesting. We have still a good time to go before training is finished I hope to be having another week’s leave following the 18th September
On August 24th our Sunday evening service is taking the form of a community singing and is being broadcast at 7.30. p.m.
We are holding a “rehearsal” next Sunday So listen in if you can! I expect it will be on the Force’s programme.
Please give my best regards to all next door. I hope to see you [underlined] one [/underlined] of these days
[underlined] Billy [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his aunt
Description
An account of the resource
Catches up with news and apologises for not visiting while on leave.
Bill says he enjoyed his last leave, although he mentions that the nearby aerodrome is expanding and aircraft going overhead. He did, however, managed to get a trip in an aircraft over his local area. He continues with more home news, especially commenting on the way his family clearly worked hard to give him the best possible things to eat when he was on leave. Writes that camp food has improved in the last week, but his mother's food parcels are very welcome.
Discusses a new church minister at home, who Bill is yet to meet. Remarks that previous minister was very influential in Bill's christian conversion and church membership. Catches up with course progress and describes some trips briefly. Notes that the church at the station is having a community singing evening and it will be broadcast on the radio.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-08
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420808
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
1942-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
faith
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Swinderby
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill.
Hut 20.
The Freugh,
Stranraer.
Friday [deleted] Sat [/deleted] 7.8.42
Dear Mum,
Very many thanks for the parcel and letter which turned up this morning. I havent [sic] yet investigated the contents of the parcel as we’re all upside down but I dare say they’ll come in very handy tonight!! Pleased with the letter as I don’t write many these days & consequently don’t receive many.
I was simply shocked at the story of those bombs. David (who had just got home after walking from Newark) told me about it in great disgust in the letter I got from him tonight. I suppose we mustn’t find fault unless we know all the facts of the case but I’m glad that they were able to jettison the 4,000 lb &c anyway
[page break]
[underline] 2 [/underlined]
But if you say that you have a bit of a bomb they can’t have jettisoned all of them safe. Of course I quite see that they [underlined] may [/underlined] have been able to do no other than get rid of them there but why couldn’t they all be jettisoned O.K. Though I still think it bad to bring them back to a [deleted] overcrowded [/deleted] [inserted] thickly populated [/inserted] district like that. Still, as I said, we don’t know the true facts. I should certainly like to though. (By the way [underlined] I [/underlined] mustn’t say too much as I came back the other day with 3 bombs unaccounted for!!!) Has Mr. Henry let out any gen? Those Lancasters and the drome are a menace. I hate to think of them being so near home.
Sorry Jerry’s been bothering you lately. Glad you’ve got the hay in safely. I hope Mary’s had a successful camp. You’ll be glad when the visitors have gone Sorry Michael didn’t get a prize. But
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
never mind, he’s a grand lad.
David was home on Sat. & Sun. last but didn’t come up to see you as all he wanted to do, he said, was to get into civvies and lounge at home. He sends you all his love and has been asking if you’ve got the “Youth” finished – he thought Nip and Daddy had got a tough job. He said holiday crowds were terrible. I know there were [underlined] thousands [/underlined] on the week before – hence [underlined] our [/underlined] terrible journey. This in [underlined] spite [/underlined] of all.
This last week there’s been absolute panic in Camp as today the Air Officer Commanding announced that he was visiting us. Goodness what a scrubbing & polishing [underlined] everywhere [/underlined] Our very weedy garden plot (that is the officers & instructors garden plot) was handed to a bunch of us & we’ve made a lovely job of it. I spent all yesterday afternoon in it alone with a hoe. I must say the boys are pretty ignorant about gardening. Their efforts at digging made me want to scream
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
They didn’t know weeds from vegetables & thought I was a magician when I produced carrots and peas from a maze of greenery. They must have been dim not to know [underlined] they [/underlined] were there. We had a terrible time in the barrack – leaving it in sparkling nakedness. It’s very awkward as our things have to be hidden away and after all the A.O.C. now isn’t turning up until Sunday. What is worse this awful bulsh. Has to be kept up permanently – some hope! It’s crazy to expect it. We’re planning mutiny.
Nothing at all interesting has happened this week. We had our interim Bombing Theory exam. this morning. Got our leave confirmed – 6 weeks today. 18th September.
Love to all
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[inserted] P.S. Enclosing a few gaspers for Harry. Hope they’re alright. The boys complain that they give them a sore throat. Also sending 2 books I’ve got finished reading. The girls might be interest in the butterfly one.
I’ve just done one of the best drawings I’ve ever done – one of [deleted] the [/deleted] Hut 20 going to bed. 40 beds & 40 airmen! The boys have grabbed it & pinned it on the wall but when they’ve grown tired of it I’ll send it home.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Bill thanks her for her parcel and letter. Shocked by story of bombs jettisoned by friendly aircraft but shouldn't judge until know the facts. Worried about Lancaster base being so close to home ('Those Lancasters and the drome are a menace').
Catches up with friends and family news. He also writes that the Air Officer Commanding is visiting the base and that they have been busy cleaning and tidying. He has also been tidying up the garden outside their hut but was amazed at the ignorance of the other men about gardening. Has had interim bombing theory exam. Mentions he has just finished a drawing of hut 20 going to bed.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-07
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420807
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
Lancaster
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
RAF West Freugh
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Akrill, William
Billy Akrill
W Akrill
Description
An account of the resource
132 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Akrill (1922 - 1943, 1436220 Royal Air Force). He was a navigator with 115 Squadron. His Wellington was shot down by a night-fighter on an operation to Essen and crashed into the Ijsselmeer 12/13 March 1943. The collection contains his photographs, letters, and cartoons as well as an oral history interview with Michael and Ann Akrill about their uncle. There is also a subcollection of letters written as a teenage boy to his father in hospital. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael and Ann Akrill and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Additional information on William Akrill is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/200183/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/akrill-we/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-12-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Akrill, M-A
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 1436220 L.A.C. AKRILL
Hut 20. A.T.W.,
R.A.F. Station,
[deleted] Tue [/deleted] West Freugh,
AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY STRANRAER
MONDAY 1942 Scotland.
Dear Mum,
No end pleased to get your letter on Sat. Thought you seemed so worried over my bit of a sting I’d better let you know that it’s quite O.K. Forgot to mention it when I wrote last. All that’s left is a scar where the blister formed. I thought the other hand was going to follow suit when a thundering great bot-fly bit it & it swelled for a day. I think my blood must be turning sour to let such little things affect me!
Hope your [sic] not having too terrible a time with Mrs. H. going frantic & with the Terrible Infant. I suppose you wouldn’t mind having him alone.
Expect Mary will be camping this week. Is Nip with her as well? Hope the weather’s more settled though
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
I have my doubts. Hope you can get the 16 acre alright anyway.
