Browse Items (73 total)

  • Tags: 11 OTU

MHollisAN124522-171107-030001.jpg
Including duration and purpose of course, flying time on Oxford, ground training results, assessment of ability etc. Remarks by Chief Instructor include: 'A good average pilot who should prove his worth at 11 OTU. A sound reliable officer.'

PBellinghamPF1602.jpg
Peter Bellingham worked as a post office engineer before volunteering for the Royal Air Force. He trained in Rhodesia and South Africa and completed a tour of operations as a bomb aimer, dropping supplies with 138 Squadron from RAF Tempsford. He…

PBarnettWE1701.jpg
William Edwin Barnett talks about his experience of living on the edge of RAF Westcott, near Aylesbury. He remembers starting work on a farm at the age of 14 and describes his everyday life and duties. He tells of being conscripted into the Home…

AColbeckJC170524.mp3
Joy Colbeck was born in Maidstone, Kent and served within the Women’s Royal Naval Service during the war. Her brother, John, joined the RAF on the 28 April 1943, qualified at as an air gunner in April 1944, before being transferred to an…

PGossRG1701.jpg
Raymond Goss lived on the family farm at Westcott before, during and after the construction and occupation of RAF Westcott as 11 Operational Training Unit. One evening a Lancaster collided with a Wellington on the field and both exploded. The Goss…

PHollisAN1801.jpg
Richard’s father, Arthur Hollis, went to Dulwich College as a day boy. He left aged 16 to join the Home Guard, then worked for a firm of accountants for a couple of years before joining the Royal Air Force. He was sent to Manchester University for…

PSchneiderT1702.jpg
Tim Schneider lived at Westcott before, during and after the construction and occupation of RAF Westcott as 11 Operational Training Unit. He tells of feeding the rabbits when he was four years old; leaving school at fourteen to help working on the…

AParryHP180723.mp3
Hugh Parry was a member of his local ATC whilst waiting to be able to volunteer for the RAF. His slightly older friends had qualified to train as pilots, navigators or bomb aimers but, because of a backlog of trades, they were given deferred entry. …

ACunninghamAB171104.mp3
Bruce initially joined the territorials but changed to the Royal New Zealand Air Force. After performing very well in navigation exercises at Rosewood, he was quickly progressed to Bell Block, New Plymouth on Tiger Moths. He became a pilot at Wigram…

ADavisAW180116.mp3
Alan Davis joined the RNZAF towards the end of the war, training in Canada as a wireless operator and air gunner. He returned to the UK and, after conversion to Lancasters, was posted to 75 New Zealand Squadron. Alan tells of his training, crew…

PJarmyJFD1703.jpg
Jack Jarmey was born in Romford, Essex. At the age of five, following the death of his father, Jack moved to live with his grandparents in Illfracombe. Despite achieving excellent results in all his subjects at Grammar School, Jack left school at 15…

AKnightD180117.mp3
David Knight was a member of the ATC before volunteering for the Royal New Zealand Air Force and beginning training as a navigator. He travelled to Canada, as part of his training, before arriving in the UK and being posted to 75 Squadron at RAF…

AMarshallJ180116.mp3
Jack went to New Zealand in 1937 and became a steward in a gentleman’s club in Napier, where he stayed for two years until the war broke out. He joined the Royal Air Force and went to England where he did train to become an air gunner at RAF…

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

ASelwoodFN180113.mp3
Francis Neville Selwood of Invercargill, New Zealand was fascinated with aeroplanes in his youth and lived near an airfield where he could go and watch the aircraft. He was keen to volunteer as a pilot but an early rugby injury made that impossible.…

AWilliamsRS180115.mp3
Roland Spencer Williams was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. Wanting to get involved in the war he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1942. After initial training in New Zealand, as an air gunner, he sailed on the SS Nieuw Amsterdam to San…

PMayhillRD1901.jpg
Ron Mayhill was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He joined the Air Training Corp in 1941, automatically entered the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1942, trained as a bomb aimer in Canada, and travelled on the Queen Mary to the UK in 1943. While flying…

LBellinghamPF1397635v1.pdf
The log book covers the training and operational career of bomb aimer Peter Bellingham from 10 March 1943 to 21 February 1946. After training in South Africa he flew Halifaxes and Stirlings with 138 Squadron, taking part in 30 night operations over…

PWrightJ1542.jpg
Group of airmen arranged in four rows. Captioned '11th O.T.U. R.A.F. Upavon 1942 All Bomber command a/c'.
At the top each airman is named -
'Sgt Chapman Sgt Anderson Sgt Burton Sgt Lipton W/O Kellaway (Back row 3rd from right Kellaway became…

Output Formats

atom, dc-rdf, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2