Top left - woman sitting in chair in garden.
Top right - woman and a man sitting alongside each other on chairs in garden with trellis behind them.
Bottom left - a man wearing suit and tie and woman wearing dress standing side by side in a doorway.
Caption on spine 'Wimbourne 1976'.
Right page:
Captions on spine from top to bottom 'Central Wales, 1961', '1961', 'Wales 1961'.
Top - woman wearing skirt ad top walking across slope of mountain with valley and other mountain in the distance.
Bottom left - woman standing on mountainside looking over valley at rock outcrops on far side.
Bottom right - half length image of a woman wearing striped top.]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> Photograph]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> Wales]]> England--Dorset]]> England--Wimborne Minster]]> 1976]]> 1961]]>
OC RAF Gatow]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sparkes, Ned. Album]]> eng]]> Text]]> Royal Air Force]]> Germany]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Germany--Hannover]]> 1976-08-27]]> W Sparkes]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tricia Marshall]]> Pending text-based transcription. Under review]]> Sparkes, Ned. Album]]> eng]]> Text]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Germany]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Great Britain]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> 1976-08-26]]> 1944-01-03]]> A newspaper article about tail-end charlies and a service held at St Clement's Dane church.]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tricia Marshall]]> Pending text-based transcription. Under review]]> eng]]> fra]]> Text]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> 1976]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> China]]> China--Hong Kong]]> 1976-08]]> A news cutting reporting the squadron disbandment and another from October 1976 reporting 41 Squadron's 60th birthday celebration.]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Artwork]]> Text]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1976]]> 1977]]>
Air to ground photograph of Lancaster over Trafalgar Square with Nelson's column in centre. Writes how sound of Lancaster's Merlin engines had not heard for 30 years. Sqn Leader 'Jacko' Jackson made historic flight as part of the 1976 Royal Tournament ceremonial parade. ]]>
Daily Mail]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Steve Baldwin]]> eng]]> Text]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> 1976-07-12]]>
Eric describes his basic training in London and Torbay then recollects his technical training at RAF St. Athan. He then went to 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Marston Moor and joined his Halifax crew. In 1944 they were posted to 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklington where there were told that they wouldn't last three weeks.
Eric and his crew carried out a vast range of strategic bombings including daylight operations on V-1 sites, night operations on The Ruhr and Essen, night and daylight operations to oil targets, minelaying in the Baltic. They also provided tactical support in support of Allied troops near Caen and in the Ardennes, where they were badly damaged by a fighter and the mid-upper gunner received serious injuries. After landing at RAF Woodbridge in fog using FIDO he was hospitalised and did not fly again. The crew also supplied petrol to troops in Belgium, enjoying the low-level flying on these trips
Eric describes the sound of shrapnel hitting the aircraft, recalls a bomber exploding in flight, but dismisses the Scarecrow theory. He describes the use of Schräge Musik against the bombers; how search lights in the Ruhr operated, the use of H2S and how the master bomber controlled the rest of the formation.
At the end of his tour Eric remustered and was posted at RAF Jurby as airfield controller. From there he went to RAF Topcliffe and was demobbed in January 1947. Eric went back to the railways for ten years before working in local government. He retired in 1978, moving to Cornwall. While at RAF Pocklington he dated Cora noting that her parents made feel like a son. But he then ended the relationship because, with his own life in such jeopardy, he thought it was unfair on her. After the war he married Ellen, who he had met when starting his first job with the railways.]]>
Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Andy Fitter]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> England--Bedfordshire]]> England--Devon]]> England--Suffolk]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man]]> Wales]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> France]]> France--Ardennes]]> France--Caen]]> France--Pas-de-Calais]]> France--Nieppe Forest]]> Germany]]> Germany--Essen]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Atlantic Ocean]]> Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea]]> Denmark]]> Denmark--Bornholm]]> 1923]]> 1937]]> 1939]]> 1940]]> 1944-01]]> 1944-02]]> 1944-07-25]]> 1944-09]]> 1945]]> 1946-05-25]]> 1947-01-02]]> 1957]]> 1974]]> 1975]]> 1976]]> 1977]]> 1978]]> 1981]]>
B Wallis]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Steve Baldwin]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Text]]> Text. Correspondence]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> England--Surrey]]> England--Effingham]]> England--Cheshire]]> England--Chester]]> 1976-12-23]]> ]]> Wilhelmina of the Netherlands]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Steve Christian]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Correspondence]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Netherlands]]> Netherlands--Soestdijk]]> 1976-10-01]]>