Some very good news about [underlined] food [underlined]. As from yesterday morning the cadets get a mess of their own - a part of the Corporal’s Mess in fact. Afraid it may do something towards creating ill-feeling among the Ground Staff, but Air Crew does [sic] need a special diet. Yesterday for the first time here I had 3 [underlined] good [/underlined] meals. Breakfast - cornflakes, scrambled eggs (real) & beautifully cooked bacon, bread & butter, plenty of marmalade & buiscuits. [sic]. [deleted] The [/deleted] Dinner - Roast beef. New potatoes done beautifully in mint & some delicious green peas. Sultana roll & sauce. Those potatoes & peas were a treat. Tea - salad, - with tomatoe [sic] radishes & onions, cake b & b & jam. Well I ask for nothing better than that. Today breakfast was more on the old standards but dinner & tea were fine. Whats more the place is
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
kept quite clean, with white oilcloth table cloths, sweet bread, & little pots of jam. The Waafs are clean too. I still can’t believe it’s true & [underlined] can’t [/underlined] believe it will last. I’ve even sat down to eat with an appetite & got up feeling full & satisfied. Up to yesterday I’d eaten about enough to keep a mouse alive since getting back.
We had an interesting trip the other day up to a lovely wee town among the pine forests of the Highlands not far from Aberdeen. We passed close by Glasgow, Edinboro’ & Dundee & had a magnificent view of the Tay & Forth Bridges. We are night flying tonight - worse luck.
Must tell you this. Listen in a fortnight next Sunday night 24 [underlined] th [/underlined] August. Our weekly service in the Scotch Hut is being broadcast. I don’t know quite what time it will
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
be. We normally hold it at 8 o’clock but I suppose it will have to fall in with B.B.C. programmes. I think the Padre will be very good. The [inserted] Camp [/inserted] Male Voice Choir & some Waafs will sit in the front to do the singing but I hope to be there as usual unless flying or lectures keep me back. So look out for announcement for a “Service from an Air Force Camp somewhere in Scotland” Possibly it’s the usual “ Sunday Half Hour” on the force’s at 7.30. every Sunday when they have community Hymn Singing. I was late for the Service last night & didn’t quite get all the gen.
Well there’s not much to tell you. Be seeing you 6 weeks on Saturday. Not long really for there’s tons of work to be done & it will soon pass - for me anyway. Think David was home last week end. Hope Ros’s teeth are not bothering her. Love [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of insect bite and catches up with family news.
Excited that cadets now have own mess and, although not popular with the ground crew, aircrew need a special diet. Food is now much better and describes meals. Writes of flight up to near Aberdeen and about their weekly service in the 'Scotch Hut' which was to be broadcast on the BBC.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robin Christain
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAkrillWEAkrill{Mo}4208XX
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Akrill
faith
ground personnel
mess
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF West Freugh
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/11929/[1]DAVID AND THE RAF2 [2].pdf
35b5401702ea96880cafe22e9866fad0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
DAVID AND THE RAF
My brother David’s very distinguished wartime career with the RAF - two DSOs and a DFC, and promotion to Wing Commander at 28 - warrants a separate appendix to these family notes. He has kindly helped me to compile it by giving me the run of his log books, and I have supplemented them from a number of other sources.
He became interested in flying in the early 1930s. I recall him taking his small brother of 9 or 10 to an air show at Eastleigh and abandoning him while he went up as passenger in a Tiger Moth doing aerobatics. That may well have given him the incentive to join the RAF Volunteer Reserve in 1934 as a weekend pilot. He did much of his training at Hamble, on the Solent. When war broke out in September 1939 he was called up immediately and had to abandon his legal training. He spent the “phoney war” towing target drogues at a bombing and gunnery school at Evanton in Scotland. His log books show him rated as an “average” pilot.
At the end of April 1940, just before the Germans attacked in the West, he went to Brize Norton for intermediate training (earning an “above-average” rating) and then to Harwell for operational training on Wellingtons, the main twin-engined heavy bomber of the early war years. On 20th September, just as the Battle of Britain was ending, he was posted to his first operational squadron, No 149, part of No 3 Group, at the big pre-war air station at Mildenhall. His first operational sortie was over Calais towards the end of September, no doubt to attack the invasion barges.
Over the following five months he took part in some 31 night raids. The German defence at this time was relatively feeble by comparison with what was to follow, and so the tour was correspondingly tolerable; however bitter experience had shown that day bombing was much too costly, and the night bombing techniques were very inaccurate. His first raid on Berlin, at the end of October, was particularly eventful; they got hopelessly lost on their return, came in over Bristol, and ended up over Clacton as dawn was breaking with very little fuel left. There both the Army and the Navy opened up on them, and even the Home Guard succeeded in putting a bullet through the wing. They eventually made a forced crash landing at St Osyth. The Home Guard commander, a retired general, entertained him generously and he finally got back to Mildenhall where his Group Captain forgave him for the damaged aircraft and advised him to go out and get drunk. He took the advice, and in the pub he met a WAAF whom he married eight months later (maybe that is why he remembers that particular day so well.)
The gauntlet of Friendly Fire seems to have been a not uncommon hazard to be faced. On another occasion, when he had to make three circuits returning to Mildenhall, the airfield machine gunners opened fire on him from ground level; he thought they were higher up and judged his height accordingly, and narrowly missed the radio masts which were not, as he thought, below him.
The longest raids on this tour were trips of over ten hours to Italy: to Venice, which they overflew at low level, and to the Fiat works at Turin. He described the latter raid, and the spectacular views of the Alps it afforded, in a BBC broadcast in December 1940. The commonest targets were the Ruhr and other German cities, and some raids were made at lower level on shipping in French ports. The raid which won him the DFC was on 22nd November, on Merignac aerodrome near Bordeaux, which “difficult target he attacked from a height of 1,500 feet and successfully bombed hangars, causing large fires and explosions. As a result of his efforts the task of following aircraft was made easier ......... He has at all times displayed conspicuous determination and devotion to duty.”
It was at Mildenhall that he featured in a series of propaganda photos by Cecil Beaton,
“A Day in the Life of a Bomber Pilot”; they were given a good deal of publicity and in fact David appears in one of them on the cover of the recently published video of the 1941 propaganda film “Target for Tonight”, also made with the help of 149 Squadron - though he did not take part in the film. Beaton describes the occasion at some length in his published diaries, though he has thoroughly scrambled the names and personalities, and he “demoted“ David from captain to co-pilot in his scenario.
On completion of this tour, early in March 1941, David was detached on secondment to the Air Ministry to assist with buying aircraft in North America, and later to ferry aircraft within North America and across the Atlantic - he flew the Atlantic at least twice in Hudsons, taking 12 hours or more.
