Browse Items (673 total)

  • Temporal Coverage starts with "1944-06"

PFarmerV1504.jpg
Vic Farmer volunteered for the Royal Air Force at eighteen and trained as a navigator in South Africa. He describes his experiences of crewing up and serving in 550 squadron, RAF North Killingholme. He saw action on D-Day, and participated in…

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PFilliputtiA16010053.jpg
In the sky, parachutes are floating down from aircraft and landing in the distance. Tanks from either side are engaged in battle. Black and white striped landing craft are disgorging their troops onto the beach. Many of the landing craft are engulfed…

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PFilliputtiA16010054.jpg
An airman with a parachute trailing on the ground behind him is surrounded by a boy and two military personnel. A farmer is standing nearby. The men in uniform are pointing guns at the airman whilst the local boy is moving towards him. Two aircraft…

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PFilliputtiA16010062.jpg
In a bare room, a man is chained to the wall surrounded by five other prisoners. The man at the back has a Star of David badge sewn onto his yellow shirt and is holding his hands in the air, whilst the other men appear to be shouting.

Label reads…

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MRadacichM[Ser'#-DoB]-170110-100001.jpg
Following the destruction of a church in Trieste, the leaflet contrasts the horrors of unrestricted bombing warfare with the hypocrisy of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. They describe themselves as devoutly religious despite ordering the…

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PDiniA1701.jpg
Alberto Dini reminisces his wartime life in Trieste starting from the declaration of war until the end of the conflict. Describes life under the bombs, stressing disruption of utilities, devastated streets and chequered schooling history. Describes…

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Memoro#4237.mp3
Osvaldo Gramegna (b. 1937) remembers the bombings of Turin. Mentions civilians initially fleeing along the railway during alarms and explains how, in hindsight, it was foolish behaviour. Anecdotes of his evacuee life at Casalgrasso: ineffective civil…

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BBriggsDWNealeWv1.pdf
Tribute to Squadron Leader William G Neal Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross, Croix de Guerre, 1912-2001. Describes how Don Briggs met and was crewed with Bill Neal’s crew who having completed one tour had been selected for a…

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EGrayHMGray[Wi]440628.pdf
Starts with suggestion that a recent news film of daylight operation to Le Havre, which he was on, gives a good idea of what bombing is like. However as most of his operations were at night he goes on to describe these. Describes emotions and…

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PBubbGJ16010047.jpg
Oblique aerial photograph of river valley with roads, railways and at bottom left, a open area of water. At lower right one road runs from middle left to bottom centre which splits into three from two junctions. Railway line runs along road and…

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PBubbGJ16010054.jpg
Target photograph shows extensive smoke from explosions obscuring the main part of the photograph. The surrounding view is of a rural area with fields and several converging minor roads. A Lancaster is visible top centre going from left to right.…

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PBubbGJ16010131.jpg
Six page document courtesy of the late Allen White - 44 Squadron Historian. Reproduces narratives from three 44 Squadron crews involved in the operation. Overall the operation lost 37 crews from 120 launched against Wesserling oil refinery near…

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PFlowersHJ1612.jpg
Group of 12 airmen in two rows wearing tunics and side caps. Seven in the front row are sitting and the five in the rear are standing. James Flowers is on the left of the front row. On the reverse '3/6/44, Front left AJF'.

Additional information…

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LGrayHM184299v1.pdf
Navigator's, air bomber's and air gunner's flying log book for Sergeant Herbert Gray from 21 February 1944 to 10 November 1945. Detailing training and operations flown. Served at RAF Stradishall, RAF Hemswell and RAF Elsham Wolds. Aircraft flown were…

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PBanksP15010097.jpg
At the top a ground to air photograph of five pairs of C-47s flying from bottom right to top left.

Below a ground to air photograph showing a stream of C-47s flying from right to left towing gliders. In the bottom right the roof of a building.…

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AWilsonJM160121.mp3
Joan Wilson was born in Nettleham near Lincoln. She joined the Women’s Auxilliary Air Force and served as a wireless operator at RAF Morton Hall. The day following the Normandy landings, she had to send an urgent signal to all aircraft, to stop…

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LParkinsH1891679v1.pdf
The log book covers the training and operational career Sergeant Harry Parkins from 20 December 1943 to March 1954. He flew in Stirling, Lancaster, Anson, C-47, Lancastrian, Valetta, Lincoln. Harry Parkins flew 47 operations - 30 night operations and…

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LWoolgarRLA139398v1.pdf
Observer's and air gunner's flying log book for Flight Lieutenant Reg Woolgar from 29 November 1940 to 21 July 1947. Detailing training schedule, instructional duties and operations flown. Served at RAF Yatesbury, RAF West Freugh, RAF Upper Heyford,…

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LBriggsDW56124v1.pdf
Donald Briggs served as a flight engineer with 156 Squadron Pathfinders flying Lancasters from RAF Upwood between 27 May 1944 and 31 March 1945. The incomplete log book includes 62 daylight and night time operations to French, German, Dutch and…

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MSayerT591744-160217-02.jpg
Commissioning scroll for Thomas Sayer dated 25 May 1944 as Flying Officer, signed 'George R.I.'.

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SRutherfordRL146342v10079.jpg
List of contents of British Red Cross Parcel sent from Mrs E Rutherford to Les Rutherford while prisoner of war at Belaria camp Stalag Luft 3.

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AParkinsHW150612.mp3
Harry shares several memories of his time as a flight engineer in the Royal Air Force. He describes their initial accommodation in luxury London flats, and dinghy training at the local swimming pool. He recounts how in June 1944 they received 17…

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AMunroL150604.mp3
John Leslie Munro was born in the area of Gisborne, New Zealand. He only completed two years of secondary education because of the economic slump and in 1936 began work on a sheep ranch and then a mixed farm. On the outbreak of the Second World War,…

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AReedD151015.mp3
Flight Lieutenant Douglas Reed worked for the council before he joined the Royal Air Force. He flew operations with 166 Squadron from RAF Kirmington and with 156 Squadron, Pathfinders, from RAF Upwood. His aircraft often suffered damage. On one…

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PGreenCF1609.jpg
Charles Frederick Green was born in Peckham, London, in 1921. On leaving school he began an apprenticeship with a printing company, acting part-time as a police courier, before becoming an Air Raid Precaution warden. He then volunteered for the Royal…

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