The “chop rate” in Bomber Command increased substantially during the first half of 1941. [Footnote: The average sortie life of aircrew in the Command was never higher than 9.2 and at one time was as low as eight, and during the dark days of 1941-1943 the average survival chances of anyone starting a 30-sortie tour was consistently under 40% and sometimes under 30%. In one disastrous raid, on Nuremburg in March 1944, 795 planes set out, 94 were shot down and another 12 crashed in Britain. During the war as a whole, out of some 125,000 aircrew who served with Bomber Command, 55,500 died.] This coupled with increasing doubts about the value of the results obtained led to a serious decline in aircrew morale. During the summer of 1941 the Germans had considerable success with intruders - fighter aircraft attacking the bombers as they took off or landed at their own bases. At the end of September David returned to No 3 Group and joined No 57 Squadron at Feltwell, still with Wellingtons. His third raid, over Dusseldorf on October 13th, was particularly difficult; they were badly shot up and with their hydraulics out of action they crash landed at Marham on their return. After two more raids the strain finally proved too much and he was admitted to hospital just before Christmas 1941; for the next two months he was there or on sick leave. From then until mid-July he was Group Tactical Officer at HQ No 3 Group, and not directly involved in operations. In July 1942 he was posted to No 15 Operational Training Unit, at Harwell and Hampstead Norris, where he spent six months as a flight commander flying Ansons and Wellingtons, though he did participate in one raid on Dusseldorf while he was there.
In spite of the appointment of Harris early in 1942 and the introduction of the Gee radio navigational aid, results were still considered disappointing, particularly over the Ruhr, and serious questions were raised about the future of Bomber Command. To improve matters, in August 1942 the elite Pathfinder Force was set up under Don Bennett, albeit in the face of considerable opposition from most of the group commanders who were reluctant to lose their best crews to it. At least initially, all the crews joining it had to be volunteers, and to be ready to undertake extended tours. Their task was to fly ahead of the Main Force in four waves: the Supporters, mainly less experienced crew carrying HE bombs, who were to saturate the defences and draw the flak; the Illuminators, who lit up the aiming point with flares; and the Primary Markers and Backers Up who marked the aiming point with indicators. Their methods became more and more refined as the war went on. The increased accuracy required of them, and their position at the head of the bomber stream, inevitably exposed them to greater danger and a higher casualty rate than those of the Main Force.
No 156 Squadron was one of the original units in the Force; it operated from the wartime airfield of Warboys with Wellingtons until the end of 1942 and thereafter with 4-engined Lancasters, the very successful heavy bomber which was the mainstay of Bomber Command in the later years. The squadron flew a total of 4,584 sorties with the loss of 143 aircraft - a ratio of 3.12%. David joined it in January 1943, again as a flight commander. In the following four months he carried out a further 23 raids (all but one as a pathfinder) in Lancasters. The log books note occasional problems - “coned”, “shot up on way in”, “slight flak damage”, and so on. [Footnote: "Coned" = caught in a cone of converging searchlights, an experience which he says put him off hunting for life.] Much of the period became known as the Battle of the Ruhr, though other targets were also being attacked. He told me once that the raid he was really proud to have been on was the one where instead of marking the targeted town (I think Dortmund) they marked in error a nearby wood, which the main force behind them duly obliterated; only after the war did the Germans express their admiration for the British Intelligence which had identified the highly secret installation hidden in the wood.........
One of the pages in his log book has a cutting from the Times inserted, evidently dated some years later, recalling how in April 1943 the spring came very early and the hedges were billowing with white hawthorn blossom. This puzzled me until I read in a book on 156 Squadron how that blossom had come to have the same significance for them as the Flanders poppies of the 1914-1918 war.
David was promoted to Wing Commander half way through the tour (pathfinders rated one rank above the comparable level elsewhere), and awarded the DSO towards the end of it. The recommendation for this said that he had “at all times pressed home his attacks with the utmost determination and courage in the face of heavy ground defences and fighters. As a pilot he shows powers of leadership and airmanship which have set an outstanding example to the rest of the squadron” - and Bennett himself added, noting that David had just flown four operational sorties in the last five days, “he has provided an example of determination and devotion to duty which it would be difficult to equal.”
On the end of this tour in June 1943, he was sent to command No 1667 Conversion Unit at Lindholme and later Faldingworth. In December 1943 he transferred to a staff appointment at the headquarters of the newly formed 100 (SD) Group at West Raynham and later Bylaugh Hall. At this stage in the war the methods of attack and defence were growing increasingly complex, and this group was formed as a Bomber Support Group, including nightfighters, deceptive measures, and radio countermeasures (RCM). In June 1944, just after D-Day, he was given command of No 192 (SD) Squadron based at Foulsham, another wartime airfield. This squadron had been formed in January 1943 as a specialist RCM unit, and it pioneered this type of operation in Bomber Command; it flew more sorties and suffered more losses (19 aircraft) than any other RCM squadron. While RCM and electronic intelligence were its primary purpose, its aircraft often carried bombs and dropped them on the Main Force targets. RCM took a number of forms - swamping enemy radar and jamming it with “window” tinfoil, looking for new radar types and gaps in its coverage, deceptive R/T transmissions to nightfighters, and so on - and one of the attractions of the work was the considerable measure of autonomy, and the freedom to plan their own operations. These extended to tasks such as searching for V2 launch sites (recorded as “whizzers” in David’s log book) and trying to identify the radio signals associated with them, and supporting the invasion of Walcheren in September. The squadron was equipped with Wellingtons (phased out at the end of 1944), Halifaxes and Mosquitoes, plus a detachment of USAAF Lightnings.
This role was the climax of his career, and lasted until the end of the war and after. It involved him in 25 operational sorties, all in Halifax IIIs, the much improved version of this initially disappointing 4-engined heavy bomber. They carried special electronic equipment and an extra crew member known as the Special Operator. The record of these sorties in the log books, for the most part so formal and statistical up to this point, becomes a little more anecdotal: “rubber-necking on beach” (when he took two senior officers to see the breaching of the dykes at Walcheren), “Munster shambles”, “Lanc blew up and made small hole in aircraft [but only] 4 lost out of 1200!” The furthest east he went was to Gdynia in Poland; on returning from there he had the privilege of becoming the first heavy aircraft to land at Foulsham using the FIDO fog dispersal system. “Finger Finger Fido” was the cryptic comment in the log book.
A number of these sorties were daytime; on one of them, on September 13th, he was chased home by two ME109s which made six attacks on him. One of them opened fire but thanks to violent evasive action his aircraft was undamaged: his own gunners never got a chance to fire. No doubt it was skill of this sort, as well as his survival record, which gave his crew great faith in David’s ability to get them home safely. An encounter on December 29th 1944, on a Window patrol over the Ruhr, was not quite so satisfying; they claimed to have damaged a Ju88 which subsequently proved to be an unhurt Mosquito X from Swannington - and the Mosquito had identified them as a Lancaster. The log entry concludes “Oh dear. FIDO landing, flew into ground. What a day.”
He was awarded a bar to his DSO in July 1945. The recommendation, made in March, recorded that “since being posted to his present squadron he has carried out every one of his sorties in the same exemplary fashion and has set his crews an extremely high standard of devotion to duty and bravery. This standard has had a direct influence on the whole specialist work of the squadron.
“He has been personally responsible for the planning of all the sorties carried out by his special duty unit and by his brilliant understanding and quick appreciation of the everchanging nature of the investigational role of his squadron, much of the success of the investigations performed by his aircraft can be attributed to him. He has shown himself to be fearless and cool in the face of danger, and towards the end of his tour made a point of putting himself on the most arduous and difficult operations.
“Both on the ground and in the air he has been untiring and has not spared himself in his efforts to get his squadron up to the high standard which it has now reached.”
The squadron was disbanded in September, by which time David had completed 501 hours of operations against the enemy in 86 sorties, the great majority of them as captain of his aircraft. He had no ambition to make a permanent career in the RAF; he has commented to Richard that this fact gave him a degree of independence in his dealing with his superiors that he thinks they appreciated and valued. He was demobilised in November and returned to his interrupted law studies.
* * * * * * * * * *
I showed these notes to David, who thought them well written but suggested that they gave a twisted view of the reality - a reaction that I can understand. Since then, however, I have managed to contact one man who flew with David: H B (Hank) Cooper DSO DFC, who first met David in 149 Squadron which he joined in January 1941 as a wireless operator / air gunner for his first tour, and later did two tours as a Special Operator in 192 Squadron, the second of them under David's command. On two occasions he flew as a member of David's crew.
He has written of David that "he was always completely fearless and outstandingly brave and pressed home his attacks to the uttermost. As the Squadron's CO he generated loyalty and warmth, he was an outstanding model to follow. He spent much trouble and time encouraging his junior air crews as well as helping and seeing to the needs of the ground technicians who serviced the aircraft, generally in cold and difficult conditions. He was completely non-boastful, in fact he belittled his own actions (which were always of the highest order) when discussing air operations. [That rings very true!] He was an outstanding squadron commander in all respects, much liked and completely respected by all his air crews and ground crews."
G N D
March 2002
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
David and the RAF
Description
An account of the resource
Account of Wing Commander David Donaldson's RAF career from his early interest in flying and joining the Royal Air Force volunteer reserve in 1934, call up in 1939 and operational tours on 149 Squadron, 57 Squadron, flight commander 156 Squadron pathfinders and commanding 192 (special duties) squadron. Includes training, descriptions of notable operations and incidents, postings between tours to headquarters and training units, pathfinder techniques, radio countermeasures and award of two Distinguished Service Orders and a Distinguished Flying Cross.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
G N Donaldson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2002-03
Format
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Four page printed document
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BDonaldsonGNDonaldsonDWv1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Hampshire
England--Hamble-le-Rice
England--Eastleigh
England--Oxfordshire
England--Norfolk
Scotland--Ross and Cromarty
Scotland--Evanton
England--Suffolk
England--Huntingdonshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Bristol
England--Essex
England--Clacton-on-Sea
Italy
Italy--Venice
Italy--Turin
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Dortmund
Netherlands
Netherlands--Walcheren
England--Berkshire
France
France--Bordeaux Region (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Poland
Poland--Gdynia
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
England--Yorkshire
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Gloucestershire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1934
1939
1940-04
1940-09-20
1940-10
1940-12
1941-10-22
1941
1941-04
1942
1942-07
1942-08
1943
1943-01
1943-04
1943-06
1944
1944-06
1944-09-13
1944-12-29
1945
1945-07
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Frances Grundy
100 Group
149 Squadron
15 OTU
156 Squadron
1667 HCU
192 Squadron
3 Group
57 Squadron
aircrew
Anson
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bombing
crash
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
FIDO
forced landing
Gee
Halifax
Halifax Mk 3
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hudson
Ju 88
Lancaster
Me 109
Mosquito
Operational Training Unit
P-38
Pathfinders
pilot
propaganda
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Evanton
RAF Faldingworth
RAF Feltwell
RAF Foulsham
RAF Hampstead Norris
RAF Harwell
RAF Lindholme
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Warboys
RAF West Raynham
target indicator
training
Wellington
Window
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2512/44647/LDaviesDC1304355v2.1.pdf
e7444f6cd871fcca68f00c50e4ff7814
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Davies, David Charles
Davies, D C
Description
An account of the resource
36 items. The collection concerns David Charles Davies DFC (b. 1920, 1304355 Royal Air Force) and contains documents, photographs and two log books, one being the copy of the other. The collection also includes <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2584">one album with photos of personnel and aircraft</a>. <br /><br />He flew operations as a gunner, wireless operator and bomb aimer with 61 Squadron. David was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal on 12 March 1943 after completing 33 operations. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Michael Davies and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-10-01
2020-02-26
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Davies, DC
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Charles Davies' observer's and air gunner's flying log book
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Wiltshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Yorkshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Cornwall (County)
France
France--Paris
France--Lorient
France--Toulouse
France--Tours
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
France--Saumur
France--Caen
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Lübeck
Germany--Hamburg
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Munich
Germany--Saarlouis
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Essen
Germany--Wismar
Germany--Aachen
Italy
Italy--Genoa
Italy--Milan
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
France--Châteauroux
Germany--Braunschweig
France--Saint-Médard-en-Jalles
France--Saint-Pierre-du-Mont (Landes)
France--Argentan
France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)
France--Donges
France--Creil
Ireland
Ireland--Waterford
Scotland--Drem
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Bedfordshire
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Düsseldorf
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
<span>Observer's and air gunner's flying log book for David Charles Davies from November 1940 to 24 March 1948 detailing his training, operational and post conflict duties. Training was with No.5 Air Observer's School at RAF Jurby and Operational Training Units at RAF Finningley and RAF Bircotes. Aircraft flown in were, Dominie, Proctor, Blenhiem, Anson, Wellington, Manchester, Oxford, Lancaster, Halifax and Stirling, He flew a total of 59 operations all with 61 Squadron, 11 daylight and 48 night operations. Pilots flown with were Pilot Officer Clarke, Flight Sergeant Turner, Squadron Leader Deas, Flight Officer Foster and Squadron Leader Beard. David flew as bomb aimer in 52 operations, wireless operator/gunner in five and air gunner in two. The operations were to Paris, Lorient, Essen, Cologne, Lübeck, Hamburg, Saarbrücken, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Kassel, Nuremberg, Saarlouis, Karlsruhe, Bremen, Duisburg, Wismar, Aachen, Genoa, Milan, Berlin, Leipzig, Schweinfurt, Stuttgart, Châteauroux, Toulouse, Tours, Brunswick, Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, Saumur, Cherbourg, St. Pierre du Mont (Landes), Argentan, Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais), Caen, Donges, Creil, in the Baltic Sea, Atlantic Ocean and North Sea including anti sub patrols, convoy escort and dinghy search.</span>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One log book
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LDaviesDC1304355v2
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-02-24
1942-02-25
1942-03-09
1942-03-10
1942-03-11
1942-03-13
1942-03-14
1942-04-28
1942-04-29
1942-04-08
1942-04-09
1942-07-23
1942-07-26
1942-07-29
1942-07-30
1942-07-31
1942-08-01
1942-08-13
1942-08-15
1942-08-18
1942-08-19
1942-08-21
1942-08-24
1942-08-25
1942-08-27
1942-08-28
1942-08-29
1942-09-01
1942-09-02
1942-09-03
1942-09-04
1942-09-05
1942-09-06
1942-09-07
1942-09-08
1942-09-09
1942-09-10
1942-09-11
1942-09-13
1942-09-14
1942-09-16
1942-09-17
1942-10-01
1942-10-02
1942-10-05
1942-10-06
1942-10-12
1942-10-13
1942-10-22
1942-10-23
1942-10-24
1942-11-07
1942-11-08
1942-11-17
1942-11-18
1942-11-20
1942-11-21
1943-05-22
1943-12-20
1943-12-21
1943-12-23
1943-12-24
1944-01-02
1944-01-03
1944-01-28
1944-01-29
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-19
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-10
1944-03-11
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-04-05
1944-05-06
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-03
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-19
1944-06-20
1944-07-18
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-08-03
1943-12-23
1943-12-24
1944-01-02
1944-01-03
1944-01-28
1944-01-29
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-10
1944-03-11
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-04-05
1944-05-06
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-03
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-19
1944-06-20
1944-07-18
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-08-03
105 Squadron
1660 HCU
25 OTU
57 Squadron
61 Squadron
air gunner
Air Observers School
air sea rescue
aircrew
Anson
Blenheim
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
bombing of Toulouse (5/6 April 1944)
Bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944)
Cook’s tour
Distinguished Flying Medal
Dominie
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
incendiary device
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 2
Lancaster Mk 3
Manchester
mine laying
navigator
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Proctor
RAF Bishops Court
RAF Burn
RAF Compton Bassett
RAF Coningsby
RAF Feltwell
RAF Finningley
RAF Fulbeck
RAF Jurby
RAF Manby
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF St Eval
RAF Swanton Morley
RAF Swinderby
RAF Syerston
RAF Woolfox Lodge
RAF Yatesbury
Stirling
submarine
training
Wellington
wireless operator
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2512/44447/LDaviesDC1304355v1.2.pdf
1a0b6ce8cb68e5e20d65bf6a9eb6d616
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Davies, David Charles
Davies, D C
Description
An account of the resource
36 items. The collection concerns David Charles Davies DFC (b. 1920, 1304355 Royal Air Force) and contains documents, photographs and two log books, one being the copy of the other. The collection also includes <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2584">one album with photos of personnel and aircraft</a>. <br /><br />He flew operations as a gunner, wireless operator and bomb aimer with 61 Squadron. David was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal on 12 March 1943 after completing 33 operations. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Michael Davies and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-10-01
2020-02-26
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Davies, DC
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Charles Davies' observer's and air gunner's flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
Observer's and air gunner's flying log book for David Charles Davies from November 1940 to 24 March 1948 detailing his training, operational and post conflict duties. Training was with No.5 Air Observer's School at RAF Jurby and Operational Training Units at RAF Finningley and RAF Bircotes. Aircraft flown in were, Dominie, Proctor, Blenhiem, Anson, Wellington, Manchester, Oxford, Lancaster, Halifax and Stirling, He flew a total of 59 operations all with 61 Squadron, 11 daylight and 48 night operations. Pilots flown with were Pilot Officer Clarke, Flight Sergeant Turner, Squadron Leader Deas, Flight Officer Foster and Squadron Leader Beard. David flew as bomb aimer in 52 operations, wireless operator/gunner in five and air gunner in two. The operations were to Paris, Lorient, Essen, Cologne, Lübeck, Hamburg, Saarbrücken, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Kassel, Nuremberg, Saarlouis, Karlsruhe, Bremen, Duisburg, Wismar, Aachen, Genoa, Milan, Berlin, Leipzig, Schweinfurt, Stuttgart, Châteauroux, Toulouse, Tours, Brunswick, Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, Saumur, Cherbourg, St. Pierre du Mont (Landes), Argentan, Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais), Caen, Donges, Creil, in the Baltic Sea, Atlantic Ocean and North Sea including anti sub patrols, convoy escort and dinghy search.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-02-24
1942-02-25
1942-03-09
1942-03-10
1942-03-11
1942-03-13
1942-03-14
1942-03-28
1942-03-29
1942-04-08
1942-04-09
1942-07-23
1942-07-26
1942-07-29
1942-07-30
1942-07-31
1942-08-01
1942-08-13
1942-08-15
1942-08-18
1942-08-19
1942-08-21
1942-08-24
1942-08-25
1942-08-27
1942-08-28
1942-08-29
1942-09-01
1942-09-02
1942-09-02
1942-09-03
1942-09-04
1942-09-06
1942-09-07
1942-09-08
1942-09-09
1942-09-10
1942-09-11
1942-09-13
1942-09-14
1942-09-16
1942-09-17
1942-10-01
1943-10-02
1942-10-05
1942-10-06
1942-10-12
1942-10-13
1942-10-22
1942-10-23
1942-10-24
1942-11-07
1942-11-08
1942-11-17
1942-11-18
1942-11-20
1942-11-21
1943-05-22
1943-12-20
1943-12-21
1943-12-23
1942-12-24
1944-01-02
1944-01-03
1944-01-28
1944-01-29
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-10
1944-03-11
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-04-05
1944-04-06
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-03
1944-06-04
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-19
1944-06-20
1944-07-18
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-08-03
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lancashire
England--Wiltshire
England--Norfolk
England--Yorkshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Hampshire
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
France
France--Paris
France--Lorient
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Germany--Essen
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Lübeck
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Munich
Germany--Saarlouis
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Wismar
Germany--Aachen
Italy
Italy--Genoa
Italy--Milan
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
France--Châteauroux
France--Toulouse
France--Tours
France--Saint-Médard-en-Jalles
France--Saumur
France--Cherbourg
France--Saint-Pierre-du-Mont (Landes)
France--Argentan
France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)
France--Caen
France--Donges
France--Creil
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
France--Châteauroux
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Düsseldorf
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LDaviesDC1304355v1
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
105 Squadron
1660 HCU
25 OTU
57 Squadron
61 Squadron
air gunner
Air Observers School
air sea rescue
aircrew
Anson
Blenheim
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
bombing of Toulouse (5/6 April 1944)
Bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944)
Cook’s tour
Distinguished Flying Medal
Dominie
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
incendiary device
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 2
Lancaster Mk 3
Lincoln
Manchester
mine laying
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Proctor
RAF Bishops Court
RAF Burn
RAF Compton Bassett
RAF Coningsby
RAF Feltwell
RAF Finningley
RAF Fulbeck
RAF Jurby
RAF Manby
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF St Eval
RAF Swanton Morley
RAF Swinderby
RAF Syerston
RAF Woolfox Lodge
RAF Yatesbury
Stirling
submarine
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
Wellington
wireless operator
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1954/44186/EAmpthillMBroderickJR431109-0001.2.jpg
fa580896185c88ecb89f702c6c6be45d
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1954/44186/EAmpthillMBroderickJR431109-0002.2.jpg
7392c8a9d1bdb2fd3ab50bd966df54fa
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Broderick, Kenneth James
K J Broderick
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-28
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Broderick, KJ
Description
An account of the resource
20 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Kenneth James Broderick (115109 Royal Air Force) and contains documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 106 Squadron and was killed 8/9 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Judith Conway and catalogued by Benjamin Turner. <br /><br />Additional information on Kenneth James Broderick is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/102722/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
British Red Cross letter
Description
An account of the resource
A letter from the British Red Cross and Order of St John of Jerusalem sent to Mrs Joan Broderick concerning her husband, Kenneth, whose whereabouts is still unknown. The letter includes the information of two of Kenneth's crew members, Sergeant William Curtis and Flight Sergeant Robert Woolner whose bodies been found. The letter concludes with reassurance and obtaining further information. The letter is signed by Margaret Ampthill, The Dowager Lady Ampthill.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. British Red Cross Society
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-11-09
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07-24
1942-08-06
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland--Londonderry (County)
Germany
Germany--Norderney
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One type written letter
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAmpthillMBroderickJR431109-0001, EAmpthillMBroderickJR431109-0002
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
final resting place
missing in action
Red Cross
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2514/43631/MCanniffJG652687-180420-010002.1.jpg
2a38824f224d9bdf3eb3047fbb413498
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Canniff, James
Description
An account of the resource
15 items. The collection concerns Sergeant James Canniff (652687 Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, documents, and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 106 Squadron and was killed 25 August 1942. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Kathleen Smit and catalogued by Ella Keogh. <br /><br />Additional information on James Canniff is available via <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/103632/">the IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-04-20
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Canniff, J
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Report on ceremony and inscription for Sergeant James Canniff and comrades’ death
Description
An account of the resource
Reports that the ceremony ended with the British and Dutch national anthems. Reports that Photo II was an example of a stone placed on the graves. The report includes the inscription placed on the stone of James’ grave: “652687 Sergeant J. Canniff Flight Engineer Royal Air Force 25 August 1942 Age 21 Sweet Jesus Have Mercy on His Soul”.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
W. Overduin
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08-25
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Netherlands
Netherlands--Hague
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Civilian
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten letter
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
MCanniffJG652687-180420-01
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCanniffJG652687-180420-010002
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1953
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
106 Squadron
final resting place
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2514/43473/EAirMinCanniffJ441124.1.jpg
4b9fcc032fcefd36c409052a5727d3c1
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Canniff, James
Description
An account of the resource
15 items. The collection concerns Sergeant James Canniff (652687 Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, documents, and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 106 Squadron and was killed 25 August 1942. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Kathleen Smit and catalogued by Ella Keogh. <br /><br />Additional information on James Canniff is available via <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/103632/">the IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-04-20
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Canniff, J
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Report on Sergeant James Canniff’s Death
Description
An account of the resource
Reports that following Canniff’s death he was buried in Grave 34 in the English section of the Military Cemetery at Westduin. His was buried next to two comrades, Sergeant Johnson in Grave 33 and Sergeant Collingwood in Grave 35.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Air Ministry (Casualty Branch)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-11-24
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08-25
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Netherlands
Netherlands--Hague
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Service material
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten letter
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAirMinCanniffJ441124
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
106 Squadron
aircrew
final resting place
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2470/43360/LWilliamsonF2-1061862v1.2.pdf
3ef25b6187e97a32748c53f3aa176c34
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Williamson, Frank-862
Description
An account of the resource
Four items. The collection concerns Frank Williamson (b. 1920, 1061862 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books and correspondence. He flew operations as a pilot with 102 Squadron.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Susan Ledger and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-06-21
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Williamson, F-2
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Frank Williamson’s RAF pilot’s flying log book. One
Description
An account of the resource
Frank Williamson’s RAF Pilot’s Flying Log Book from 15 December 1940 to 25 February 1943 detailing training, operations and instructional duties as a pilot. He was stationed at RAF Desford (No. 7 Elementary Flying Training School), RAF Shawbury (No. 11 Service Flying Training School), RAF Abingdon (No. 10 Operational Training Unit), RAF Leeming (No. 10 Squadron), RAF Dalton and Topcliffe (102 Squadron), RAF Melbourne (10 Squadron Conversion Flight, No. 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit) and RAF Riccall (No. 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit). Aircraft in which flown: DH82 Tiger Moth, Oxford, Whitley, Halifax.
Records 27 operations (26 night, one day, several abandoned for various reasons) on the following targets in Belgium, France and Germany (some targets not named when duties not carried out): Boulogne, Bremen, Brest, Cherbourg, Cologne, Duisberg, Essen, Hamburg (abandoned), Hamburg, Nantes, Ostend, Paris, Rostock, St. Nazaire, Stettin, Vichy, and Warnemunde. His first pilot on first four operations were Pilot Officer Godfrey, Sergeant Robertson and Pilot Officer Joyce. Also includes technical notes, several personal notes (including a poem), and two endorsements, one in green.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Text. Poetry
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Leitch
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LWilliamsonF2-1061862v1
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
England--Leicestershire
England--Oxfordshire
England--Shropshire
England--Yorkshire
Belgium--Ostend
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Brest
France--Cherbourg
France--Nantes
France--Paris
France--Saint-Nazaire
France--Vichy
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Essen
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Rostock
Poland--Szczecin
Poland
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-09-11
1941-09-12
1941-09-20
1941-09-21
1941-09-29
1941-09-30
1941-10-01
1941-10-16
1941-10-17
1941-10-28
1941-10-29
1941-10-31
1941-11-07
1941-11-08
1941-12-27
1942-01-06
1942-01-07
1942-01-08
1942-05-05
1942-05-06
1942-05-07
1942-05-08
1942-05-19
1942-05-20
1942-05-30
1942-05-31
1942-06-01
1942-06-02
1942-06-03
1942-06-05
1942-06-06
1942-06-25
1942-06-26
1942-06-27
1942-06-28
1942-07-02
1942-07-03
1942-07-08
1942-07-09
1942-07-13
1942-07-14
1942-07-21
1942-07-22
1942-07-29
1942-07-30
1942-07-31
1942-08-01
1942-08-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
10 OTU
10 Squadron
102 Squadron
1658 HCU
aircrew
bombing
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
Flying Training School
Halifax
Halifax Mk 1
Halifax Mk 2
Heavy Conversion Unit
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
pilot
RAF Abingdon
RAF Dalton
RAF Desford
RAF Leeming
RAF Melbourne
RAF Riccall
RAF Shawbury
RAF Topcliffe
Tiger Moth
training
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2363/42436/LGosneyG568331v1.2.pdf
000e64029fef9c4c9be87eb68fc0e97b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gosney, Geoffrey
Description
An account of the resource
20 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Geoffrey Gosney (b. 1919, 568331, 54247 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, service documents, and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 426, 462 and 428 Squadrons.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Susan Hassell and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-04-18
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gosney, G
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Observer's and air gunner's flying log book for Geoffrey Gosney. One
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07-12
1942-07-13
1942-07-15
1942-07-16
1942-07-24
1942-07-25
1942-07-28
1942-07-29
1942-08-04
1942-08-05
1942-08-09
1942-08-10
1942-08-13
1942-08-14
1942-08-19
1942-08-20
1942-08-23
1942-08-24
1942-08-29
1942-08-30
1942-09-13
1942-09-14
1942-10-07
1942-10-08
1942-10-12
1942-10-21
1942-10-22
1942-10-29
1942-10-30
1942-11-02
1942-11-03
1942-11-05
1942-11-06
1942-11-07
1942-11-08
1942-11-09
1944-08-09
1944-08-10
1944-08-11
1944-09-26
1944-09-28
1944-09-29
1945-01-06
1945-01-07
1945-02-07
1945-02-08
1945-02-09
1945-02-10
1945-03-21
1945-03-22
1945-03-24
1945-03-25
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
North Africa
Egypt
Egypt--Marsá Maṭrūḥ
Egypt--Halfaya Pass
Egypt--Sallūm
Libya
Libya--Tobruk
Middle East--Palestine
Israel
Israel--Yavneh
France
France--Audinghen
France--Calais
France--Coulonvillers
France--La Pallice
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Bonn
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Goch
Germany--Hanau
Germany--Mönchengladbach
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
Germany--Rheine
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Germany--Dorsten
Germany--Leverkusen
Germany--Wanne-Eickel
Great Britain
England--Gloucestershire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
Greece
Greece--Maleme
France--Cap Gris Nez
Description
An account of the resource
This log book covers the training, operational and post war flying career of Geoffrey Gosney from 2 July 1942 to 12 July 1951. It includes a cartoon of the 426 Squadron crest. Geoffrey flew 31 operations in two tours of duty, 23 of which were night operations with 10, 227, 426, 428 and 462 Squadrons. Targets in Egypt, Libya, France, Germany and Greece were Calais, Cap Gris Nez, Dorsten, Frankfurt, Goch, Hanau, Leverkusen, Maleme, Marsa Matruh, Mönchengladbach, Münster, Rheine, Sallum, Soda Bay, Tobruk and Wanne-Eickel. Pilots in operations were Squadron Leader Goldston, Sergeant Wyatt, Flight Officer McGregor, Flying Officer Kagna, Wing Commander Burgess, Flight Lieutenant Garratt, Flight Officer Brodie, Pilot Officer Fuller, Wing Commander Black and Flight Lieutenant Davies. During March, April and May Geoffrey’s duty in the Halifax VII is described in his log book as ‘’screening”. In 1946/47 he was involved in the transport of troops and the dropping of paratroopers and the transportation of freight and troops in the Middle East. Back in the UK he took part in a formation fly past over Banbury. In February 1948 his duties are again described as “screening’ in the Halifax but now with ‘Flying Wing’ at Fairford. Geoffrey remained in the Royal Air Force and served in Palestine. He took part in the Berlin Airlift, transporting coal to Berlin. Transferred to RAF Hemswell with 97 Squadron.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Transport Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LGosneyG568331v10071
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Lynn Corrigan
10 Squadron
1652 HCU
1664 HCU
227 Squadron
425 Squadron
426 Squadron
428 Squadron
462 Squadron
620 Squadron
97 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Battle
bombing
Defiant
forced landing
Halifax
Halifax Mk 1
Halifax Mk 2
Halifax Mk 3
Halifax Mk 5
Halifax Mk 7
Harrow
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Aqir
RAF Barrow in Furness
RAF Dishforth
RAF Fairford
RAF Hemswell
RAF Lyneham
Stirling
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2363/42424/PGosneyG1803.1.jpg
0fe2e84a1d713a1ed4c0bd29128f3d32
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2363/42424/PGosneyG1804.1.jpg
4fd3c0fc6fef8bf573f164635d5364cd
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gosney, Geoffrey
Description
An account of the resource
20 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Geoffrey Gosney (b. 1919, 568331, 54247 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, service documents, and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 426, 462 and 428 Squadrons.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Susan Hassell and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-04-18
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gosney, G
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Great Bitter Lake
Description
An account of the resource
Three bareheaded men in open necked desert uniform. Taken outdoors, standing on sand with a military tent to the side. Annotated on the reverse 'Great Bitter Lake August 1942'.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
North Africa
Egypt
Egypt--Suez Canal
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PGosneyG1803, PGosneyG1804
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
aircrew
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2308/41998/PEwingRL19010013.1.jpg
a72bbf5812c87aae12f29948a0fb974f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ewing, Robert Logan. Photo Album
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-11-16
2019-12-04
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Ewing, RL
Description
An account of the resource
37 items. Contains photographs of his service life including pictures of RAF Wigsley.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Norrie and Lancasters in Operations
Description
An account of the resource
#1 is a side head and shoulders portrait of Norrie annotated 'Sincere Regards to my Pal Doc 23/8/42'.
#2 is a silhouetted Lancaster captioned 'Aircraft LS-T No 15 Squadron Frankfurt 11/4/43'.
#3 is a Lancaster on the ground with the sun setting.
#4 is a Lancaster in flight silhouetted by the sun, captioned 'Aircraft JO-E No 467 Squadron Berlin 28/1/44'.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Berlin
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four b/w photographs on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PEwingRL19010013
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08-23
1944-04-11
1944-01-28
15 Squadron
467 Squadron
aircrew
Lancaster
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2259/41541/PExtonWallaceJ18020001.2.jpg
19776a188c7c0dbeacca4e33c53beefe
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2259/41541/PExtonWallaceJ18020002.2.jpg
f884bc41b069db0166133a629399c67e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Exton, Joyce
Wallace, Joyce
Spencer, Joyce
Description
An account of the resource
31 items.
The collection concerns Joy Wallace (b. 1923, Royal Air Force) and contains photographs and her audio recollections from the war. She served in Balloon Command.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Tracy Louise Sparkes and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-03-06
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ExtonWallace, J
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Royal Canadian Women's Auxiliary
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-08-27
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PExtonWallaceJ18020001, PExtonWallaceJ18020002
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Description
An account of the resource
A member of the Royal Canadian Women's Auxiliary wearing corporal stripes, cap and badge. The reverse is date stamped 27 August 1942.
Additional information about this item was kindly provided by the donor.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-27
ground personnel
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2290/41508/LJasinskiT780866v1.2.pdf
ef1421141c0652fa67b0a234e9bea737
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Jasinski, Tadeusz
Description
An account of the resource
Seven items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Tadeusz Jasinski (1918 - 2003, 780866 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs and medals. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 304 Squadron.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nicholas Jasinski and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-06-24
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Jasinski, T
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Tadeusz Jasinski’s Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LJasinskiT780866v1
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Description
An account of the resource
Tadeusz Jasinski’s Flying Log Book as a wireless operator from 9 May 1941 to 14 October 1945. Carried out training at No. 2 Signal School, 4 Air Observer School (air gunner training) and 18 OTU, Posted to 304 (Polish) squadron for operations in January 1942. Undertook bombing operations and then anti-submarine sweeps when squadron was transferred to Coastal Command. In February 1944 posted to 216 Squadron (Transport Command) based in the Middle East. From November 1944, posted to 167 Squadron. His final posting was to 301 Squadron in July 1945.
Served at RAF Yatesbury, RAF West Freugh, RAF Bramcote, RAF Bitteswell, RAF Lindholme, RAF Tiree, RAF Dale, RAF Cairo West (LG224), RAF Holmsley South, RAF Blackbushe, RAF North Weald. Aircraft flown were Dominie, Proctor, Battle, Wellington, Tiger Moth, C47, B24, Warwick,
Flew on 14 bombing operations (1 day and 13 night) and 39 day anti-submarine sweeps with 304 Squadron. The bombing targets were Boulogne, Emden, Dunkerque, Cologne, Hamburg, Essen, Dortmund, Hamburg, Rostock, Bordeaux, Bremen. The anti-submarine sweeps were over the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay.
His pilots on operations were Flying Officer Kucharski (35 operations), Sergeant Janski (1 operation), Flying Officer Zurek (16 operations), Sergeant Gotebiowski (1 operation).
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-01-28
1942-01-29
1942-03-12
1942-03-13
1942-04-05
1942-04-06
1942-04-08
1942-04-09
1942-04-10
1942-04-11
1942-04-12
1942-04-13
1942-04-14
1942-04-15
1942-04-17
1942-04-18
1942-04-23
1942-04-24
1942-04-25
1942-04-26
1942-04-27
1942-05-18
1942-05-20
1942-05-23
1942-05-26
1942-05-27
1942-05-31
1942-06-05
1942-06-07
1942-06-25
1942-06-26
1942-07-18
1942-07-22
1942-07-29
1942-07-30
1942-08-01
1942-08-09
1942-08-11
1942-08-13
1942-08-17
1942-08-19
1942-09-02
1942-09-06
1942-09-10
1942-09-14
1942-09-17
1942-09-18
1942-09-24
1942-09-26
1942-09-30
1942-10-16
1942-10-21
1942-10-25
1942-10-29
1942-11-12
1942-11-14
1942-11-18
1942-11-20
1942-11-22
1942-11-26
1942-11-28
1942-12-02
1942-12-22
1942-12-30
1943
1944
1945
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Essex
England--Hampshire
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Warwickshire
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
Scotland--Argyll and Bute
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Wales--Pembrokeshire
North Africa
Egypt
Egypt--Cairo
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)
Germany--Essen
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Rostock
France
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Dunkerque
Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Royal Air Force. Transport Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Nick Cornwell-Smith
167 Squadron
18 OTU
216 Squadron
3 Group
301 Squadron
304 Squadron
aircrew
B-24
Battle
C-47
Dominie
Operational Training Unit
Proctor
RAF Bitteswell
RAF Bramcote
RAF Dale
RAF Hartford Bridge
RAF Holmsley South
RAF Lindholme
RAF North Weald
RAF Tiree
RAF West Freugh
RAF Yatesbury
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2238/41416/LFairbanksLW10611800v1.1.pdf
be60bc44ce85466f33f4cf324d15618d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Fairbanks, Leonard William
Fairbanks, LW
Description
An account of the resource
16 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Leonard William Fairbanks (b. 1911, 1061800, 136326 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, photographs, and propaganda leaflets in French.
He flew operations as a wireless operator and a special operator with 408 and 223 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Jean Carol Carter and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-02-15
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Fairbanks, LW
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Leonard William Fairbanks' Observer' and Air Gunner's Flying Log Book
Description
An account of the resource
Leonard William Fairbanks' log book covering two tours from 3 January 1941 to 15 April 1945, detailing his training schedule and operations flown. Training was undertaken at Air Gunnery School at RAF Stormy Down, 25 OTU RAF Finningley, 25 OTU RAF Balderton and 20 OTU Lossiemouth. Operations were flown with 408 Squadron, RAF Leeming and 223 Squadron RAF Oulton. Aircraft flown were Dominie, Proctor, Whitley MK1, Wellington, Hampden, Oxford, Halifax, B-24 and Anson. The first tour, with 408 Squadron, comprised 28 night operations to Brest, La Rochelle, Wilhelmshaven, Paris, Heligoland, Rennes, Emden, Essen, Lorient, Bremen, Saarbrücken, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Osnabrück, Flensburg, Frisian Islands, Turin and Berlin. Many of the second tour's 20 nightime operations, with 223 Squadron, provided Window cover for the main force in addition to shore patrols. Target areas were the Ruhr, Dortmund-Ems Canal, Friedrichshafen, Bremen, Mannheim, Münster, Hagen, Würzburg, Kassel, Hamburg and Berlin. His duties were as air gunner, wireless operator and special operator. The pilots on operations were Sergeant Anderson, Flight Sergeant Wood, Sergeant Locker, Sergeant Jennings, Sergeant Ross, Sergeant Bell, Pilot Officer Kaye, Wing Commander Ferris, Squadron Leader Carrington, Flight Officer Thompson, Flight Lieutenant Allnutt, Flight Lieutenant Allnutt, Flight Lieutenant Croft and Flight Lieutenant Levy. Leonard was described as being 'an average air gunner' and as 'above average' with Special Duties (RCM).
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-12-14
1942-01-02
1942-01-06
1942-01-07
1942-01-10
1942-01-11
1942-05-05
1942-05-06
1942-05-07
1942-05-08
1942-05-09
1942-05-10
1942-06-01
1942-06-02
1942-06-03
1942-06-04
1942-06-06
1942-06-07
1942-06-08
1942-06-09
1942-06-16
1942-06-17
1942-06-22
1942-06-23
1942-06-25
1942-06-26
1942-07-14
1942-07-15
1942-07-16
1942-07-29
1942-07-30
1942-08-04
1942-08-05
1942-08-06
1942-08-07
1942-08-15
1942-08-16
1942-08-17
1942-08-18
1942-09-19
1942-08-28
1942-08-29
1942-09-14
1942-09-15
1943-01-21
1943-01-22
1943-02-04
1943-02-05
1943-03-12
1943-03-13
1943-03-27
1943-03-28
1944-09-19
1944-10-01
1944-10-04
1944-10-05
1944-10-15
1944-10-16
1944-11-06
1944-11-07
1944-11-10
1944-11-11
1944-11-18
1944-11-19
1944-11-25
1944-11-26
1944-11-29
1944-11-30
1945-02-03
1945-02-04
1945-02-07
1945-02-08
1945-02-13
1945-02-14
1945-02-15
1945-02-28
1945-03-01
1945-03-02
1945-03-03
1945-03-05
1945-03-06
1945-03-07
1945-03-08
1945-03-15
1945-03-16
1945-03-17
1945-03-18
1945-03-19
1945-03-30
1945-03-31
1945-04-04
1945-04-05
1945-04-08
1945-04-09
1945-04-10
1945-04-11
1945-04-13
1945-04-14
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Norfolk
Scotland--Moray
France
France--La Rochelle
France--Paris
France--Lorient
France--Rennes
France--Brest
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Germany--Helgoland
Germany--Essen
Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Flensburg
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Friedrichshafen
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
Germany--Würzburg
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Hamburg
Italy
Italy--Turin
Europe--Frisian Islands
Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg)
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LFairbanksLW10611800v1
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Lynn Corrigan
20 OTU
223 Squadron
25 OTU
408 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
B-24
bombing
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
Dominie
Halifax
Hampden
mine laying
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Proctor
RAF Balderton
RAF Finningley
RAF Leeming
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Oulton
RAF Stormy Down
training
Wellington
Whitley
Window
wireless operator